Black & white film development & processing

Description

Development and processing for a single roll of black-and-white film (zwart-wit film). Developing old Kodachrome as negative is also possible!
Sample images are Coolscan scans of Eastman Double-X developed in 510-Pyro, Analog Amsterdam NOW100 developed in Rodinal 1+50 and Eastman Double-X shot at 800 ISO, pushed 2 stops in D-96.

I can develop 35mm/135, disposables, 120, 220, 620, 126, 127, 110 and 16mm short-ends, up to a maximum length of 150cm per film type. The price is the same for each film type.

TL;DR: Scans are delivered as 16-bit Adobe RGB TIFF files: standard size is 6MP/2000dpi (9MP/1200dpi/3000×2000 for MF), hi-res is 24MP/4000dpi/6000×4000 (44MP/2400dpi for MF). But, I like to give you the flexibility to get your film the way you want it to be, so make sure to read on for some more info.

Development

• I develop your B&W films by hand. When a developer asks for continuous immersion (e.g. D-96) I use my trusty Jobo CPP-2.
• Pushing or pulling film in development costs €2,50 per roll, no matter how many stops, as I need to process these separately from other films.
  • If you send in 8 films (a full processor load) and you want them all developed in the same dev for the same amount of time there is no extra cost: select “None”, and add a note to your order with the amount of stops.
• If you have special requests (for example a bleach bypass or a 3+ stop push/pull), please send me a mail first via the contact form so we can work out the details.
• I do develop souped film but you’ll have to let me know before ordering that you have a souped can. I’ll charge a bit extra as I need to run your film through my processor separately from the rest to prevent damaging other customer’s films.
• I can do old-school hand-prints of your negatives up to 6×9 in the darkroom on satin Fomaspeed Variant (313) paper up to max of 30x40cm! Starting at €7,50. Contact me for a quote!

Choose your developer:

• HC-110 is pretty much the industry standard for black-and-white film development, along with D-76. Both of them are midway between Rodinal and D-23.
• Rodinal is the oldest developer that’s still being made. It gives you the classic Rodinal look: high edge acutance (so high perceived sharpness), but also more visible and larger grain. (It’s my favourite developer for 120 film).
• FX-55 is sometimes called “the last of the great film developers”. It has high edge acutance like Rodinal, but the grain size is a lot smaller. It’s the best of both worlds between Rodinal and XTOL.
• D-96 is the standard developer for cine stocks (Double-X 5222, Cinestill bwXX, Orwo UN54, Ferrania P30, etcetera). It produces a slightly lower contrast negative but retains an amazing amount of detail, especially in the shadows.
• D-23 is a developer with strong compensating characteristics. It dissolves grain for a very finely grained negative, but this comes at a cost of reduced sharpness.
• 510-Pyro is a staining developer, based on pyrogallol. It leaves a “pyro stain” in your negative, which gives really nice results if you use an enlarger to print your negatives.

By default I dilute Rodinal 1+25 and HC-110 in Dilution B. All the other developers are used stock.

Scanning

• All scans are delivered as 16-bit inverted (positive) TIFF files by default, if you prefer JPEGs, add a note. If you want your scans delivered as negative instead, add a note as well.
• I only scan still films, short-ends are not possible. XPan scans are always from the Pakon, with a resolution of ~6000×2000. If you really want XPan scans from the Coolscan, send me a message, but it’ll be expensive 🙂
• Sending 220 film in for scanning will have an additional €5 fee added to your order.
• Keep in mind that the higher the DPI, the more visible the grain! The Coolscan accentuates grain quite a bit, the Pakon is softer.

35mm (Pakon or Coolscan)

• Standard scans are 2000dpi (6MP, 3000×2000) from a Pakon F-135+.
  • More than good enough for sharing online or printing up to 20x25cm without quality loss.
• High-res scans are 4000dpi (24MP, 6000×4000) from a Nikon Super Coolscan 5000 ED.
  • These take a lot of time to do so they’re pricy, but you can easily print up to 40x50cm from most exposures. And your pics will be higher resolution than most Frontier SP-3000 scans!

110/120/220 (Epson V700)

• Standard scans are 1200dpi (11MP, 4000×2250 for 6×9).
• High-res scans are 2400dpi (44MP, 8000x5500 for 6×9).

Processing

• Negatives are cut into strips of 6 and stored in transparent minilab sleeving by default. 35mm can additionally be stored in a ring binder perforated ADOX Adofile sleeve for €0,50.
• I can also leave your roll uncut (add a note to your order), but make sure you send enough plastic canisters with your rolls for me to put the negatives into as I will roll them into a piece of paper which I ship in a canister.

Notes

• Ship your rolls to the address listed on the Contact page. Make sure to note your order number somewhere.
• If you’re shipping films with plastic canisters as a mailbox parcel, make sure to leave the cap off, otherwise they won’t fit through the mail slot!
• If you’re into cinefilms, Analog Amsterdam sells Double-X, which happens to be my personal favourite black-and-white film.
• And, if you want to get those sweet cine negatives at home, I also sell D-96 chemistry kits!