I have just started Photography, and I need to know the neccessary chemicals to develop B&W film. Using Kodak B&W 100.

Thanks a lot, Torie F.

-- Torie Ferguson (crazy_bout_country@hotmail.com), December 30, 2001

Answers

Torie, what do you mean by "Kodak B&W 100"? Do you mean T-Max 100? Anyhow, in case of 'regular' b&w film, as opposed to chromogenic [C- 41] film, here is what you need:

B&W Film developer [use T-Max Developer if you are developing T- Max film]

Stop Bath

Fixer

Fixer Remover [somewhat optional, but cuts down on the washing time]

Photo Flo [also optional, but highly recommended so your negs don't show water stains] [Photo Flo is a Kodak product, other companies make similar stuff]

I recommend you buy liquid chemicals that you then dilute with water. I find them easier to use than powders. Every photographer has their own favorite brand/concoction of the above chemicals. So, you will get lots of different answers. However, you can't go wrong using if you buy Kodak, Ilford, Sprint, Arista, or any other brand names of the above for starters.

chris

-- Christian Harkness (chris.harkness@eudoramail.com), December 31, 2001.

Same answer as above, but you can save money using diluted acetic acid as stop bath. I believe it's something like 25mL glacial acetic acid and water to make 1 litre.

-- Esben Rossel Torbensen (rossel81@icqmail.com), December 31, 2001.

I recommend to use plain water rinse instead of acetic acid stop bath. I also recommend to use Ilford Multigrade rapid fixer 1+4 for film, and use plenty of water rinse for archival quality. No need to keep a separate fixer remover. (With most other fixers I do not recommend to cut the fixer remover stage. So this fixer allows you to simplify the process without losing anything, at least in terms of negative permanence.)

Basically, you just need at a minimum of one developer and one fixer as far as film processing chemical is concerned.

-- Ryuji Suzuki (rsuzuki@rs.cncdsl.com), January 03, 2002.