Evening star., 1948-06-06

The Importance of having a cor
rectly developed negative becomes
at once apparent to anyone who
does his own print finishing. II you
either overdevelop or underdevelop
your films you will inevitably run
into difficulties with prints. While
it is true that development faults
may be corrected in some cases
through the use of papers of high
or low contrast, as the particular
case may require. it is much simpler
and less expensive to insure proper
development in the first place and
make all your prints on normal con-
trast paper.
Tray developing can be done safe
ly only when a small number OF
negatives are to be proceSsed. A
large batch of negatives would re-
ceive entirely too much handling in
tray while small number may
be handled without too much dan
ger of scratching. If you tray
develop your films you will not need
film hangers and you will require
much smaller amounts of chemicals.
If you should find 1t more suit
able to your specific needs to use
the tank method you will have sew
eral advantages that will perhaps
outweigh the cost of additional
equipment and solutions. You will
find that you can develop large
quantities of film in comparative
ly short time and with more uni
form results. There will also be less
danger of scratching.
Seek Uniform Development.
Never attempt to develop more
than a half dozen sheet films In a
tray. To do SO may result in spotty
development, stuck negatives, abra-
sions and other troubles, large and
small. Six or less can be easily
handled in the dark. Your three
trays containing developer, short
stop and hypo should be lined up
in that order with few inches be-
tween to insure against splashes
from one container to the other
After turning out the light, unload
the holders and place the films in
pile, remembering to keep the
emulsion side up. When you have
completed this operation place the
first negative, emulsion side up, in
the tray of developer, making sure
that it is completely covered by the
solution. Repeat this procedure,
placing one film upon the other, un-
til all are in the tray. This should
be done quickly so that uniform
development will occur.
AS soon as all the negatives are
in the tray, withdraw the one on
the bottom of the pile and place
it on the top. This operation should
be repeated during the entire time
that the negatives are developing.
This will prevent the formation of
air bells and keep the negatives
from sticking to one another. Han
die the films by the edges and be
certain that your fingers do not
come into contact with the emulsion.
When the correct stage Of de-
velopment has been reached, move
the films, one at a time, into the
short stop bath and after two or
three second rinse, place them,
again one at time, in the hypo
solution. The shutting process
should be continued here until COM
plete .fixation has taken place. Then
wash the negatives in running water
for at least half an hour.
Roll film can also be processed
in trays. After turning out the
light, unrol the paper backing from
the strip Of film. Then attach
film clip to the end of the film
and fasten the clip to some station
ary object so that you may unroll
the film without causing it to coil
Allow the film to sag in the center
forming a loop. While holding both
ends of the film allow the loop tc
settle in the tray of developer. AT
this point pass the strip back and
forth through the developer by al
ternately raising and lowering first
one end and then the other. This
should be continued until develop
ment is complete.
You should then transfer the film
through the shortstop to the fixing
bath and use the same procedure
to finish the job. Before washing
you can cut the strip into shorter
lengths to make things easier and
give your arms rest. Wash the