15 Tips for Tray Development of Cut Sheet Film
Summary
TLDRThis video offers a condensed guide to developing sheet negative film, focusing on the trade development method. It provides 15 essential tips for achieving clean and even film negatives, including dust removal, using gloves, single-use trays, pre-soaking, and proper chemical handling. The tutorial emphasizes the importance of even development through careful film handling and consistent shuffling during the process. It concludes with advice on using surfactants and stainless steel clips for optimal results, aiming to help photographers avoid common issues and enhance their film development skills.
Takeaways
- đ§č Dust off your film holders and camera before loading the film to prevent contamination.
- 𧀠Use gloves to handle film to avoid fingerprints, oils, and heat transfer that can affect film development.
- đąïž Use a single tray for a single function to prevent cross-contamination of chemicals.
- đ Pre-soak negatives to ensure an even start to the development process.
- đ Practice transferring negatives to avoid sticking and ensure safe handling during development.
- đ« Avoid developing too many sheets at once to maintain control and even development.
- â± Use a development time that is sufficiently long to accommodate any minor delays in transferring film.
- đ§ Always use fresh chemicals and ensure stock solutions are properly sealed and not expired.
- đ Shuffle negatives regularly during development for even exposure to the developer solution.
- đ Use a dummy negative when developing a single sheet to maintain consistent processing.
- đŠ Use a surfactant in the final washing step to help water drip off and prevent spots.
- đ Use proper stainless steel clips to hang negatives to avoid rust or debris that could damage the film.
Q & A
What is the main focus of the video?
-The main focus of the video is to condense the process of developing sheet negative film, specifically button film, into a 10-minute guide filled with tips for achieving clean negatives.
Why is it important to dust off before loading the film?
-Dusting off before loading the film is crucial to prevent contamination that could cause scratches or marks on the film, ensuring a cleaner development process.
What role do gloves play in the film development process?
-Gloves are used to prevent fingerprints and oils from transferring onto the negatives, which could cause marks and uneven development. They also help to avoid heat transfer from hands to the film.
Why should a single tray be used for a single function in film development?
-Using a single tray for a single function prevents cross-contamination of chemicals, which could lead to inconsistent or problematic film development.
How does pre-soaking the negatives affect the development process?
-Pre-soaking the negatives provides a more even start to the development process, ensuring a consistent reaction with the developer solution.
What is the difficulty in transferring a stack of negatives and how can it be managed?
-The difficulty lies in the negatives becoming soft and slippery, especially after the developing bath. To manage this, one should practice a technique to safely transfer all negatives together without them sticking to each other.
Why is it recommended not to develop too many sheets of film at once?
-Developing too many sheets at once can make transferring them difficult and may result in inconsistent development. It's advised to start with a maximum of three or four negatives for beginners.
What is the significance of using a sufficiently long development time?
-A sufficiently long development time, ideally longer than seven minutes, ensures that any interruptions during the transfer of the film do not affect the overall development process.
Why is it important to use fresh chemicals in the film development process?
-Fresh chemicals ensure the most effective development of the film. Using old or expired chemicals can lead to poor quality negatives.
What is the purpose of shuffling the negatives every 30 seconds during development?
-Shuffling the negatives every 30 seconds ensures that all negatives are evenly exposed to the developer solution, leading to consistent development.
How can using a dummy negative help in achieving consistent results?
-Using a dummy negative, especially when developing a single piece of film, helps maintain a consistent process and prevents shower faults that could occur with only one negative.
What is the role of a surfactant in the washing process of film development?
-A surfactant is used in the final washing step to help water drip off the negatives more easily, preventing water spots and ensuring cleaner drying.
Why is it advised to use stainless steel clips when hanging negatives to dry?
-Stainless steel clips are recommended to avoid rust or metallic debris that could damage the negatives, ensuring the longevity and quality of the developed film.
