Recently I bought a very old Kodak Autographic and when it arrived there was unexpectedly still a roll of film inside, almost fully rolled up (past the last frame). I rolled it up and stored it under the assumption it's undeveloped.

The only information on the roll itself I could see is that it's Kodacolor 100, and I have no idea how old it is (though if I understand the information I found on Google correctly it's probably from later than 1975).

I have no experience or developing equipment, but I'm curious whether something like this could still successfully be developed, assuming it wasn't accidentally exposed by someone before me? Are there labs that could handle something like this?

I would like to start shooting portraits on Harman direct positive paper and if possible developing on site. How is this generally done? I’ve seen people using some sorts of “portable darkroom” box contraptions, when developing collodion. I’m having trouble finding more resources on the best practices for said method. Can anyone point me in the right direction?

Also, I’ll initially be shooting 3x4 cut paper. I have daylight tanks but no reels for 3x4. Would it be feasible to just flop the paper in the tank, fill it to capacity, and develop that way, thus requiring only the need of a dark bag?

Any advice would be appreciated. Thank you!

Hey everyone! I‘m going to develop a roll of Cinestill 400D that has been through airport CT scanners 4 times. Unfortunately they always declined my request to inspect the film directly, so I‘m not expecting much regarding results. Is there any way though that I can maximize the results? Changes in developing times or temperature? I‘m developing with the Cinestill CS41 Color Simplified kit.

Has anyone tried using HC-110 and a rotary processor or Jobo? From what I’ve googled, it appears to not be a great combo because HC-110 builds contrast too quickly. Was hoping to give it a shot with dilution H. Would love to hear from anyone who has tried this and wants to be generous with their wisdom. 😀 Thanks!

This is something I've wondered about since I've been using Foma's Fomabrom FB VC paper for a while. Foma manufactures paper for Arista, and it seems to be frequently stated that the Foma branded papers and Arista papers are exactly the same.

I bought a box of Arista EDU Ultra FB VC paper, and mid way through a printing session used my last Fomabrom sheet, and switched over to the box of Arista paper - immediately noticed that the paper felt different. These are both double weight papers, but the Arista paper felt more flexible and smoother (it also appears to dry with a little less curl than the Fomabrom). Next thing to stick out was that the coating on the Arista paper seems more susceptible to damage, I ended up with tong marks and other minor damage on the prints made on Arista paper, whereas in the very same session the Fomabrom prints emerged without any noticeable defects.

Exposure and contrast were exactly the same, I did not have to do a new test strip when switching over from one brand to the other. I also recently tested prints on both paper for sepia toning and the results were identical. This makes me think that the actual chemistry is the same between these papers, but that the paper base must differ for whatever reason (maybe it saves Arista a penny per sheet or something).

I'm curious if anybody has done a direct comparison between the Arista and Foma RC papers, or if anybody has more specific knowledge about whatever differences there may be between Arista and Foma papers.

Hey there!

I was having issues with an old enlarger lens that I got. It's a 9.5mm Focotar that I got with my old Leitz IIa Enlarger. The aperture ring was gunked up to the point where it would stick and move badly. The lens was also filled with some specks of dirt from the mechanism.
I opened it up and blew the dirt out. Also I cleaned the aperture blades carefully using some alcohol. I had the hope that it would free up any sticking aperture blades and make everything run smoother. Sadly that didn't help much. It got clean but woudln't move better.

I opened it up a second time wanting to clean the mechanism. But I can't seem to figure out how it's secured. This is how far I got. I manage to remove the top and bottom lens and get to the aperture blades but the inner tube that holds the aperture is still connected to the outer tube of the lens. I decided to clean the mechanism by flushing it with alcohol and drying it with some air. Quite a bit of dirt came out and It turns fine now. But I have the feeling that this could potentially hurt the mechanism in the long run. I assume that I flushed all the old gunked up lube out. My fear is that i stripped any ball bearings (if there are any inside) of oil and that corrosion will eventually rust it stuck.

Does anyone have experience with such or similar lenses? Would it be smart to apply new lube or are they meant to run dry? If so, what lube would I need and how can I open it up futher?

I am thinking that I could potentially squirt oil into the gap and hope it hits the right parts but it doesn't seem to be a very smart move since it could end up on the aperture blades and the inside of the lens.

I hope someone can give me some advice

Part query part just statement. Just developed a roll of Revelog Paper. I have never used it before and found next to nothing online about it. I use the FlicFilm Black White and Green and it usually works really well. Anyways as I couldn't find anything I kind of just benchmarked the other 400 iso films and went for 14 minutes at 20C. Once I had the roll out of the tank, I could see that the film was Foma 200. Foma 200 is likely the film I use the most and I would never develop it that long, more like 10 minutes. The edges look darker than I have seen before when I have developed it before.

Anyways, anyone have any thoughts on what Revelog does to the film before they spool it? I have another roll and am now feeling I should develop it closer to what I do normally. Thoughts? Experience?

I’m building a new darkroom after taking a break for about 4 years. This time around I want to be much more intentional about my chemistry, I used to use rodinal mainly for the long shelf life and low cost per roll.

Rodinal will always be a favorite but I’m looking for something different for the work I’m trying to create now.

My criteria for choosing a new developer is as follows:

1. Consistency with forgiveness for my exposures.
2. Can push without losing shadows (I hardly ever shoot at box speed)
3. Long shelf life (one less thing to keep track of would be great)
4. Economical cost per roll

I primary shoot tmax and some hp5+ (400 iso, 35mm)

Any suggestions would be great, I’m leaning towards picking an Ilford developer but haven’t settled on any yet. Recommendations for stop and fix combos are welcome as well!

