Milsurp After Hours

I haven't done that before. But...having some birthday money I thought I'd try it. First was the kit of chemicals....$40. Then some more plastic bottles and lastly came the problem. The problem is controlling a temperature that is prefered at about 102 degrees American. To control the temperature best requires a pot of water to put the chemical bottles in and something to keep the temperature constant. There is a photo company that has such a thing for $100 but I wasn't feeling that frisky enough to part with that much and ordered an immersion circulator that is used for cooking. I didn't know such a thing existed. Can't imagine cooking with closely moderated water temperature. However, it fits the bill and the one I ordered was $49.

If you only want to take snapshots a digital camera is hands down quicker, easier, and the images cost about nothing and you don't have to buy any chemicals or water heater. However..... if you want to relive photo history now past that you didn't experience before.....this new adventure is important.

Might take a week before the water heater arrives. I got the chemicals and even took some photos today on color film.

Way back, when I had my darkroom and was processing B&W I was shown how to develop and print colour.
My friend who showed me took an exposed film and ran the whole process up to printing a landscape image. At the end of the process the image was heavily magenta cast.
It was then I decided to stick with B&W and I thanked him for saving me a lot of money!!

GOOD LUCK!

Many years ago I had a rush of blood to the head and had a go at making b&w prints. I bought a Zenit enlarger and the chemicals, trays, timer, safety light and thermometer. I didn't have anywhere to set up except in the bathroom where I lived at the time. I only used it a couple of times but I got some prints. I didn't develop the film but just made some prints from negatives I had. The enlarger is still in the loft. The timer is used in the kitchen and I don't know what I did with the rest of the stuff.
Regards
Peter.

Peter, I've still got my enlarger out in the garage. Hate to think what condition it is in. Bet the light bulb is no longer working for sure. Now days I have been developing B&W and scanning the negatives into positives with an Epson Perfection V600 photo scanner.

Well...the hurricane put a crimp in my developing. Did some today to try the kit out.

The first thing was controlling the temperature of the developer. Preferred is 102 degrees fahrenheit. There is a professional water temperature control but for half the price I was using an immersion heater used for cooking.

First thing was to mix the chemicals. The C41 kit came with exact measured chemical for quart liquid amounts. Mix the A chemicals in one bottle. Mix the B chemicals in another. Put the stabilizer in another. Three and a half minutes in the developer at 102 degrees. Eight minutes in the Blix. A minute in the stabilizer.

First trial taking photos with some out of date film. Have no idea how out of date as it came with some old camera I bought. Must have been pretty old since the edges of the film showed that old age curve. Must have had the temperature off some. I didn't use the thermometer just the water bath and the immersion heater. Images less than thrilling to say the least. Lots of grain and off colors.

Shot a second roll of new Fuji film. It came out lots better. Not perfect but I had some problems with the camera. I had it set to 2 steps underexposure for the first half dozen shots before I realized it. However, for a new skill learning exercise I'm happy with the second roll.

Not bad Robert. That was the easy bit! If you had to produce the prints in a Dark Room then you would start tearing your hair out I suspect!!

I'm not going to do any printing. Considering the equipment cost and a need for an actual dark room that is totally out of the question. If I want a print I'll touch up a scan of a negative with a little photoshop and get one of the online photo printers to make the print. There are lots of those places from Amazon to Snapfish. You just upload the photos to their site.

I used Clark and York for lots of years but they sold out to Snapfish recently.

Took the Minolta Maxxum 70 off the shelf today. Great cheap camera. Does everything the mind of Minolta ever came up with in a relatively inexpensive camera at the end of the Minolta line. It doesn't get much collector respect because it was offered at a tyro price and had a plastic case. However, can you name a "professional" camera with 15 customizable features? I posted about it in another string if you want to learn more.

In any case Fujicolor 200 was the film. Images came out crisper than the first time I tried developing the same film.

Nice clear shots, and you developed the film yourself? Nice going.
Do you do weddings and bar mitzvahs? ...........

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I did do a wedding once years ago for a friend of my wife who couldn't afford a "real" photographer.