Contents
【Shoot on Best Black and White 35mm Film Camera and Developing】
How to make a self prepared film developer
The biggest difference between film photography and digital photography is whether or not “chemical processing” is required.
It means “film developing”.
You can have the film developed with a photo print service, but it is difficult to get the photo print you like. Above all, I have to say that it is a waste to give up the fun of film photography.
The advantages of using a self prepared developer are…
- Since each developing agent can be freely increased or decreased, it can be adjusted to draw a characteristic curve of your choice.
- It’s a little cheaper than buying a ready made developer.
- The minimum required amount of developer can be prepared.
- You can try many public developer recipes.
And so on.
- The developer maker already sells great developers, so you may not have to bother to make them yourself.
And so on.
If you’re interested in a self prepared developer, now is the time to start!
Basic developer: MQ type developer
There are two main types of film developers.
- MQ type film developer
In addition, Sodium Sulfite as a “preserving agent” that prevents deterioration due to oxidation, and Sodium Carbonate as a “accelerator” that accelerates the developing action are used.
Kodak D-76 developer is a typical MQ type film developer.
- PQ type film developer
A film developer whose main ingredients are Phenidone and Hydroquinone.
The main chemicals used in the developer are listed below.
- Developer main agent – Metol, Phenidone, Hydroquinone, etc.
- Preservative agent – Sodium Sulfite, Sodium Hydrogen Sulfite, etc.
- Accelerators – Sodium Carbonate, Sodium Metaborate, Borax, etc.
- Inhibitors – Potassium Bromide
Phenidone used in PQ type film developer is difficult to obtain in Japan, so we will explain how to make MQ type film developer.
The first developer to prepare is…
The above four chemicals are sufficient.
In the United States, you can buy it at online shopping sites such as B&H and freestyle, so let’s prepare it first.
How to make MQ type “Sakagawa” style High dilution High Acutance film developer
This developer recipe was devised by Mr. Takeshi Sakagawa, an assistant professor at Tokyo Polytechnic University more than 40 years ago, and was published in Japan in 1980 as a book called “Darkroom Encyclopedia”.
This developer recipe has no name and only mentions “Low-concentration developer formulation example (high-accutance type)”, so I named this prescription “Sakagawa style high definition high acutance film developer”.
Kodak D-76 developer, the most used film developer in Japan, contains a lot of sodium sulfite and instead of playing a powerful role as a retainer, it dissolves silver halide and blurs the image.
This Sakagawa style high dilution high acutance film developer is a formulation that sharpens the image by reducing this Sodium Sulfite to the limit, and further reduces the developer’s main agents Metol and Hydroquinone to the limit to enhance the edge effect.
Sakagawa style High dilution High Acutance film developer formulation (for 250ml of Nichol-type stainless steel developing tank, developed 6 times)
Solution A
- Distilled water (50 ° C) 75 ml
- Metol 0.4g
- Anhydrous Sodium Sulfite 4g
- Hydroquinone 0.4g
- Add distilled water at room temperature to make a total of 100 ml.
Solution B
- Distilled water (50 ° C) 75 ml
- Anhydrous Sodium Carbonate 3.4g
- Add purified water at room temperature to make a total of 100 ml.
This formulation is a formulation for 6 times use (15 ml of A solution, 15 ml of B solution) by changing the official dilution ratio of Sakagawa Style Developer.
If the accelerator sodium carbonate is mixed in one liquid, oxidation will proceed easily, so the recipe for making the accelerator B solution separately is used.
In the case of the LPL stainless steel developing tank for 35mm example, 250 ml of diluted developer is used, so dilute it to 15.625 ml of solution A + 15.625 ml of solution B + 218.75 ml of tap water (dilution: 1 + 1 + 14)
Let’s actually make it!
Sakagawa style high dilution high Acutance film developer preparation method
The photo above shows a set of things needed to make a Sakagawa style self prepared developer.
