How to Develop Your Own 35mm Film Negative

Developing your own 35mm film requires technical skills and film developing equipment. While it's easier to bring the exposed film to the nearest film lab near you, there could be some of you who actually have darkrooms and other film developing materials around the house. Your parents or even grandparents may have used them decades ago. And you might be interested to know how to actually develop a film by yourself.

Nowadays, those who experience film developing and printing in a real darkroom using the old school way are mostly the film and photography students.

If you really want to experience film developing on your own and you have access to a film developing tank and reel and a darkroom, or at the least, a changing bag or black box, or maybe you have a bathroom or any available room inside the house which you can turn into a darkroom (meaning, the door and windows, though better if there are no windows, can get completely covered to make sure no light passes through within the room), just buy the film developing chemicals and you are ready to go.

These instructions are intended for those who are completely new to film developing and those who used to do it and now needs to brush up on it. I wrote the article without being too technical and I used words easier understood by most people than going through every small detail of the film developing process-which may result to an article at least five times this one's length. This is a good start-up article for people to understand the work to be done. After reading through, you can easier apply the more detailed steps with all the technical terms (good sites where you can get valuable information include Darkroom 101 at Digital Truth Photo, How to Develop Your Own Film at Chromogenic and Kodak Express: Old Film Processing and Developing). By then, you already have a clearer picture of the concept of film developing and following the technical, comprehensive, detailed and crucial procedure involved in film processing. So read on and explore the art of film photography!

Steps:
Step 1
Prepare the tank where the film will be placed. Get one reel where you will wind the film, along with scissors and film chemicals needed for film developing.

Step 2
Put the the tank, reel, film canister and tools inside a darkroom or in a black box (a container with two holes in front where you can put your hands inside the box without opening it) or a change bag where the materials don't get exposed to any light.

Step 3
Load the film by removing it from the canister. Handle the film by the edges to avoid putting fingerprints on the film (and possibly getting it scratched as well). Attach the end of the film into the little tabs in the reel. Twist the reel back and forth until it is completely wound around the reel. Make sure that the little ball bearings under the tabs are properly used to grip the film around. Put the reel into the tank and screw the lid tightly so the film is safe in the lightproof tank.

Step 4
Develop the film preferably using Kodak developing chemicals. Fill the tank with water through its top hole. Let the film soak for a minute then pour it out. Get your stopwatch or timer, and depending on the ISO/ASA, also commonly known as the film speed which is stated in the film canister or film box upon purchase (usually ASA 100, 200 and 400), you must put the developer steadily inside the tank and time it anywhere between seven and 12 minutes. The film should be completely submerged, then agitate the tank (flip it over and over several times) for ten seconds, once every minute.

For old films, the basic idea is that the quality of the photo you'll get won't be as good as those you develop right away. If you're developing old film, add maybe another minute or so (depending on how old the film is) before removing the developer. There's no exact rule about the timing especially with old or expired films, so it's up to you to add a few seconds or minutes. As an idea, for a one year old film, you may add something like 30 seconds of developing time.

Step 5
Remove the developer, then readily fill the tank with water for the stop bath. This removes the chemical significantly left in the tank. Shake it a bit, replace the water, then remove the second set of water inside the tank.

Step 6
Put the fixer. Agitate for 10 seconds, once every minute, for five to 10 minutes. Wash it thoroughly with water as there shouldn't be any fixer left on the film when it's drying.

Step 7
Put the final chemical called the wetting agent which helps prevent water spots. Pour a very small amount of the chemical then fill the tank with water. Leave it for 20 seconds then pour it out. Take the reel out of the tank. Clip one end of the film and hang it. Allow it to dry for a few minutes. Once done, cut the negatives with four to five frames each set.