Developing Slides (Color) at Home
Gucci IlI
color slides by my self at home- no darkrom or no nothing? Please tell me is
this stupid or is this possible? I order all my eqip. from USA and I was
thinking I can go in myt closet and turn out the lights when it is night and
all the luites are off and it will be 100% dark i can assure... so there in the
dark, I will put my films into the reels and put them into the tank... then it
is ok to turn the lites on again? Right? Then I will follow chemical
processes on the package and then i must mount them. how hard it this?
Sorry for any bad english. and thank you
Eduardo Farreta
Stan Chang
bag with an inner and outer layer (two layers of black fabric to block out light).
Two large zippers closeup the inner and outer layers. You put the exposed film
cannister, can opener to open the film cannister, sissors to cut the film off the
spool, daylight developing tank with reel and its cover, inside the bag. Zip up
both layers in the bag. It has two sleeves that resemble the sleeves of a shirt,
with elastic on the ends. You put your hands thru the sleeves of the bag. The
elastic keeps the opening tight to your arms. You then open the film can, load the
reel with undeveloped film, and cut the film, which is taped to the spool in the
film canister, off the spool, put the reel in the daylight tank, and close the
lid. This is all done in the daylight changing bag in daylight. You have to
practice to do all this by touch, as you cannot see anything once its all in the
bag. You should get a book that describes this process and shows illustrations,
and the equipment you will need. I might have forgotten something or maybe today,
there is an easier way to do this. After the film is developed and dried,
mounting the slides is simple. A warmish clothing iron will do. Cut the slides
between the frame lines and set in the cardboard mount. Close the mount and touch
the surrounding cardboard surface with the iron to seal the mount together. Don't
touch the slide or it will melt.
I use prepaid processing mailers now, and let someone else process & mount the
film.
Stan
Don Smith
gucc...@aol.com says...
> Hello my name is eduardo living in italy and i want to begin developing my own
> color slides by my self at home- no darkrom or no nothing? Please tell me is
> this stupid or is this possible? I order all my eqip. from USA and I was
> thinking I can go in myt closet and turn out the lights when it is night and
> all the luites are off and it will be 100% dark i can assure... so there in the
> dark, I will put my films into the reels and put them into the tank... then it
> is ok to turn the lites on again? Right? Then I will follow chemical
> processes on the package and then i must mount them. how hard it this?
> Sorry for any bad english. and thank you
>
> Eduardo Farreta
It's very easy to do. Load the film onto a reel in your closet or use a
"changing bag". Once it's in the tank then it's just a matter of time and
temp. for the various chemicals.
It's so simple that I was doing that when I was 16 years old.
For mounting, that's very easy too. Kodak makes mounts that use a type
of adhesive which is heated, tried those but didn't like much.
Pako plastic mounts are very easy to use and Gepe makes a complete line
for *anything* that comes out of a camera.
Don
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Gregory Au
I was wondering whether the quality of the DIY slide processing is
comparable to commercial operations. And...does it save me money if I
develop my own slides?
> For mounting, that's very easy too. Kodak makes mounts that use a type
> of adhesive which is heated, tried those but didn't like much.
> Pako plastic mounts are very easy to use and Gepe makes a complete line
> for *anything* that comes out of a camera.
>
Oh yeah, and I recently bought 100 Reflector plastic slide mounts. I am
having trouble getting the to fit exactly flat on the mount. Is it
possible, or do I need glass mounts?
Much appreciated,
Greg Au
breslo...@tandem.com
only had a problem once. Together we would develope about 8 to 12 rolls a
time and it probably saved a little money. The major benefit was turnaround
time on the weekend. The major problem is the chemicals in the e-6
processsing kits come in odd quantities so you don't run out of everything at
the same time. The other problem, which we solved, is controlling the
temperature in the first 3-steps. It has to be within a half-degree. Unless
you shoot in large qunatities and like darkroom work alot I would avoid it.
Making your own prints is easier and more satisfying.
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Randy O'Hara
- If you are not developing several rolls at a time to consume all the chemistry
that you mix, you will end up spending considerably more money than you would
going to a lab. The chemistry is pretty expensive and has a limited storage life
unlike b&w film chemistry.
- You will probably need/want to purchase some sort of semi-automated equipment
w/ a temp controlled water bath to maintain the precise temperatures during
processing and repeatable agitation of the chemicals
- Consider how you will be drying the film - you will again need/want a film
dryer, not only for the heat, but to maintain a dust-free environment.
- Finally, to answer your first question, of whether doing it yourself will
produce comparable results to a commercial lab, the answer is no (unless you
purchase automated processing equipment). The commercial labs use huge (50+
gallon) processing tanks, which are temp controlled, and continuously monitored
using test strips - which produce repeatable results. If you are unhappy with the
results from your lab, you should change labs. Generally my biggest complaint
with some labs is delivering film with dust or water spots. A good lab should
give you perfectly clean film.
Randy
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