c/analog-photo-lounge

I finally tried pushing Tri-X to 3200 and I don't get the hype

Everyone online says Tri-X at 3200 has that "magic" look with crazy grain and contrast. I shot a whole roll at a dim bar in Austin last weekend and developed it with HC-110 for 15 minutes. The negatives came out so dense I could barely scan them, and the grain was just MUDDY not artistic. I compared two frames from the same roll where I shot one at box speed 400 and one pushed. The 400 shot had way more detail in the shadows and cleaner highlights. Am I missing something in my development or is this just a trend that people pretend to like?

Accidentally left my film in the trunk during a heatwave

I was shooting around downtown Austin last July and left a roll of Portra 400 in my car for like 4 hours. When I developed it at home the colors were all weird and the base looked foggy. Has anyone else had film get cooked by heat like that?

A comment at a gallery opening made me rethink my whole metering approach

Last weekend I had a print hanging in a small show downtown and an older photographer pointed out my shadows were all underexposed by about a stop. He was right - I was so focused on holding highlights that every negative came out thin in the darkroom. Has anyone else had someone call out something obvious you'd been missing for years?

My first attempt at stand developing with Rodinal convinced me it's not just a gimmick

After three rolls of HP5 came out perfectly even with zero agitation streaks, I'm officially a convert - has anyone else had their doubts about a technique blown away by a single test roll?

Battle of the developers: Caffenol vs. Rodinal for cheap home developing

I spent last weekend testing Caffenol (the coffee and washing soda mix) against my usual Rodinal for a roll of Tri-X 400. The Caffenol gave me this weird, grainy look that I actually kinda dig for street shots, but my buddy says it's just inconsistent and Rodinal is way more reliable. Has anyone else tried both and found one clearly better for certain types of photos?

Watched my developing tank explode on a Sunday afternoon

I was developing a roll of Tri-X from a hike up in the Cascades last weekend. Everything was going fine until I went to pour out the developer and the top of my Patterson tank just popped clean off. Chemical went everywhere, all over my kitchen counter and onto the floor. I just stood there for a second with my hands up, covered in wet film and D-76. Turns out I forgot to seat the lid properly before I started agitating. Lost the whole roll of 36 exposures and had to spend two hours cleaning up. Has anyone else had a tank failure ruin a roll like this?

Developing B&W film in my kitchen got way easier after a trip to the hardware store

Last month I was getting frustrated with temp swings in my sink during winter, so I picked up a cheap fish tank heater for $15. Now I put my chemical bottles in a plastic tub with the heater set to 68F and they stay rock steady for the whole session. Has anyone else tried aquarium gear for temp control or am I the only one going this route?

DAE get told to stand further back from your subject and it ruined your shot?

A buddy at the camera shop in Portland told me to always back up at least 6 feet for portraits with my Pentax 67 to avoid distortion. I tried it on a whole roll of my niece's birthday party and everyone came out looking tiny in a giant room of balloons. Now I'm wondering if that advice only works for certain lenses or distances. Anyone else get specific advice that totally flopped for their setup?

Pre-soaking film before developing actually fixed my streaky negatives

I kept getting these weird uneven streaks on my Tri-X 400 rolls, especially in the sky areas. Everyone on here kept telling me it was my agitation technique or my developer temp was off. After 6 months of trying different methods and wasting a dozen rolls, I decided to try a 2 minute pre-soak in distilled water at 68 degrees before pouring in the developer. First roll came out perfectly smooth with zero streaks. I know the popular opinion is that pre-soaking messes with development time, but for my water and my tank setup it was the fix. Has anyone else had a similar experience where going against standard advice gave you better results?

I spent 3 years washing my negatives wrong before a guy in Portland set me straight

I always ran my negatives under tap water for like 5 minutes after the stabilizer step. Thought that was normal. Then I was at a photo meetup in Portland last spring and this older guy asked why my prints had that blueish haze. He told me to use distilled water with a drop of Photo-Flo for the final rinse and then just hang dry without touching. Tried it that night and my negatives came out crystal clear for the first time ever. Has anyone else had a 'wait I've been doing this wrong' moment with their developing routine?

Wasted $60 on a bulk lot of expired film from eBay,

I bought a 20-pack of Kodak Gold 200 from a seller who said it was stored in a cool basement. The price was too good to pass up at $3 a roll. Developed the first three rolls and got nothing but faint, muddy blobs. Checked the expiration date and it was from 2004, not 2012 like the listing claimed. The seller ghosted me after I asked for a refund. Has anyone else had luck with expired film from that era or is it always a gamble?

Gave $40 for a bulk lot of expired film and got nothing usable

Found a seller on Facebook marketplace offering 20 rolls of assorted 35mm film for $40, claimed they were stored cool and dark. Every single roll came out with heavy fogging and color shifts, even the ones I shot at box speed. Anyone else get burned on 'stored properly' expired film deals?

That camera shop in Portland had mold on every lens they sold

I stopped by this vintage camera store on Hawthorne last Saturday... thought I'd found a goldmine with all those old Canons in the window. But when I asked to look at a 50mm f/1.4, the glass had this fuzzy haze inside - mold, plain as day. Checked three more lenses from their shelf and every single one had it too. The guy behind the counter just shrugged and said 'that's patina'... you believe that? Has anyone else run into shops passing off damaged gear as 'character'?

