Rolling my own film vs lab development - night and day difference.

So I finally got fed up paying $15 a roll at the lab in Portland and bought a Patterson tank and some chemicals for like $60 total. Figured I'd mess up a few rolls learning. First batch came out grainy and scratched, second batch I actually got the temperature right and holy cow. The blacks are actually black now, not gray. I can push film 2 stops without it looking like garbage. My buddy said I was crazy for trying but now he's asking me to develop his rolls too. Has anyone else had that moment where doing it yourself just clicked?

2 comments

2 Comments

julia_fisher281mo ago

My first roll I tried developing in my bathroom with the tap water way too cold and it was a disaster, totally fogged up and flat. Once I bought a little sous vide stick off Amazon for $30 to keep the water at exactly 68F everything changed. I did a roll of Tri-X at 1600 and the grain was actually sharp and not muddy like when the lab would push it. The biggest thing for me was learning to agitate gently instead of shaking it like a martini, that cut out like 90% of my scratches and uneven develop. Now I get better contrast on my landscape shots than I ever got from the pro lab downtown.

taylor.mary1mo ago

Wait, you're telling me a sous vide stick actually works for film developing? I always thought that was some overkill Instagram photographer trend but hearing you say it fixed your temp issues makes me rethink everything. I used to just run the tap and hope for the best, ended up with so many muddy rolls it was depressing. The agitation thing too - I was definitely that person shaking the tank like a cocktail shaker, thinking more movement meant better results. Your Tri-X at 1600 results sound way better than anything the lab ever sent me back, they always had this weird yellowish tint to shadows. Maybe I need to give home developing another shot with a simple setup like that.