Processing kodak Tri-X super 8

Søren Haandbæk · August 14, 2019

I want to shoot film.

At first, the idea of still photography seemed kinda lame, for an unknowing little poop like myself. So i armed myself with a Canon 310 XL, and three rolls of vision 3 200T, bought from wittner cinetech, in Berlin, Germany. They were pretty expensive, compared to my budget, but i managed it. I shot them succesfully (as far as i know) and i had hoped to send them off to Andec, to get a positive print made, and then watch it in a projector, my trusty Bauer T3 super. (https://thumbs.worthpoint.com/zoom/images1/360/0114/03/bauer-t3-super-projector_360_399f5da21b9cc22abea677822bc101ba.jpg) But, the whole development process was almost even more expensive, than the film itself. Now that i have shot it, my plan is to have it developed some other place (i have found a british one, a lil' cheaper), and then digitally transferred. Then later, if i want to, i can just have a print made from the negatives. To reduce the cost of this entire process further, i thought I'd just convert to shooting B/W film. The only monochrome stock available for super 8 is Tri-X, so that is what i'd be going with in the future. I had originally asked my chemistry teacher if i could borrow a few chemicals for development, and she was very interested, since there haven't been any such things going on in the school for the last 50 years or so. I had some sulfuric acid, and sodium-thiosulfate. It has been a long time since i researched all that, and even when i did, i thought the process was for colour film. Anyway, i now have permission to borrow a few things from there, and i have something that with a bit of ducttape and cleaning, could be a nifty dark-room. But, after asking my only source of film-knowledge, Noah from analog resurgence (he is an awesome guy, go check him out youtube.com/channel/UCL9A6v7YSOOVXwCpao6Bszg ) how reversal monochrome was different from negative monochrome, development-wise, he began listing a second exposure, bleacher, extra development, but after a long time of not seeing development tutorials, and really having no clue how to mix Noah's instructions into what i already know, i am in need of help!

I want to do a traditional dark-room development, no tanks, just buckets/trays. Film equipment is not really available here in the northern part of Denmark, but i have been able to make something (hopefully) work. I found some of my grandpa's old negative monochrome still-photo film, along with some high quality cameras. This film is badly expired, and badly stored. I will be very surprised if i can get a picture out of it, but it is more an excuse to use the camera, get a feel of the media. Fx., i learned how to rewind the film. The first few times it snapped, because there was a button you had to press, before one of the "film rollers" (i think that's what they're called) would move, probably to make sure the film was well-stretched while shooting. Anyway, i want to learn to develop both negative and reversal monochrome, since i have also found a 120 camera, that i want to use. An agfa billy clark 74, from sometime between 1934 and 1940. https://www.mikeeckman.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/04/AGFAClack4.jpg, and i want to develop the film as well. (On the topic, how do you remove the backing paper? Is it fastened to the film at all, or simply mounted on the roll like the film is?)

How do i develop black and white reversal, and how do i develop black and white negative?

Edited August 14, 2019 by Søren Haandbæk

Mark Dunn · August 14, 2019

120 film is attached to the backing paper only at the head of the roll. Just unroll the exposed film, feed the tail end onto the developing spiral, load the spiral, then separate the backing paper at the head- it's held on with paper tape.

Dish developing rollfilm isn't practical so you will need a Paterson or similar tank.

Byron Karl · August 14, 2019

Hey Søren, this exact topic (hand developing Tri-X reversal into negative) was covered last week in this thread:

Might not help you, as you end up with a negative image that wouldn't be great to project. You can scan it, but the density fluctuation of DIY processing throws off a scanner's ability to see the sprockets for registration. My only success was using an old-school scanner that used pin registration.

Søren Haandbæk · August 15, 2019

16 hours ago, Byron Karl said:

Hey Søren, this exact topic (hand developing Tri-X reversal into negative) was covered last week in this thread:

Might not help you, as you end up with a negative image that wouldn't be great to project. You can scan it, but the density fluctuation of DIY processing throws off a scanner's ability to see the sprockets for registration. My only success was using an old-school scanner that used pin registration.

No, i have seen similar posts, but honestly, the amount of information at once really baffeled me, and i gave up. Much easier to just ask myself ?