Spent $75 on a proper film drying rack and it saved me from dusty negatives

I was always hanging my developed rolls in the shower with clothespins... got dust specks all over two really good portraits from a hike last weekend. Picked up a collapsible drying rack with clips from a camera shop downtown for about $75. First roll I dried on it came out spotless, no more fiddling with the bathroom fan. It folds flat too so I can store it behind my desk. Anyone else have a cheap setup they swear by for drying film?

Picked up a bulk lot of expired film and my results got way better after two months in the fridge

I bought a box of 40 rolls of Fuji Superia 200 from an estate sale for $20 back in May. First roll I shot looked flat and grainy, like someone washed it in dish soap. Then I stored the rest in my beer fridge for about 8 weeks, and the next roll came out with way more contrast and less color shift. Anyone know if letting expired film sit cold longer actually helps the chemistry settle back down?

Just checked my thermometer against a lab grade one... 2 degrees off for months

I found out my kitchen thermometer was reading 2 degrees too low when I borrowed a friend's certified lab thermometer last weekend. Turns out all my film development times have been off for the last 6 months because I was actually processing at 100F instead of 102F. That explains the weird contrast issues I kept noticing on my HP5 rolls. Has anyone else had a cheap thermometer drift on them without realizing it?

My uncle swore by using hot water for film development. He was dead wrong.

Last winter my uncle said to heat my chemicals to 75 degrees for better development. I tried it with a roll of Tri-X and got a grainy mess that looked like it was from 1970. Turns out 68 degrees exists for a reason. I ruined 3 more rolls before looking up the official times. Cost me about $15 in wasted film and chemistry. Has anyone else gotten bad advice from old-timers that seemed confident but was off?

Why does nobody talk about how bad tap water is for developing film?

I spent 6 months getting muddy negatives and thought it was my chemistry mixing. Finally ran out of distilled water one night in Portland and used filtered tap instead. The whole roll came out clear and sharp. Now I check my water hardness at 180 ppm and switch to distilled for the stabilizer step. Anyone else fight with water quality and not realize it?

Last Saturday my developing tank leaked and I lost a whole roll of portraits from a friend's wedding

I mean, I've been developing at home for about two years now and mostly it's fine, but last weekend was just a mess. I loaded the film onto the reel in my changing bag, got it all sealed up, and then halfway through the developer step I noticed a puddle on the counter. Turns out the cap on my Patterson tank wasn't tightened all the way, so I lost maybe 100ml of chems and the entire roll came out half developed and splotchy. On the flip side, I had a day two months ago where everything clicked - no dust, perfect temperature, and I got six crisp negatives from a hike up at Mount Rainier. Has anyone else had a tank leak ruin a special set of shots, or am I the only one who forgets to double check the lid?

Pushed my development times by 30 seconds on expired film and it fixed my muddy shadows

$60 wasted on a 'film drying rack' I could have built for $5

Bought one of those fancy nylon film drying racks off Amazon for $60 thinking it would be a game changer for my home developing setup. Thing showed up and it's basically a plastic frame with some clips, nothing special at all. First time I used it, the clips left little dimple marks on the edges of my 35mm rolls that I had to crop out of every scan. My buddy down at the camera shop in Detroit laughed his head off and showed me how he just uses a $5 wooden clothes hanger and some binder clips from the dollar store. Works perfectly, no marks, and you can hang three rolls at once easy. Wish I had asked around before I clicked that buy button. Anyone else waste money on a tool that turned out to be junk?

NEVER trust a garage sale film processor. Learned the hard way

Picked up a Jobo processor from a sale in Portland last month for $40. Ran my first roll of Portra through it and the chemicals cooked the film because the temp gauge was off by 15 degrees. Has anyone else gotten burned buying used developing gear from random sellers?

Tried developing a roll of HP5 at home last night and my thermometer was off by 4 degrees

I was in my basement at 11pm mixing chemicals for a roll I shot at my sister's wedding, and when I pulled the film out it was completely clear except for the edge markings, so now I've got no photos from the ceremony and a lot of explaining to do. Has anyone else had a thermometer fail mid-session like this?

Hit 100 rolls developed at home today. That's a lot of fixer.

Started developing b&w film in my bathroom two years ago. Just counted my negatives and realized I've done 103 rolls. That means I've probably spent over $800 on chemicals and gear if I add it up. Anyone else track their roll count and get surprised?

Hot take: That tip about not shaking your developer is overblown

My buddy Dave kept telling me I had to stop shaking my developer bottles before pouring them. He said I was ruining my negs with micro bubbles. I tried it his way for maybe 6 rolls of Tri-X last month and honestly my grays looked flatter than before. I went back to my old method of a gentle swirl (not a full shake, mind you) and my contrast came back like I wanted. I develop at home in my bathroom using a Paterson tank at 20 degrees C. Has anyone else found that the anti-shaking advice actually makes things worse for certain films?