Poll: How do you process large format black and white film?

[sharktooth]

I'm trying to get a sense of how people are using b&w large format film these days.

In the prehistoric era, that I'm from, we used to do all the developing and printing at home. Nowadays, it's clear that people see most of their images on screens instead of paper (including this site). I'm wondering how this has impacted the way people are now doing large format b&w film photography.

Do you:

1) Send your b&w film to a lab for processing, and produce primarily digital images as the final output

2) Send your b&w film to a lab for processing, and produce primarily analogue images on paper as the final output

3) Develop your b&w film at home, and produce primarily analogue images on paper that require no digital conversion in any part of the process

4) Develop your b&w film at home, and produce primarily analogue images on paper that require some digital conversion in the process

5) Develop your b&w film at home, and produce primarily digital images as the final output


In 3) and 4) for "digital conversion" I'm thinking of things like inkjet printed negatives used for alt-process contact printing that would require digital scanning of the original b&w negative. Anything that would require the original negative to be digitally scanned.

[Tin Can]

#3 always

[sharktooth]

Just figured out how to add the poll.

[Jim Noel]

#3 for me for over 75 years

[Tin Can]

It is best to have a discussion post about what should be in the poll

[sharktooth]

O.K., I figured out how to add the poll at the top. The poll options are worded a bit differently so they could meet the 80 character limit.

I'd appreciate if the honorable misters Can and Noel could click on the appropriate selections now in the poll list. Thank you in advance.

[Bernice Loui]

That would be# 3 since the 1980's.

Jobo processor, Jobo sheet film drums.

Durst 138 enlarger.

Mix from powder B&W chemistry.

~The Epson scanner is for sharing images via the web only.. and the quality of scans is not that important.


Bernice

[jnantz]

I have no allegiance of how I make the photographs after the film is processed. sometimes I contact print the film in a darkroom or alt process, other times I'll scan the film and have a lab print them or Ill print them on an ink jet printer or laser printer, lately I've been using the sun and contact printing them ( or digitized digital negatives of them ) on photo paper in daylight without developing or fixing ... or I make in camera long exposures and I'll document the image made electronically seeing they are ephemeral ..

[Doremus Scudder]

Analog only for me. The only digital work I do is to copy-photo finished prints and tweak them in Photoshop a bit for display on my website, etc.

Doremus

[Dan6077]

Straight analog at the moment and the foreseeable future
Newly retired so I can spend the time now exploring this world
When I get too old to wet print my negs I may then switch

Dan

[Molli]

Develop at home, print at home. There's no sense in digitising either my negatives or prints because the scanner I have does a poor job and, aside from wishing I could produce a decent copy of my prints for web sharing (more so for critique and queries than exhibition purposes), I only scan everything for the sake of note taking/indexing. I would never produce a hard copy from those scans because 1) they'd be garbage and, 2) my favourite part of using film is winding up in the darkroom.

I think that's #3

[Jim Noel]

O.K., I figured out how to add the poll at the top. The poll options are worded a bit differently so they could meet the 80 character limit.

I'd appreciate if the honorable misters Can and Noel could click on the appropriate selections now in the poll list. Thank you in advance.

Done!
Jim

[Molli]

Just figured out how to add the poll.Just a note, I don't know how many here use Tapatalk, but polls don't show up as such within that app. New discovery for me!
At any rate, I've opened the thread in Web View et voilà, there's the poll.
I've added my answer in properly now.

[sharktooth]

Hey, I just figured out how to add a poll, and now I hafta figure out what Tapatalk is. :)



Just a note, I don't know how many here use Tapatalk, but polls don't show up as such within that app. New discovery for me!
At any rate, I've opened the thread in Web View et voilà, there's the poll.
I've added my answer in properly now.

[Molli]

[emoji846] I'm reading this forum on my mobile phone - my laptop has had the gong. Tapatalk is merely a smartphone application for accessing forums in a fairly simplistic layout. Using it does mean that some features are missing; noticeably galleries on photo forums and, as we're both now discovering, polls.
Now I'm wondering how many other polls I've filled up with my long winded drivel over the years instead of simply ticking a box! [emoji16]

[Alan Klein]

Wow. I'm the only one out of 24 people who's processing in a lab (with scanning at home). The rest of you have a darkroom. I'm impressed. My wife's impressed! ;)

[Kiwi7475]

Wow. I'm the only one out of 24 people who's processing in a lab (with scanning at home). The rest of you have a darkroom. I'm impressed. My wife's impressed! ;)

You don’t need a darkroom at all to develop film, b&w or color. You just need a changing tent and one of the many daylight development methods… (stearman, Peterson, Jobo tubes….) ie. anything but trays!

