Home Developing: My First Roll
When I started taking photos on film again a few years ago, I wasn’t so much starting new as I was starting over, or picking up somewhere I had left off long ago. Sure, the price of film shocked me a bit, as did the cost of developing. Oh, how I remember working at the mall as a teen, dropping off rolls of film at Ritz Camera, ordering triple prints (sometimes those BIG prints!), and picking them up later during a break at work. This time around, I’ve found a local lab about an hour away, and I’ve learned to be patient as I wait for the film to be developed and scanned and digital images sent my way via file transfer. Not quite as romantic I had remembered, but alas…
One of my goals this year has been to learn how to develop my own film at home—in fact, that goal was the driving reason behind enrolling in a photography course at the college where I work. While I learned that the enlarging and printing processes aren’t necessarily where I want to spend my time at this point, there’s something incredibly appealing to me (and gratifying!) about being able to take a roll of images and develop them at home. So, feeling like I had enough experience and knowledge to try the process out at home, that’s exactly what I set out to do with my first roll of Ilford HP5 off my new-to-me Leica M3.
I had purchased an all-in-one kit through B&H as well as separate bottles of Ilford developer, stop, and fixer and Kodak Photo-Flo. I also purchased a changing bag so I could ensure that I’d be loading the film onto the reel in complete darkness. While the kit included the Ilford Simplicity starter pack of chemistry for being able to develop two rolls of 35mm and one roll of 120, I decided to mix my own, since I would only be developing one roll. I reviewed my class notes, watched (and rewatched!) a few YouTube videos (thank you, Kyle McDougall!!), reviewed the data sheets and guides from Ilford, crossed my fingers, and got to work—a little while later, I had negatives! And soon after that, I was able to use my Fuji XT-3 and the Valoi Easy 35 scanning system* to digitize the negatives—I have to say, I’m hooked on the whole process!
My first roll featured some family photos from an afternoon at my mom’s house, and I love the images I took of my mom, sisters, nieces and nephews—and, of course, of G, who is a good sport about having his photo featured here! I also had images from a trip up to King Arthur Baking Company in Vermont—if there’s one hobby I enjoy as much as photography, it’s baking bread and pretzels! I didn’t use a light meter with this first roll, instead relying on Sunny 16, and I was pleasantly surprised and thrilled with the images!
Along with the standard Valoi system, I also purchased a separate sprocket holder, which allows for the film stock/sprockets to show. I found that using that holder also allows for a cropping the more precise border when importing/converting the negatives. Other than the crop/straightening after scanning, I’ve done nothing to the images—hell, I don’t love editing digital images, so I’m not all that inclined to edit film ones!
*I wrote more about the digitizing process in this post, so I won’t repeat all of that here!