Thanks!

From 1950's. I don't know what color process this would be. Wondering if any images would come up with Rodinal?

What’s everyone’s favorite digital timer? I’m setting up my darkroom at the moment and all I need left are negative carriers and digital timer. Give it to me straight, what should I be looking for. I’ll be doing bw and color

liquid or powder is perfectly fine. seems like the only place to get it from is India in very large quantites.

(I also posted this in r/largeformat, but since this has a larger community, and there is a question about contact printing here, I thought I could post it here as well)

I'm going through my monthly cycle of wanting to get into large format. Until recently I only really considered 4x5, but now 5x7 has my eye.

Right now I don't have a 4x5 enlarger and don't expect to any time soon, so I was thinking about working in contact prints. However, 4x5 seems a bit small for a contact print; 5x7 seems much nicer for that. 8x10 seems to cumbersome. I only work in B&W (I don't care for the cost of or developing of color) so the more limited film choice of 5x7 isn't as much as a drawback. Though if I do get a more dedicated darkroom space and a bigger enlarger

Wondering what other people do/enjoy. is 4x5 good for your contacts or too small? Should I just get a 4x5 scanner? I could do digital negatives to contact print those, but then I would probably need to upgrade from my basic barebones HP printer.

Lately I've been doing more closeup work in-studio but as the weather warms up I definitely want to be out in the field, hence my preference towards a few rather a monorail. I am intrigued by the Intrepid models from a price standpoint, seems like a decent way to get into it before dropping Wista or Linhof money.

I did a Pt/Pd printing mentorship some years ago and still have vials of solution #1, 2, and 3. Just curious how well the chemistry holds up?

I develop and scan or print all my own negatives. However, I accidentally left some foma 200 in salt lake city, and in a very rare move I had it developed at one of their local labs (the one I accidentally left the film in).

Now, its usually bad practice to question the lab. 90% of the time, its you, the camera, and maybe your film. In this case my camera and film both had minor problems. 1 frame was capped. A few had leaks. Some were scratched.

But am I crazy or is this clearly a development issue? What else could explain these splotches?

​

???

Hi! I just developed a roll and it happend to have blue/violet stripes near/coming from sprocket holes. Also, there is a blue/violet line in the middle. I attach a photo. Someone knows what this could be? Thank you!
Tried to take the best photo I could. But its still drying.
It was the top roll from the tank. I suspect it was lack of bleach but that cant explain the line in the middle. Can this be rebleached?

Edit: It became WORSE. Film is dark as if it was fully fogged. It looks too dense/dark in comparison with the other roll I developed in the same tank or with other negatives in general. I don't get what happened. When scanned it looks fogged.

https://preview.redd.it/kmm6d2yhxmwc1.jpg?width=900&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=5cba99c1f9f1d474266281f15ad3240fc1ec4bb8

hi there, Ilford rapid fixer suggests 1+4 dilution for film and 1+9 dilution for paper, is it possible to use 1+9 dilution for film to save more fixer or is it redundant because you are reusing fixer anyway?

A recent print, on Ilford MGRC Deluxe Pearl 8x10, as a base for further nuanced contrast. Might need some extra burning over the upper part and the sky. And have it printed over a 9x10 this time.

Hello, I’ve got this color coupler print from 93, and I’d like to hang it on my wall. It’s probably been kept in the dark since the time it was made. Will UV protective glass make the fading process longer? I know that fading is inevitable.

I developed 6 rolls of film in a roller tank and the leaders of the longer rolls and the first couple of frames look like this. These would have been the farthest from the chemistry. The 24 exposure rolls did not have the issue.

Did I not have enough chemistry in the tank?

So I’m buying some sodium sulfate and sodium hydroxide to use for the Kodak remjet prebath any preferences on specific ones? I’m on Amazon with one from belle chemical(sodium hydroxide) and chemcenter(sodium sulfate)

So, long story short amazon sent me the wrong bottles and their half the size their supposed to be. I cant mix the entirety of the cinestill c41 chemicals together, I realized right as I sat down to heat the water up.

I saw the instructions about just doing a pint over a quart. Let's say I were to do that, and use roughly half of the chemicals and the other half in the bottles they came in.

How long would the unmixed chemicals stay good for? When I get paid next week if I got bigger bottles could I mix that all up, and then just mix the original developer and blix into it as well, or would that be a dumb idea?

New to developing film, I was really excited to sit down and do it tonight, I can't find any info online though about this.

Does anyone have any info that could help me out here? Would something like this work, or am I basically stuck waiting until I can buy larger bottles?

Edit; it's the liquid kit, not the powder kit

-Both are Kodak Vision 3 500T films. Left one is from 2022, while the right one I developed 2 weeks ago.

-I use local (I'm not from US) 3 step ECN2 dev kit powder. I regularly replace the developer, but haven't been bothered to replace the bleach & fixer for more than a year (which I use to develop C41 too)

-Left was developed with the developer mixed with 1000ml of water as intended. Right was developed with 1/3rd of the powder mixed with 330ml of water to save money on chems and reduce chems waste (so far no problem like the photo)

-Left is taken with Pentax K1000, while right was taken with Canon EOS Kiss III. Both use the same 85b filter.

As the tittle said, I'm wondering why it's darker? Let me know if more info is needed. Thanks!

I’ve been into analog photography for a while now but I haven’t been able to get into a darkroom at all, I had a question about enlarging negative images. Would it be possible to enlarge the negative image using reversal paper?

Does anyone here use color analyzers for color prints? Pro's vs con's?