my first time developing film

The camera i used - not my image

To get an understanding of how a camera works it is best to just try it so i started with a manual camera. A manual camera takes more skill to use. Using one will make me think more about my composition and camera settings.

Working with a semi automatic SLR Pentax ME Super with a 50mm lens, I loaded the film into the camera being aware not to get any light onto the film to prevent damaging the film or images. Once the film was loaded and ready for photos to be taken, I went to a local park taking test shots, using a bracketing technique in order to get used to the feeling of a basic manual lens. I attempted make depth of field (DOF) in my photos.

After completely using my film I then got the chance to develop it. In complete darkness to avoid ruining the images, I had to remove it from the camera, unroll it and place it in a lightproof tub. Once inside the tub i had to (for 1 roll of film) put 200ml of developer into the tub along with 200ml of water no more that 20 degrees as this could alter my images . I left the roll of images for 15 minutes making sure that every 2 minutes i turned the tub 3-4 times disallowing the formula to settle. I then drained the lightproof tub of developer and rinsed with water. Next i had to fix the image this works by removing the unexposed silver and leaving the image behind. I left the roll of images for 6-8 minutes making sure that every 2 minutes i turned the tub 3-4 times like the developer before pouring out and rinsing multiple times with water. I then left the pictures to dry and am awaiting results.




bracketing - A technique in which a series of test pictures are taken at different exposure levels in order to obtain the optimum exposure

Depth of field - Distance between the nearest and farthest objects in a scene.