Developing your own film

My school lets me use the darkroom.

You'll need a lot of equipment. A darkroom for one. An enlarger also.

And chemicals.

Are you sure its worth it to you?

not at all.

you dont need a darkroom, you can do it in one of those pop up changing bags.

chems are also relatively cheap, in the long run cheaper than paying to get stuff developed.


and an enlarger isnt essential. develop your negs, scan them and print digitally.

What do you use?

If you're developing Black and white I'd highly suggest using Kodak HC110 Developer. It's the most convenient for home developing since you can dilute a small amount to develop only 1 or 2 rolls at a time. Don't fuck with powder chemicals, they are highly toxic and not worth the time to mix and store them. Also get the stainless steel reels instead of the plastic ones. They're a bit harder to spool the film but you get use to it. You also don't really need a changing bag unless you don't have a closet or another room with no windows. Just put a towel in front of the door to block excess light. Check out http://www.freestylephoto.biz/ they usually just rebrand Fuji and Kodak shit anyway.

all true. powder is terrible. and the metal is way better than the plastic.

No way, you can definitely do it pretty much anywhere.

Either get a changing bag or find a room with no windows and tape the door cracks. Then you just put your film onto the reel, put it in the tank, and you're set. You could watch tv and develop black and white.

The only thing is remember to dispose of your chemicals CORRECTLY.

Once you get a bag, tank, reels, and chemicals, you're set. Mind you, this is for developing only, not printing.

Its really rewarding and gives you a grater understanding of where photography came from. A lot of photoshop tools came from darkroom techniques ie: dodge & burn

It can be frustrating at first, but don't give up. Also exparament w/ medium format film in TLR cameras. One of my favourite things

SHould I get a negative scanner or just an enlarger, I know enlargers are expensive and all teh photo paper is but does a scanner give you the same results

Not quite. If you're gonna get an enlarger you're gonna need a dedicated dark room for all the tanks and chemicals. I'd honestly just buy an Epson 4490 to start or if you want go for the V500 if you have the cash. Then if you ever really wanted to get a darkroom print you could just go to your local photo lab and have them do it but it's not really practical to buy an enlarger if you're not going to build a darkroom in your house.