- Metol
- Hydroquinone
- Sodium sulfite (anhydrous)
- Sodium carbonate (anhydrous)
- Distilled water
- Beaker (for 300 ml)
- Medicinal spoon
- Electronic scales (measure up to 0.01 g)
- Paraffin paper and paper cup (paper and cup for loading and weighing
- chemicals)
- Thermometer (for 100 ° C)
- Weighing dropper (for 2 ml)
- Brown vial for storage (for 13.5 ml)
- Brown bottle for temporary storage (for 108 ml)
First of all, let’s start by making solution A.
Write the name of the chemical on the Paraffin paper that weighs each chemical in advance.
Because, on the way, I often don’t know what kind of chemical it is.
Use the smaller medicated spoon to weigh 0.4g of Metol.
Next, weigh 0.4g of Hydroquinone in the same way. (There is no problem even if the weighing value is slightly different)
Next, weigh 4g of Sodium Sulfite, but I think it is easier to weigh a paper cup instead of paraffin paper.
After weighing the chemicals, add about 75ml of distilled water warmed to 50°C to the beaker. (80ml is no problem)
It is OK if it is around 50℃.
Dissolve each chemical in the order described in the developer recipe.
This time, the order is “Metol”→ “Sodium sulfite”→ “Hydroquinone”.
The developer recipes are listed from the top in the order of dissolving, so if you want to try other developer recipes, you can follow that rule.
However, there is one thing to keep in mind.
Before dissolving Metol, which is the main developer, dissolve Sodium Sulfite by “1 pinch” first, and then dissolve metol.
This is because oxidation has already begun while melting metol, so Sodium Sulfite, which is a retention agent, is added first to prevent oxidation.
Also, after completely dissolving the chemical, proceed to the next dissolution of the chemical.
After dissolving all the chemicals, add purified water at room temperature to make a total of 100ml.
Note that it should be 100ml, not 100g.
Solution A is finally divided into 13.5 ml brown vials, but basically, it is cured in a 108 ml brown bottle for one day.
At that time, there is air in the upper part of the bottle, so if possible, blow in a Tetenal protectan spray to remove the air.
Since the component of this spray is butane gas, there is no problem even if you use a pot cassette stove. (No fires!)
Turn the brown vial upside down to see how much air is mixed in.
There is no problem with this amount of air.
It has been confirmed that there was no deterioration for 3 months after the solution A developer was created. Probably, it can be used for half a year to a year without any problem.
It is a photograph of the completed 6 bottles of Sakagawa style high dilution high acutance developer solution A. (These are one shot developers. Once developed, diluted developers cannot be reused.)
There is no photo, but please make the solution B in the same way as the above method.
Since the solution B is Sodium Carbonate alone, it does not deteriorate due to oxidation (no expiration date), so there is no problem even if it is stored in a 108 ml brown bottle.
Rollei RETRO 80S & Sakagawa style high dilution high acutance developer characteristic curve
The “Zone Test” is the best way to verify the results of a self prepared developer.
It is also necessary to take a picture of a typical subject and check the result, but if you quantify it, you can analyze it scientifically.
The method of this “zone test” is described in “What is the proper film negative concentration? About development, ISO sensitivity, and exposure to finish your favorite photo” and “How to Digitize Negative Film Using Photoshop and Digital Camera“, so please refer to that. (Sorry, we have not translated into English, so please use the google translate function.)
The graph below is a zone test graph of Sakagawa style highly diluted high acutance developer.
For comparison, the zone test graph of “PMK Pyro developer” (Sodium Carbonate solution B), which is the developer I use regularly, is also included.
As a result of repeating the “Zone Test” shooting of the Sakagawa style high dilution high acutance developer, “20°C 14min 30sec 30/120/2” was the best result.
“30/120/2” means that the developer temperature is 20°C, the development time is 14minutes and 30seconds, the agitation method is first continuous agitation for 30 seconds, and then the upside down agitation is repeated twice every 2 minutes until the end of the development time.
Look the Sakagawa developer test graph with a solid green line. It is similar to the graph of PMK Pyro developer, but it is because the test was repeated many times to get closer to the characteristic curve of PMK Pyro developer.
