Developing My Large Format Film

I was quite nervous about developing my film because I would finally see how my image turned out and whether I worked the large format camera well!

We developed our film using tray development because it gives a much more even development than a tank.
A huge benefit of this way of developing is that the sheets you can develop an unlimited number of film sheets using the same chemicals, which will reduce costs when you bulk develop as chemicals can get very expensive!

First, we set everything up in preparation as we have to develop in pitch black and won't be able to do this if we can't see! So we set everything up first, and take the film out last when the lights are out.

1. Set up the water bath - this is just a tray full of water that must be 20°C.
2. Set up the developer tray - at the university we use ID-11, a fine grain film formula. It must be mixed 1:1 with water, and the overall temperature must also be 20°C. You can assure this by first measuring out the developer and seeing what temperature it comes up at. Luckily at the university it's often room temperature which is about 20°C so we don't have to worry too much. After you've taken the temperature of the developer you can work out the temperature that the water needs to be at to compensate- for example if your developer is 22°C you can just make the water 18°C to make an average of 20°C. For our developing tray we did 500ml of each which covered our film sheets well.
3. Set up the stop tray. The stop stops the development of the film. A certain amount isn't necessarily needed here, as long as it coats the film. This can go back in the container to be reused anyway.
4. Set up the Fix/Hypo tray. As with the stop, you don't need to measure a specific amount as this can be reused. Without the fix, your film can get sepia tones or go mottled. Be careful when preparing this as it stains clothes.
5. Prepare two more water baths. This doesn't need to be a specific temperature.

The trays must be set up form start to finish in that order to prevent confusion and muddling, resulting in improperly developed film.

The temperature of the first water bath and developer are important generally but if there's an extreme temperature difference then reticulation can occur. Reticulation is when the emulsion layer on the film becomes distorted due to the particles in the emulsion clumping together by shrinking or expanding due to harsh temperature differences from bath to bath.

To begin the development process you must turn off the lights as to not expose and ruin your film.

1. place your film in the water bath, with the first bit of film having the notches in the top right hand corner. This way you'll be able to get the first one in to be the first one out and into the next tray. This water bath allows the film to get up to temperature while also removing the anti-halation layer which protects the film from scratches. This will dye the water green as that's the colour of the layer.
   It's important to not that when the film is wet the emulsion side is incredibly sensitive to scratches and marks. Everything you do from now but be super careful or you can get deep marks on your negatives.
   This only needs to be done for one minute however more time won't harm the film as it's only water.
2. Locate your first piece of film and move it to the next tray, the developer. This needs to be timed for 13 minutes for the HP5 film sheets I used. If you have two sheets of film in the tray, you'll need to agitate the film every 15 seconds, if you have more the this can be a little more often to reduce the time gap between each film getting agitated. We developed with 4 sheets at a time and agitated around every 13 seconds.
   Agitation is done by taking the bottom sheet and bringing it to the top. Be careful when doing this as contact with nails can and will cause marks on the film.
   The amount of agitation you give also determines the contrast of the image. The more agitation the more contrast your negative will have.
   At the halfway point, which was 6 minutes 30 seconds for me, you need to locate the first sheet of film using the notches in the top right hand corner and turning it 180° so the first bit of film has its notches in the bottom left hand corner. After all the film has been turned, continue to agitate. We turn the film to ensure the most even development.
3. Locate the first piece of film with the notches and move it to the stop tray. This stops the development from going and further. The film only needs to be in this tray for 1 minute.
4. Locate the first bit of film and move the film pieces over to the fix tray. This needs to be done for approximately 5 minutes and agitated every minute. If you over fix the negative can have some of the shadow detail removed.
5. Locate the first bit of film and put it in the first water bath. The lights can now be turned on! This process removes any excess chemicals. After one minute, put the film sheets in the next water bath.
6. empty the previous water bath down the drain and refill it. After 1 minute in the other tray, put the film in the tray you just refilled for another minute. Now empty the tray they were just in. Repeat this process for 10 cycles.
7. After the 10th cycle, add some wetting agent to one of the trays. You only need a couple of drops. Wetting agent ensures that the fix won't affect the negative by staining it in the years to come.
8. Dry the film by using a film hanging clip and piercing the pin-like parts in the very corner of your negative. You can hang up the film in a machine drier, but make sure that you run the cabinet before putting in your negatives or dust can stick to them.
9. Be sure that after 10-30 minutes you check on your negatives and remove any water droplets that can accumulate in the bottom corner as the negative dries, simply by wiping it gently with your finger.
10. Pour all the water trays down the sink, and the developer in the recycling containers as this cannot be reused. The stop and fix can be put back in their original containers.
11. Wash up any jugs, trays etc you use for the next people to use.

I found this process easy to understand yet at the same time a little bit nerve wrecking as some things are so easy to mess up, and if I didn't mess up the development the shooting could have gone wrong. Luckily, all was well and the negatives did come out well!

You can develop for more or less time. As discussed in my reciprocity post, you can develop at N-1 or N+1 etc. Normal development time is just 'N'.
N-1 is when you take a minute off the development time in order to bring down the highlights. This is how you'd develop your film if you used reciprocity while shooting.
N+1 adds about a minute and a half added to the development time, this gives your negative more tonal range and textures.
This does change the characteristic curve of the film as so;

As you can see, the curve of the films zones move along the zones when you change the development time. The blackest blacks are at the shoulder (curved bit) of the tonal curve, and when you reduce or increase the tonal range you change the point of where the curve lays.