First try at developing... success, I think?

[David Whysong]

Hi,

I developed my first batch of 4x5 film a couple days ago, and it seems to have worked pretty well, aside from all the dust spots and some scratches near the edges of a couple negatives (which appear to be from rough handling while loading the film into the film holders).

I developed in Xtol 1:2 for 10.25 minutes. The Nikor tank is a wonder - you can fill it very quickly if you tilt it properly. I practiced filling it with water first, and even a fairly rapid flow from the sink will go right into the tank, and not run over the top of the filling area.

The negatives scanned pretty well, after I spent an hour adjusting the scanner's analog brightness, contrast, and gamma. I'm not using fancy equipment - my scanner (Epson 2480) doesn't even do 4x5, only 135 and 120 so I could only scan about 2/3 of the negative, putting the negative directly on the glass. The scanner also left lines through the image... I need a better scanner.

So it worked, but I'm not sure if I gave the negatives sufficient development. The white areas in the photos is a bit thin; it's only a medium gray in the negatives. I can see through it quite easily. Is this normal? I don't have a densitometer, or any professionally processed negative which I can compare to. Is there any simple way for me to determine if I gave it enough time in the developer?

The scanned image is attached, though you can't tell from this that the white shirt is a bit thin in the negative.


-- David

[Brian Ellis]

The shirt looks perfect to me, you don't want that part of the negative to be black, you'd lose all texture in it and it would just print as a white blob. The simple way to tell if you gave it enough time in the developer is the result, which looks fine to me. If I were printing it I'd burn in the lower left corner since it's a little distracting and isn't important to the photograph. You don't need to make it real dark, just dark enough so that it doesn't distract from the subject. I'd try to do the same thing to that bright area in between the vee in the tree over her left shoulder.

I know I have trouble keeping all the different model numbers of digital equipment in mind but I thought the 2480 would scan 4x5. Isn't that the scanner that's a three generation or so predecessor to today's 4990 or am I, once again, confused?

[David Whysong]

The shirt looks perfect to me, you don't want that part of the negative to be black, you'd lose all texture in it and it would just print as a white blob.

Thanks Brian. But I adjusted the histogram (levels/curves) during and after scanning, so this image is not representative of the negative density.

Thanks for the ideas on burning, I'll try it. I wasn't as careful as I should have been when composing the photo; it was intended to be practice for developing.


I know I have trouble keeping all the different model numbers of digital equipment in mind but I thought the 2480 would scan 4x5. Isn't that the scanner that's a three generation or so predecessor to today's 4990 or am I, once again, confused?

I have no idea; however, the 2480 transparency adapter is made for 135, and the back-light doesn't cover any more than is necessary for small (and perhaps medium?) format.