Hello, I am new to the darkroom and am learning by experimenting. I'm sure my question is a very simple one for those of you with experience, when developing film do you develop for the speed of the film or the speed you shot it. I had the wrong film in my camera and took some sports shots with 125 and had to shoot at 400+. Also, do any of you use a film squeegee after the photoflo. I would think that it would harm the negatives, they do look kind of streaky and I wonder if that is why. Thank you.

-- Wendy Frost (RNFrosty@woh.rr.com), June 27, 2001

Answers

1. First, determine your effective film speed and development time. You can find the details in any book that gives a comprehensive coverage of the zone system. With that information you will be able to get consistant results with your negatives and won't have to resort to experimenting and unknowln results. As far as the film you shot, you underexposed the film by almost two stops. You may not have any shadow detail present on the negatives. To bring any life into the mid and high lights you should over develope the film by aboout 40%. Never use a squeegee!! The only thing that should touch your wet negatives after fotoflo is dust-free air. You really should get a book on the basics of photography rather than experimenting. It will save you a lot of time and money. So, unless you're rich or know you'll live to 100, get a book. Good luck, R

-- ricardo (ricardospanks1@yahoo.com), June 27, 2001.

Development only alters the contrast of the film, not the speed. More development = contrastier negatives, but there's really not much you can do by way of development to alter the real speed of a film.
Without getting too technical, the speed of a film is gauged by the amount of exposure it takes to produce an image that's just visible above the base fog level. If you haven't given the film this minimum exposure, then no amount of developing will bring that lost detail out.
More development will give you more easily printed negatives from an underexposed film, but it will never give you any real extra film speed. If you need a high-speed film, then buy a high-speed film to begin with. Sorry, but that's the tough truth of it.

Another tough truth is that using a squeegee will scratch your film. Sooner or later. No matter how carefully you think you've cleaned or checked those nice soft rubber blades, one day they'll pick up a piece of nasty sharp grit, and you'll drag it the length of your film. We've all been there. We've all said, "I'm too careful to let that happen to me" - famous last words. The first time you ruin an important film, that stupid squeegee goes in the bin, so save yourself the trouble and bin it now, or don't even bother to buy one.
Fit a water filter to your tap (faucet), use the very minimum amount of photoflo, and you'll find that a squeegee is totally unnecessary. Besides, drying marks can be washed off again, but scratched film is scratched forever.

-- Pete Andrews (p.l.andrews@bham.ac.uk), June 27, 2001.

Here is an alternate answer on the photo-flo question. After the photo-flo, while the film is hanging, I use a high quality sponge on both sides of the film (simultaneously) with very light pressure. Make sure the sponge has been wet with the photo-flo water and then the liquid wrung out. I have never had a problem with damage to film using this technique, although I do user a fixer with hardener.

-- Michael Feldman (mfeldman@qwest.net), June 27, 2001.

Also a piece of chamois is great for getting rid of excess solution; saturated in photoflo and squeezed out first of course. Never had a problem with my negatives and they dry really quickly using this method.

-- sam smith (ssmith@hotmail.com), June 27, 2001.

Can you find Tetenal products where you live ? (they're German). There is a developer made for that case, it is called EMOFIN. It will develop your 125 film (shot at 400) just like no harm was done... If you can find it, go for it. It is a two bath developer, I have to mention... You can also try to put it in HC-110 Dil. B for 12 minutes (20 degrees celcius)

-- George Papantoniou (papanton@hol.gr), June 27, 2001.

The other guys forgot to mention a very important step, use distilled water with one drop of photoflo for the last 30 second rinse. Then hang untouched to dry. Get the film down the moment it drys and into negative protectors using cotton film handling gloves.

-- Gene Crumpler (nikonguy@att.net), June 27, 2001.

Response to the PhotoFlo question. I just wet my first two fingers with photoflo and run them the length of the film before hanging. They act just like the squeegee, but with no risk of scratching.

-- Terri Shaver (TShaver816@aol.com), July 01, 2001.