It can be seen that the Sakagawa developer has a weaker rise than PMK Pyro in the range of Zones IV to VII in the middle of the zone.
This means that the contrast of the midtones of the Sakagawa developer is weaker than that of PMK Pyro.
In addition, you can see that the angle of the graph is weaker from highlight zone VIII to X compared to PMK Pyro.
This means that the separation of the highlights of the Sakagawa developer is weaker than that of PMK Pyro.
The photo above is an example photo of “Sakagawa style high dilution high acutance developer 20°C 14min 30 sec development 30/120/2 agitation”.
The exposure is taken with ISO80 setting and Automatic Exposure. The shadows are completely black and the highlights are completely white, but with the texture of gold leaf, which is not bad.
Change the amount of Sodium Carbonate accelerator to improve shadow problems
The formula for the Sakagawa style high dilution high acutance developer is that the amount of Sodium Carbonate in solution B is 3.4g per 100 ml, but this has been increased to 4.5g. In addition, the usage amount has been changed from 15ml to 20ml.
The new formula is here.
Sakagawa style high dilution high acutance developer recipe (solution B sodium carbonate increased version)
Solution A (※Same as last time)
- Distilled water (50 ° C) 75 ml
- Metol 0.4g
- Anhydrous Sodium Sulfite 4g
- Hydroquinone 0.4g
- Add distilled water at room temperature to make a total of 100 m
Solution B
- Distilled water (50°C) 75ml
- Anhydrous Sodium Carbonate 4.5g
- Add purified water at room temperature to make a total of 100ml.
In the case of the LPL stainless steel tank developing tank 35 mm example, 250 ml of diluted developer is used, so dilute it to 20 ml of solution A + 15 ml of solution B + 215 ml of tap water.
We predicted that increasing the amount of accelerator would improve the separation of shadow areas. (The graph rises more)
This is because the shadow area completes development at the beginning of development (for example, 3 to 5 minutes from the start of development for 10-minute development).
Even if the development time is extended, the development of the shadow area will not proceed.
Therefore, I increased the amount of accelerator to strengthen the developing action at the initial stage of development.
Also, I thought that it was necessary to shorten the development time so as not to flared highlights, so I originally tried “14 minutes 30 seconds development”, but “9 minutes 30 seconds development”.
The magenta color solid line in the above zone test graph is the graph of “20°C 9min 30sec development 30/120/2 agitation”.
The maximum highlight value for Zone X was a little low, resulting in a soft negative.
However, the line graph of the shadow part of Zones I to IV rose a little and improved.
The above photo is an example photo of “Sakagawa style high dilution high acutance developer (Solution B sodium carbonate increase) 20°C 9min 30seconds development 30/120/2 agitation”.
The exposure is set to ISO100 and manually set with a spot meter, but the scenes I shoot are often dark back alleys, and I want to prevent camera shake and increase the aperture value, so I set ISO80 film to ISO100. I’m shooting. (Actually, the effective sensitivity is around ISO50)
I like to make soft negatives, but this is a little too soft. However, I would like to develop the correct negative with this exposure setting.
Next, I’d like to try to get the maximum highlight value from 220 to 225 in “Adobe Photoshop”.
Change the development temperature to improve the shadow area
Until now, the development temperature was 20°C, but I changed this to 24°C, which is the same as PMK Pyro development, and tried to strengthen the development effect.
It is assumed that the development time is shortened by 30 seconds for every 1°C increase in developer temperature. Therefore, suppose that the same development result can be obtained in “7min 30sec”, which is shortened by 2 minutes from “9min 30sec”. I decided to try it at “8min 30sec”, which was an extension of the development time by 1 minute.
The yellow solid zone test graph above is a graph of “24°C 8min 30sec development 30/120/2 agitation”.
Oops! I missed the prediction a little.
The maximum highlight value for Zone X is a little lower than last time.
However, the line graph in the middle of Zones III to VI rose a little and improved.
The possible reason why the maximum highlight value did not increase may be the limit of the developing capacity due to the small amount of developing agent in the developer.