[Dugan]

#3 for me.

[John Kasaian]

Wow. I'm the only one out of 24 people who's processing in a lab (with scanning at home). The rest of you have a darkroom. I'm impressed. My wife's impressed! ;)

A bathroom with a piece of cardboard over the window works for me.:)

[Fred V]

Door #3

[Two23]

Develop at home using either an SP445 or SP810, scan on an Epson v700 scanner.


Kent in SD

[r.e.]

I develop 4x5 and 8x10 in trays. I make 8x10 contact prints. I'm rethinking 4x5, and I'm interested in the DSLR stitching that @Gabe talks about in this post and the post three below it: https://www.largeformatphotography.info/forum/showthread.php?44249-Large-Format-Landscapes&p=1620201&viewfull=1#post1620201

[Alan Klein]

You don’t need a darkroom at all to develop film, b&w or color. You just need a changing tent and one of the many daylight development methods… (stearman, Peterson, Jobo tubes….) ie. anything but trays!

Since I'm not printing chemically, I don't see the point. It's worth it to me to let a pro lab handle it. I get accurate, clean, flat, and timely processing. Also, the amount of shooting I do just isn't worth home developing.

[sharktooth]

I've been very impressed with Gabe's work as well. It makes me wonder if other people are utilizing new approaches for b&w too. This new hybrid analogue/digital world has really opened up a lot of opportunity for new approaches. It's great to see how people can take it by the horns and run with it.

[ic-racer]

#3 always
For sure this always.

[abruzzi]

i'm looking forward to retirement in 7 years because it means I can trash all the computers in my house, so I really don't want another reason to keep a computer around. I'm not very good with film developing and printing, but I got back into film photography specifically to not have to use a computer to do photography, so I'll keep learning to keep the computers away....

[Merg Ross]

For sure #3. 68 years of tray development, gelatin silver prints.

[j.e.simmons]

#3 since the 60s - mostly in a bathroom. As the place I have now works well for film but poorly for printing on paper, I’ve been experimenting with scanning.

[ajmiller]

#3 - 8x10 B&W in Paterson Orbital

[Wayne]

Home process b&w film, with ONLY digital-free paper images

[FrancisF]

#3 option

[Willie]

I've been very impressed with Gabe's work as well. It makes me wonder if other people are utilizing new approaches for b&w too. This new hybrid analogue/digital world has really opened up a lot of opportunity for new approaches. It's great to see how people can take it by the horns and run with it.

Take a look at the current work of Tillman Crane. Noted for using 12x20 for a long time he is now completely digital for image capture. Then makes a negative so he can do Pt/Pd contact prints. Have seen some 30 inch Pt/Pd prints from his Fuji cameras and they are excellent.

He recently finished the Tenth Year of his Workshop in North Dakota and you see a number of his images from there. Early years were film and he has moved to Digital/hybrid with good success.

[Greg Y]

Always #3. Trays for sheet film. Tanks for roll film. Prints on fiber-based paper. Some contact printing on Azo with an overhead bulb, otherwise a Durst 138 w colorhead and a Beseler 45MXT with a Zone VI VC head.

[Ben Calwell]

No. 3 for me.

[lab black]

#3 ... One at a time, in trays and a bit of music.

[Duolab123]

Large format is all analog for me.

[esearing]

#3 with scans of the print for web display. I imagine this poll would be shaped differently if you took it at Photrio or even Rangefinder forums. Other photo forums they would ask what is film?

[Alan Klein]

I'm embarrassed. I'm the only one of 97 people (so far) who sends his film out to develop and print/displays digitally. Only one other sends it to a lab but prints chemically.

[r.e.]

I'm embarrassed. I'm the only one of 97 people (so far) who sends his film out to develop and print/displays digitally. Only one other sends it to a lab but prints chemically.

I process my own black and white film because it's dead simple, I don't have to schlep it to a lab and back and it's cheaper. Also, I'm impatient and this way I get to see my results right away.

I expect that a significant majority of people are scanning and processing negatives in Photoshop/Capture One.

[wclark5179]

#3

Truth be known, I’ve been lazy for a while and haven’t used my darkroom like I used to. I’m going to spend more time with darkroom work now that winter is drawing near.

