Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 1999/09/27
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Eric Welch wrote: > At 08:15 PM 9/27/99 +0200, Anthony Atkielski wrote: > >I'm constrained by budget with respect to using a lab, and constrained by > >space > >with respect to developing it myself. > > At the risk of offending some people who think I contribute too much, and > am pompous and have to comment on every single topic (I passed on at least > 10 this morning!) I'd say you must have some really tight digs. I can > process black and white in the space on a bathroom sink to put my shaving > kit. All you need is a changing bag, some quart-sized bottles and a > developing tank and two or four film rolls. And it all fits in a nice box. > Viewing and editing negatives takes a lot more space, but you seem to be > able to do that. Give it a try. It's actually fun (until you have to do it > professionally every day!). > > Eric Welch > St. Joseph, MO > > http://www.ponyexpress.net/~ewelch > > As far as I'm concerned, treachery will sometimes bring loyalty into question. Eric, my sentiments exactly. There is nothing more satisfying than to develop black and white. No darkroom is needed. just the changing bag you mentioned. The nice thing is, to start playing around with different brews. Also the big advantage is, to be able to use bulk loaded film. Sometimes I do load only 8-10 frames in to a cartridge, because I know, I am not going to do more exposures today and i want to be able to develop them straight away without wasting to much film. B&W bulk film is still relatively inexpensive. In my earlier days, I re used old film cartridges, but now I use the commercially available ones. The chemicals are cheap and last quite long, if they are properly protected from oxidizing. Developing slide films is not much more involved. I done a couple. If I can do it, anybody can. Expensive books on developing: No such a thing, I never bought a new book on developing or printing . There are hundreds of second hand book shops around. Most of them have a photographic sections. Normally there are a half a dozen books on the above subject. For a couple of Dollars each. The main thing is to make an effort, be positive and do it. Regards, Horst schmidt