These are the 15 tips/tricks/errors to avoid that I think afflicted me most when starting out. Having a list like this would have saved me money and frustration I think. I also made a video about these:




1. Even before development: Get rid of dust
a. Wipe holder every time with anti-static brush
b. Clean changing bag or surface every time
c. Clean internal of your camera often
2. Use gloves:
a. Safety
b. No finger oils
c. No warming up spots on the negative (the develop faster)
3. Always use the same tray for the same function
4. Pre-soak the negatives for a more even development start
5. Practice how to transfer a stack of negatives
Wet negatives get slippery, especially from the development bath, transferring more than 4 is difficult
6. Don’t develop too many sheets at one time
a. It is very difficult to transfer a stack of negative
b. You want consistent and rapid shuffling of the negatives, so fewer negatives is better
7. Use a development time that is sufficiently long, ideally more than 7 minutes
If the dev time is long enough, any uneven development that can happen at the beginning or end of the procedure is not going to be very important
8. Use fresh chemicals
a. Single use development (e.g HC-110, that use very little amount of chemicals)
b. Properly seal your stock solution
c. Check expiration dates
9. Shuffle negatives often, every 30 seconds ideally
10. If you develop one single negative, still process two negatives by using a dummy one
a. If you don’t shuffle the negative the procedure will change and there will be the risk of
getting different results, or the negative floating on the surface
11. Push down negative thoroughly – don’t let it float
12. Check your edges – practice shuffling without scratching (see video linked above for a visual explanation)
13. Transfer all negs together
a. (avoid cross contamination and marks)
b. quickly shuffle and stop all negs
14. Washing: Use surfactant at the end of the washing to avoid streaks
a. Consider also to use de-ionized water if water is hard (lots of salts) in your area
15. Use proper stainless stain clips to avoid contamination while drying the negatives