Developing Black and White Film

Negative Development

The film must be loaded into the tank in complete darkness. When this is done, the following processing should be followed as carefully as possible.

All liquids must be at 20 C.
All steps must be timed accurately.

A. Film Development

The film is developed in Kodak HC110 (dilution B) for 5 minutes. Each film requires 300 ml of solution, so we measure out 9.5 ml of concentrate and add water to make it up to 300 ml.
The film must by carefully agitated. During the first 30 seconds the tank should be inverted 15 times. After that, the tank must be inverted twice every 30 seconds until the development is completed.
Used developer is poured down the drain.

B. Stop Bath

Use 8 ml of the Ilford stop-bath and add water to make up 200 ml of solution. The film should be bathed in this solution for 2 minute, with one inversion every 30 s.
Used stop-bath is poured down the drain.

C. Fixer.

There is a solution of fixer already made up, and the film should be bathed in this solution for 2 minutes, with one inversion every 20 seconds.
The fixer is then recycled back into the bottle it came from.

D. Wash

Wash the film in running water for 30 seconds.

E. Hypo-Elimination

The film should be soaked in Hypo- eliminator for 5 minutes, to remove any residual fixer.

F. Final Wash

This is a very important stage, as all residual chemicals will be removed during this stage. The film should be placed in running water for at least 5 minutes.

G. Wetting Agent

Five drops of wetting agent should be placed into the water containing the film. (This helps the film to dry evenly without water marks.)

H. Drying

Leave the film hanging to dry in a dust free area. The film will be dry within 12 hours.

I. Storage

Cut the film into strips and place the negatives into the paper sleeves.