Newbie Question - Should I develop film myself or send it to a lab?

[Dugan]

I recommend DIY film processing, but you might consider shooting an extra sheet of film of each scene, and having it processed by a lab...that way you have a backup, and/or a reference neg to help you dial in your processing.

[neil poulsen]

For me, any color film goes to a lab. Black and white film never goes to a lab.

As one gets seriously into black and white, the need grows to being able to control contrast by varying development time. (Versus stop time and fix time, which remain the same.) And, to do one's own testing. Neither can be done through a lab.

[SergeyT]

For me, any color film goes to a lab. Black and white film never goes to a lab.

Same here.

B&W development is a 1,2,3 process that is not very sensitive to the temperature changes. It is hard to mess up B&W film development at home and both film and chemicals are relatively cheap. If the intent is for scanning then even N +/- times become less relevant. After experimenting at the beginning with +/- and not seeing much benefits, I expose and develop pretty much everything at a box speed and develop for "normal" times.
I would skip any other tanks and go from the start with a Jobo Expert one. It can take as low as 290 ml of developer (meaning usage of a "one shot" developer with no waste or risk to run into an issue due to expired or exhausted chemistry) and allows to easily achieve perfectly even development every time.

Color is a different story. The film is more expensive, the chemicals are more expensive. The development times are shorter, more steps, the temps have to be exact, etc. And if the volumes of film are not there then the premixed chemicals have to be stored till the next batch with certain risks of going bad and ruining your next batch of film... or if the next batch is not there soon enough then the premixed chems have to be dumped.
With aiming at getting at least satisfactory results from each and every frame that I expose on color film, just do not see where the savings from in-home development are while the risks of loses are obvious.

[esearing]

To do anything in life you must have these 4 things: Time, Inclination(Desire), Money, and Energy. The ratio of each can vary but you must have all 4. The money requirement can be $0, but you will soon find you want something of value to make the activity easier. Of these, Time is the most precious and fleeting, and thus the Acronym for these 4 things is TIME.

[Exploring Large Format]

Mixing pancakes is easy flipping them is a challenge��

Love this! Says it all.

I started a year ago with the Stearman SP-445 tank and his chemicals. If I can do it, anyone can! Tim, the Stearman guy, has good videos, answers emails. But the tutorials online are endless.

And so satisfying to become...a magician! My wife was only amazed at the first negatives. I'm still amazed.

Only downside is that you'll be asking next about printing/enlarging (flipping those cakes).

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