The above photo is an example photo of “Sakagawa style high dilution high acutance developer (Solution B sodium carbonate increase) 24°C 8min 30sec development 30/120/2 agitation”.
The exposure is taken with the ISO100 setting and the manual setting with the spot meter. This is also a soft negative overall, but the tone of the shadow part is not bad, and I think the texture of the mortar exterior is also good.
Earlier I wrote that the developer capacity of this developer may have reached its limit. However, I predicted that the highlight density could be further increased by extending the development time.
Change the development agitation to improve the shadow area
Until now, I did not change the agitation method, but this time I changed it to “60/120/2”.
The initial agitation for development is changed from 30 seconds continuously to 60 seconds continuously to raise the shadow line. In addition, the development time was “2min30sec” long “11min”, and I tried to increase the maximum highlight density.
The solid light blue line in the zone test graph above shows “24°C 11minutes development 60/120/2 agitation”.
The developer has not yet reached its limit.
However, the maximum highlight value for Zone X was 228, so it’s a little over, but I think it’s within the permissible range.
The line graphs of the midtones in Zones III-VIII were the most risen in this test.
The above photo is an example photo of “Sakagawa style high dilution high acutance developer (Solution B sodium carbonate increase) 24°C for 11minutes development 60/120/2 agitation”.
The exposure is taken with the ISO100 setting and the manual setting with the spot meter. The overall negative film density is not bad, but for some cuts the maximum highlight value seems to be a bit too high.
Since highlights can be flare highlights, it seems better to shorten the development time a little more as basic development data.
Finally, I set the basic development time of Rollei RETRO 80S film using “Sakagawa style high dilution high acutance developer (solution B sodium carbonate increase)” To “24°C, 10minutes development, 60/120/2 agitation“.
In this way, test development is repeated, development data is collected, and the final basic development time is determined.
summary
Finally, I have summarized the knowledge I gained from practice to control black-and-white film development.
- The higher the dilution, the sharper the developer. (Because the amount of sodium sulfite is reduced)
- Development progresses faster in the highlight area (higher density part) and slower in the shadow area (lower density part).
- When the number of agitations is reduced, the development progress of the highlight part (higher density part) becomes slow. (Because more bromide is generated around the developer in contact with the higher density part)
- Development of the shadow area (lower density part) is completed at the initial stage, and after that, even if the development time is extended, the development does not proceed.
- Increasing the amount of sodium sulfite used as a retaining agent makes the particles finer and less likely to oxidize. (However, it will not be a sharp image)
- As the number of agitations increases, the progress of development becomes faster.
- Agitation is a means for controlling development, not for eliminating uneven development.
- The method of increasing the concentration of the shadow portion (lower density part) is to increase the amount of Sodium Carbonate as an accelerator or lengthen the initial continuous stirring time.
- When the amount of the developing main agent is reduced, the sharpness becomes high and the equalizing effect becomes high. (I think so.)
- The developer temperature does not have to be 20°C.
And so on.
The hobby of film photography can be said to be “Repetition of chemical experiments”.
In the case of the film used for the first time, if the development according to the standard data does not give good results, the next step is to make a prediction and try it.
If you still don’t agree with the result, make more predictions and try again.
The development standard data is published in combination with many films and many developers. However, the quality of the water used, the accuracy of the thermometer, etc., vary greatly depending on the development environment, so it is only a guideline for the first development.
Film photography does not work even if you follow the manual.
However, this is the real pleasure of film photography.
In other words, digital photography is a relationship between multiplication and division, and film photography is a relationship between multiplication and division, plus addition and subtraction, and is no longer a simple proportional inverse proportional relationship.
The the real pleasure of analog film photography is that you can’t predict the results perfectly.
However, now that we can quantify the results using digital cameras, Photoshop, etc., I think that I can enjoy more analog photography hobbies than in the days when there were only analog means.
“Use digital as a means to achieve analog goals.”
I think we are entering an era where analog photography is more enjoyable than it used to be.