Outlines
đž Film Development Techniques
This paragraph introduces a video tutorial focused on the trade development technique for sheet negative film, specifically button film. The presenter aims to condense extensive refinement of the technique into a 10-minute video, offering 15 tips for achieving clean negatives. The video is intended for newcomers to film photography or those facing issues like scratches, marks, or uneven development. The tips start from pre-development dust removal using an anti-static brush and storing film in zip lock bags to maintain cleanliness. The presenter emphasizes the importance of using gloves to prevent finger marks and oils, and to avoid heat transfer that could affect film development. The video also covers the use of single-purpose trays for different functions, pre-soaking negatives, and practicing the transfer of negatives to ensure even development.
đïž Advanced Film Development Tips
In this paragraph, the presenter continues with advanced tips for film development. They suggest not developing too many sheets at once, ideally no more than four, to maintain consistency and manageability during the transfer process. The development time should be sufficiently long, preferably more than seven minutes, to accommodate any delays in transferring the film. Fresh chemicals are recommended, with a preference for single-use developers like HC 110. The presenter demonstrates the proper technique for shuffling negatives in the development bath, emphasizing the importance of even exposure and avoiding edge rubbing. They also advise using a dummy negative when developing a single sheet to ensure consistent processing. The video concludes with tips on transferring negatives to subsequent baths, using a surfactant in the final wash to facilitate water runoff, and the importance of using stainless steel clips to hang the negatives to prevent rust or debris that could damage the film. A document summarizing all 15 steps is promised to be linked for further reference.
Mindmap
Keywords
đĄSheet Negative Film
đĄTrade Development
đĄDust Off
đĄGloves
đĄSingle Tray for Single Function
đĄPre-soak
đĄTransfer Technique
đĄDevelopment Time
đĄFresh Chemicals
đĄShuffling
đĄDummy Negative
đĄSurfactant
đĄStainless Steel Clips
Highlights
The video condenses months or years of technique refinement into a 10-minute guide for developing sheet negative film.
The focus is on trade development, a simple and cost-effective method for developing negative film with great flexibility.
The video is beneficial for newcomers to film photography or those facing issues with film development.
The presenter organizes the guide into 15 tips for achieving clean negatives.
Dusting off film holders and cameras before loading film is crucial to prevent contamination.
Using gloves prevents chemical exposure, finger marks, and oils on the negatives, ensuring even development.
A single tray should be used for a single function to avoid cross-contamination.
Pre-soaking negatives is important for an even start to the development process.
Developing a stack of negatives requires practice to prevent them from sticking together.
It's recommended to develop no more than three or four sheets at a time for ease of handling.
A development time longer than seven minutes ensures consistency regardless of transfer time.
Fresh chemicals should be used, and stock solutions should be checked for expiration and proper storage.
Shuffling negatives every 30 seconds ensures even exposure to the developer solution.
Using a dummy negative when developing a single sheet helps maintain consistent processing.
Proper technique for transferring negatives from the developer to the next solution is crucial.
A surfactant in the final wash step helps water drip off, preventing water spots.
Using stainless steel clips for hanging negatives prevents rust or debris that could damage the film.
A document summarizing the 15 steps is provided for reference.