[andreios]

#3 indeed. For me, this is part of the beauty and attraction of the whole thing - "hands on" approach, creating physical objects, no screen time involved (unless I decide to share the final print here, obviously :) )...

[kevinjp]

I develop my own film using the SP-445. The ease of use of the SP-445 is what gave me the final push to get into large format a little over a year ago.

Unfortunately I don't have any darkroom access so no printing for me, only scanning with an Epson 4990. Someday I hope to have darkroom access of some sort, but for now I'm just focusing on learning the ins and outs of technique, films and developing.

[Alan Klein]

I process my own black and white film because it's dead simple, I don't have to schlep it to a lab and back and it's cheaper. Also, I'm impatient and this way I get to see my results right away.

I expect that a significant majority of people are scanning and processing negatives in Photoshop/Capture One.

Turnaround time mailing to a lab is about a week. Often, exposed sheets sit in their holders for weeks or months until I get around to sending them out. So another week isn't noticed. But it is nice when it arrives and I can open the package.

I think Photoshop/Capture One is editing but not scanning programs. I use Epsonscan program to scan my Epson V850 scanner. Then I use Lightroom to edit the scans.

[sharktooth]

Thanks to everyone who has clicked on one of the poll options. There's no time limit, so feel free to click one if you haven't yet. You don't have to comment about your selection if you don't want to, so it can be completely anonymous if you wish.

I'm just trying to get a sense of how people are using large format in the here and now. There are clearly many different approaches, and it's interesting to see what others are doing.

[thornhill]

#3 in black and white

[_tf_]

I develop my own film using the SP-445. The ease of use of the SP-445 is what gave me the final push to get into large format a little over a year ago.


I’ve switched to the SP-445 recently from handrotating a jobo tank, and it was definitely worth the expense, being able to process 4x5 film using inversion in just 1/2l of chemicals has been liberating, for the want of a better word.

[sharktooth]

Interesting trend lately. There''s been a significant drop in the percentage of people doing home developing and printing. It used to be over 90% when the poll first started, but down to 65% now.

The biggest uptick appears to be people home developing film, but then going to digital output for final presentation.

[Ulophot]

I can understand the allure of digital and its various strong points. And certainly there are those who use the digital tools only as they would darkroom ones; who can steer clear of the seduction of the "just a little more perfection" that so easily in digital crosses the line into removal of pesky elements and so on. But in general, I simply don't trust digital any longer, because of the pervasiveness of that choice of alteration, and trust in the photographic image remains important to me. (And yes, I know perfectly well about cropping, retouching, multiple printing, etc. in film photography, for artistic or nefarious purposes.)

For me, the challenge continues to lie in accepting the limitations of what I get in the negative and what I can accomplish with it in the darkroom, which, in my view, if hardly a severe limit, even without venturing beyond the limits of lightening, darkening, and contrast. So many great and beautiful images have been created by this means, let alone the decades before ASA speeds, light meters, and muilti-contrast papers. For the kind of images I hope to create, there is no want of high bars to aspire to.

[Serge S]

Presently dev in Jobo & scanning to print.
Have been working to get my darkroom up and running again with a larger sink finally in place and new 4x5 enlarger in place - so I get get back to traditional printing.
Have a bit of trepidation on dust control with my large format negs - really hard to keep the dust at bay - and I am very thorough about cleanliness.
No issues with MF negs though.
My goal is to print 11 x 14
(Back in early 2000's I used to do a wet print to scan on a flatbed Linotype Hell Saphir scanner)

[phdgent]

That would be# 3 since the 1980's.

Jobo processor, Jobo sheet film drums.

Durst 138 enlarger.

Mix from powder B&W chemistry.

~The Epson scanner is for sharing images via the web only.. and the quality of scans is not that important.


Bernice

The same here except for since 1978 (shooting with a used ARCA SWISS, the same as A. Adams had) and the JOBO processor (which is replaced by manual power...).

[jnantz]

A bathroom with a piece of cardboard over the window works for me.:)

Are you still using the Barbie Enlarger, John? Im sure you could sell that thing for a cool fortune these days :)
John

[Tin Can]

Depends on goal

I use a 120 SS film can with the "Waffle" for up to 12, 2X3 sheets, my favorite

I prefer wind my own 35mm 12 shot loads

All 4X5, 5X7, 8X10 Gas Burst in dunk tanks

All ULF by hand in tray and 14X36" by hand see saw

[Scott Davis]

I process all my own film at home. I scan my film because I want to be able to share the images online; however that is not an end goal as I then produce digital negatives for printing in palladium.