From: Robert Schaller (email suppressed)
Date: Thu May 22 2008 - 20:15:35 PDT
I also want to praise Ken Paul Rosenthal's piece "antidote," which is an
excellent discussion of processing with a kit (and with his distinctive and
wonderful voice!)(although I think it's better not to let the film run all
the way out, if possible, and so not need to use a hammer in the dark --
ouch!).
Robert Schaller
On 5/22/08 9:18 AM, "Robert Schaller" <email suppressed> wrote:
> Not to be contrarian, but having processed with tanks and without, in many
> gauges, I process everything in buckets. I find that if the solution volume
> is great enough (~2 gal each for 100' of 16mm, ~1 gal for S8), and you
> agitate carefully, you get a very clean result. There are several
> advantages to this: the times are as short as they can be; there are fewer
> spots where the film touches and doesn't develop; and there are fewer
> scratches than using an 8-reel tank; you have immediate access to the film
> for Sabattier or reexposure or anything else; there is no loading geometry
> to figure out in the dark, neither threading nor cramming; you have direct
> control of things like how clean or scratchy you want the result to be; and,
> it's less expensive if you are in it for the long term. The Lomo-style
> tanks that require winding produce a very clean result, but the times are
> LONG, too long for me! On the downside, processing in buckets uses a larger
> volume of chemistry than most kits make. For me, this is not a problem: if
> you are doing multiple rolls or doing it over a period of time, you store
> your chemistry and reuse it.
>
> I think it's really a matter of taste, and of how you want to work --
> and how much work you have to do. I guess my thinking about it is summed up
> on the handmadefilm website. But I would say that what Ken describes is ONE
> way of working, that may be suitable to what you want to do and how you want
> to do it, or not. To say that there is one best way is like saying there is
> one best shoe size. I'm an advocate of mixing and storing your own, rather
> than using kits, but that's probably not right for a situation in which you
> only have three rolls to do ever, and only a bathroom to work in.
>
> I would say, evaluate your situation: how much film do you have, what do
> you want to do with it (just straight processing, or something special), how
> long will you be at it, and where are you going to work. Do you have a
> place to store jugs? Can the space be made dark? Do you have a safelight?
> etc..
>
> If you are in it for the long haul and have a place to work, I think
> buckets are the way to go.
>
> Robert Schaller
> handmade film institute
>
> On 5/22/08 12:31 AM, "charles chadwick" <email suppressed> wrote:
>
>> So you just spaghetti process with buckets or
>> whatever? I am looking for the hand processed look,
>> and am not out to get flawless results with a
>> processing tank. If I wanted that, I'd just send my
>> film to a lab. I have used the lomo tank for super8
>> before, and I've bucket processed 16mm print stock. I
>> guess it would be best just to buy some buckets along
>> with my own chemicals and process away.
>>
>> -charles
>>
>> --- "D. Mark Andrews" <email suppressed> wrote:
>>
>>> Charles,
>>>
>>> When I started to process my own cine film a few
>>> months ago, I was a taken
>>> aback by how little is actually out there on
>>> processing small gauge film. I
>>> looked at all the sites mentioned thus far, but
>>> found Ken Paul Rosenthal's
>>> directions the most accurate, thorough, and witty to
>>> boot. Ignore the other
>>> sites and follow his directions. I've processed
>>> about 30 rolls of film using
>>> them with excellent results. For the record, I've
>>> ONLY processed bw reversal
>>> film according to his instructions.
>>>
>>> Ken advocates the tangled-dunk method and this is a
>>> wonderful "look" if it
>>> fits your subject matter. Theoretically you can
>>> achieve a more "lab quality"
>>> product by using one the commercial tanks common 30+
>>> years ago. The Lomo
>>> tank is eastern European made and easy to find on
>>> eBay and the Morse tanks
>>> (American made, which you probably used at SFAI)
>>> come up now and then on
>>> eBay. As far as I know, no commercial tanks are
>>> produced any longer. I
>>> purchased a Lomo tank a few months ago, but haven't
>>> tried it yet. I find
>>> loading the spool with film, using practice rolls in
>>> broad daylight to be
>>> extremely complicated, so I can't quite figure out
>>> how to do it in total
>>> darkness!
>>>
>>> Mark
>>>
>>>
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: Ken Paul Rosenthal
>>> [mailto:email suppressed]
>>> Sent: Wednesday, May 21, 2008 7:31 AM
>>> To: email suppressed
>>> Subject: Hand-Processing Techniques
>>>
>>>
>>> hey charles,
>>>
>>> i wrote this article specifically for those new to
>>> hand-processing:
>>>
>>> http://www.kenpaulrosenthal.com/antidote.htm
>>>
>>> ken
>>>
>>>
>>>
>> ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
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>>>
>> __________________________________________________________________
>>> For
>>> info on FrameWorks, contact Pip Chodorov at
>>> <email suppressed>.
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>> __________________________________________________________________
>>> For info on FrameWorks, contact Pip Chodorov at
>>> <email suppressed>.
>>>
>>>
>>
>>
>> Charles Chadwick
>> humanity, ltd.
>> ---
>> www.myspace.com/chadwickfilms
>> www.bureau-of-intimacy.us
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> __________________________________________________________________
>> For info on FrameWorks, contact Pip Chodorov at <email suppressed>.
>
>
> __________________________________________________________________
> For info on FrameWorks, contact Pip Chodorov at <email suppressed>.
__________________________________________________________________
For info on FrameWorks, contact Pip Chodorov at <email suppressed>.