Transcripts
hi in this video I'm condensing down to
10 minutes what has been months or even
years of refinement of the technique to
develop sheet negative film in this case
it's a button film in trade so this is
trade development which is the most
simple and cheapest way to develop
negative feeling but has a great
flexibility if you are new to film
photography or if you are struggling
with scratches or marks or just an even
development in your film you can benefit
from this video and I organized it in 15
little tips or suggestions to follow to
get really nice and clean negatives I
think this is going to be my most
important video and it can avoid you so
much frustration so let's dive right
into it so let's start with number 1
this is even before development and it's
you need to get rid of dust so the most
important thing to do is to dust off
every time before loading the film your
film holders and I do this with an
anti-static brush I really dust off the
holder completely and darks light as
well and I just make sure that there is
no contamination whatsoever
and then once the negative would be
loaded I store the film holder in new
zip lock bags and I don't take them out
until it's time to take the image take
the shot
you need to clean obviously also the
surface or the changing tent you're
working on and your camera quite often
number 2 is use gloves this is not only
for safety because some of the chemicals
are indeed toxic but also it will avoid
you to me to get finger marks and oils
on the negatives and most importantly it
will avoid
transfer heat from the hands to the
fields so that you can have marks of an
even development in some areas of the
field number three is that we use a
single tray for a single function every
time so I have this is my pre-soaked
development and stop and fixer and as
you can see using this tray for it's
fine for development but using it for
different option this would be
problematic
number four is to pre-soak the negatives
this is important because it will give a
more even start of the development once
the negatives are transferred from the
pre-soak but to the development bath
don't soak all the negatives at once
because this is going to make them stick
together tip number five is practice how
to transfer a stack of negatives it's
going to be difficult because as you can
see the central negatives tend to slide
down especially after the developing
bath the mushroom gets very soft and the
negatives very slippery so you want to
make sure you develop or learn a
technique where you can safely transfer
all the negatives together suggestion
number six is that to not develop too
many sheets of film at a time ideally
maximum for at the beginning and this is
because as we have seen it's kind of
difficult to transfer more than three or
four negatives at one time and that
because as we will see later you want to
have a consistent and fast shuffling of
the negatives in the development bath
number seven it's use a development time
that is sufficiently long ideally longer
than seven minutes and this is so that
whatever happens in the development at
the beginning or at the end when you are
transferring the film this is not going
to affect the overall long development
time number eight
this may seem trivial but
remember to use fresh chemicals I use
single use single shot developer that is
HC 110 and this uses a very small amount
of chemicals but I can throw it away and
use fresh developer every time and then
check that your stock solution bottles
are tightly sealed and that the
chemicals are not expired okay so let's
go now to see what is the actual
procedure of handling the negatives in
the bath so you want to transfer all the
negatives together so that the
development started and even time and
then you want to shuffle them at the
beginning once quickly to get them
evenly exposed to the developer solution
and then you want to shuffle every 30
seconds so this means that if you have
two negatives it will be every 15
seconds to move the bottom negative to
the top if it's three negatives as in
this case it will be every ten seconds
for negatives I will do a continues slow
shuffling of the negatives even now
after years of developing film I rarely
do more than four negatives at one time
tip number ten is that if you want to
have consistent results and you're
developing one single negatives
use a dummy negative so take an old
reject film and just process this two
together so that you won't have a
different process if you have one single
negative and you're not going to have
any shower fault because you have just
that one single negative okay so we're
going to look now at the procedure on
how to shuffle the negatives you want to
take all the stack lift it off the water
slide off the bottom negative or just a
little bit lift the rest of the stack
and slide the last negative the bottom
negative out you want to make sure you
don't rub the edge the corner of the
negatives on the emotional side and then
just place it on top and push it down
don't let it float and to get a more
even development I rotate 180 degrees
the negatives halfway to my development
time
number 13 is transfer all your negatives
together trip them down a little bit and
quickly move them to the next part
so number 14 is to use surfactant in the
last step of the washing process so that
the water is going to drip off when
you're gonna hang at the negatives and
if in where you leave the water is
particularly hard so it has a lot of
salt dissolved in it then I would
suggest to use a small amount of
deionized water for your last wash final
tip number 15 is to use proper stainless
steel Clips to hang your negatives as
you can see different clips can rust or
leave some metallic debris that can ruin
your negatives so invest and buy some
proper stainless steel clips that's all
I hope this is going to help you in
getting some streak free and very nice
and even feel - enjoy your pictures and
I'm gonna link below to a document that
summarizes all these 15 steps that I
hope can help you thank you so much for
watching I'll see you next time
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