home developing

[rurgis]

hey!
a time ago i stumbeled over this lomo spiral prossesing tank for something like 2$!! im dying to prosess my own b/w film, but i just cant get a hold of the right chemicals(at least not for the bleach).
im currently living in prague, and they tell my such chemicals cant be found in the czech republic(like sulphuric acid++).
what they do sell here is a reversal kit from foma. bit afraid to buy it cus the instruction is in czech, and i dont know how it will work with kodak films.
anyone got any experience with it?
any other advices on chemicals or where to get?

feel crap for not having used my tank yet...=(

[Herb Montes]

This link has most of the chemicals listed:

http://lavender.fortunecity.com/lavende ... loper.html

These have more information on home processing:

http://lavender.fortunecity.com/lavende ... processing

http://www.super8filmmaking.com/s8proc.htm

http://www.geocities.com/gselinsky/

[AziTheGreat]

I've done the reversal process using the potassium dichromate/sulfuric acid bleach, and it's worked very well, but due to the difficulty and expense of obtaining sulfuric acid, I started to look into alternatives. I read one article that suggested the following alternative formula for the bleach:

Potassium Dichromate 9.5 g
Sodium Bisulfite 66 g
Water to make 1L

I am planning to try this alternative formula when I run out of the sulfuric acid, but from my understanding of the formula, it should work. Best of luck.

[Nigel]

I haven't been living in Europe in some time now so I can't say how hard it is to find what you need.

However, if you are in the states and you can't find all the toxins you want then you are not looking. I get Sulfuric Acid sent to my house via UPS for hand processing about every three weeks. I could buy it at the corner chemist but he charges twice as much as it costs to order.

Good Luck

[wahiba]

I have had problems obtaining Sulphuric Acid in the UK. My trip to local battery firms was not fruitful. I have noted the alternative and might give it a try.

As my main interest, initially, was to test cine cameras out I processed the film to negative. This works fine with Kodak materials but Formapan has an extra coat which will only go in the reversal process.

I have a Lomo tank for many years but recently acquired a Minolta tank for 16mm film which takes 30 cm lengths and is ideal for Regular-8 test strips. Super-8 is all Kodak and the problem does not arise.

With the negative film I use my basic telecine set up (camcorder next to projector filming off screen about 1m away) and then reverse electonically. I use EditStudio2 from http://www.purmotion.com which is a budget video editing programme with that facility. It is often available 'free' on UK computer magazines as a taster for version 3, but might be time limited for one minute lengths. It can be bought as a down load. cheaper than Premier, and from personal experience as an amateur just as good.

I do not know if the reversal facility is available with other budget video packages but if it is they will no doubt do.

[Angus]

Any chemical supply company will sell sulphuric acid, the problem is that they might not be willing to supply to private individuals because the concentrated acid they sell is *extremely* dangerous (potentially fatal) if you don't know what you are doing with it.

H2SO4 is one of the most common laboratory bench reagants, but because it is always sold as concentrated and diluted down by the user it can be difficult to buy.

Try your local schools, they will have large quantities in the science department I expect, and might let you have some. What you use in reversal bleach is quite diluted.

Or try to buy a B&W reversal kit from a decent camera shop. They are very common here, I understand the Kodak t-max reversal kit contains a sulphuric acid bleach.

I am lucky enough to work in a school science department, where we buy probably 10 litres of conc sulphuric every year. It is my job to dilute the stuff down to whatever concentration is required so I know what I am doing...I don't recommend amateurs handling the stuff unless you really do know what you're doing because the risks of hurting yourself are quite high.

So I get my bleach from work

[rurgis]

thanks for advices.
had a serach on the net yesterday and read about a huge, old warship in a swedish museum, that they feared would fall appart soon because of the wood produced sulphuric acid, and were tearing itself from the inside!
i was thinking of going there to help them get rid of some, but..

how is the grains with the t-max reversal kit? and how is the quality for the tri-x, when developed as a negative film?

[wahiba]

Actually it is easy to get Sulphuric acid as a 10% solution in the UK. It seems rather an expensive way just to process a couple of films and I have been on the look out for a source more concentrated.

[Angus]

Actually it is easy to get Sulphuric acid as a 10% solution in the UK. It seems rather an expensive way just to process a couple of films and I have been on the look out for a source more concentrated.

Who sells it as 10% solution? All the chemical suppliers we (the school) deal with sell conc only. I'm just hedging my bets for when I leave the school sector, I'd need an alternative supply. As things stand we've got a store full of stuff, I could mix my own D19 if I really wanted :lol:

[wahiba]

This firm supply photographic raw chemicals:

http://www.silverprint.co.uk/index1.html

They also supply film (no cine), paper and processing (including some reversal) packs. I have not tried them yet, but intend having a go soon.

[Giovanni]

Hi everybody,
I just wanted to say that it seems strange to me that you have so many difficulties to find sulphuric acid: I live in Italy, develop my b/w films and use a VERY EASILY available Sulphuric Acid acqueous solution (36%) for the Bleach bath, with excellent results (Constituents of my Bleach: Potassium dichromate (K2Cr2O7) 6 g.; Sulphuric acid acqueous solution 36% (H2SO4) 20 ml.; Water to make 1000 ml.).
I bought a 5 lt. jerry can of it in a common 'car batteries store' (I don't know how you call them), a few years ago: I must have paid it the equivalent of about 5 or 10 dollars, and I have enough Sulpuric Acid to develop two hundreds films...
Giovanni

[wahiba]

Having just returned from an enjoyable two weeks in Tuscany, my first visit to Italy my casual observations are that the Italians are maybe not so paranoid about health and safety as they are in the UK.

I tried a local motor battery and other parts shop and health and safety was the reason they gave for not stocking it.

Another reason might be that it has some connection with drug processing. Similarly mix concentrated sulphuric with concnetrated nitric, soak in cotton wool and you have gun cotton. ( I got that from a 1930s school chemistry book that had belonged to my mother!)

[ds21z]

Can you help me find some -- or a good DIY method. Have a darkroom, but daylight would be nice. Saw on method that required winding the film around a wood form, but it looked unreliable and looked like it would restrict developer flow to the inner layer of film.

Thanks,

[Herb Montes]

Actually on drum or reel processors you generally wind it with the emulsion out. It doesn't matter if the chemicals cannot get to the base side.

[jessh]

Having just returned from an enjoyable two weeks in Tuscany, my first visit to Italy my casual observations are that the Italians are maybe not so paranoid about health and safety as they are in the UK.

They are definatly less paranoid than us crazy americans. When I was in Italy I remember riding the bus and noticing their emergency exits... there were stickers on the windows that said "in case of emergency, break glass" needless to say it was only in english :-) I think that was in Rome...

I also found it amusing that on one of the planes we rode on instead of having an over-wing emergency exit there were dotted lines on the outside of the plan around the window......

I know its off topic, but I couldn't resist :-)

~Jess