BLACK & WHITE REVERSAL INSTRUCTIONS

 
 

Warnings

• Bleach Part B is Acidic Wear Gloves and eye Protection and avoid contact with skin. Follow all standard safety Procedures when working with Acids

• Bleach Part A will STAIN, avoid contact with skin and clothing. In powdered form it is very fine be careful when opening package and do so in a contained area. Wipe down area with a wet cloth to check for spills.

• Mix Clearing bath in a ventilated area and avoid inhaling. Produces a foul odour when mixed with water.

• Follow all standard safety precautions when developing film and using chemicals.

Mixing Solutions.

Bleach.

Mix and Store Part A and Part B solutions in separate Glass Containers. As Separate solutions these have a very long shelf life. Add Bleach part A to 800ml of Distilled Water and then Make up to 1L Solution (Purple)

Add Bleach part B to 800ml of Distilled Water and then Make up to 1L Solution (Clear)

To create a working solution, add Equal Parts of each solution together. This solution should be discarded after use. Use within 4 Hrs Recommended.

Neutralizing and disposing of Bleach

Slowly Add included bleach neutralizer to used solution it will Start Reacting and fizzing. Continue adding until reaction stops. Then add a small amount of your clearing bath to the solution which should change it to a clear/white solution. This can now be rinsed out will lots of water. (Dispose in accordance with any Local Regulations)

Clearing Bath

Add Clearing Bath to 800ml of Distilled Water and then Make up to 1L Solution (Glass Bottle Storage recommended)

Reversal Processing Steps

  • Step 1 First Development Use your Standard Black and white developer to create a negative image on the film. Dependant on Developer and Film. Inversions 15 seconds each minute. See below for recommended starting points.

  • Step 2 Rinse Pour developer into a container and Rinse film at least once. N/A

  • Step 3 Bleach Add Bleach Working solution to Developing tank. Once bleach has been added the rest of the process can be completed in daylight. 3-5 Minutes slow agitation continuously checking film periodically bleach Until No dark areas are seen on film.

  • Step 4 Rinse Rinse film until water runs clear from tank.

  • Step 5 Clearing Bath Add Clearing Bath to developing tank 1-2 minutes or until no staining remains Agitate 15 seconds each minute.

  • Step 6 Wash Wash film at least twice to remove any excess clearing bath

  • Step 7 Re-Exposure Remove film from tank and Re-Expose to light. See below for more details

  • Step 8 Second Development Dilute your original first developer or use a Second developer at a reduced strength. Time Dependant on Developer and Film. 5-6 minutes on average. Longer times will not affect results. Agitate 15 seconds each minute.

  • Step 9 Rinse Rinse film at least once to remove excess developer.

  • Step 10 Fix Add Fixer to film. This step can be optional depending on your film stock. 1-2 Minutes

  • Step 11 Wash Wash film as per standard developing and hang to dry. DO NOT SQUEEGEE FILM AS Per Standard Developing

Processing Steps Details

Developer and Development Time Testing

When trying a New Film or Developer always do a test strip to ensure acceptable results. To test this in daylight cut the leader off your roll of film and put it in a tank with your chosen developer for your base development time. Once complete take the leader/ Test strip out and put into your bleach solution for 5 minutes. Take strip out and dunk in Clearing bath. At this point the strip should appear completely clear (or as clear as the film base is) Some Clear base films may still appear milky after Bleaching and clearing, Test for development in Your Second developer. If no development is noticed this milkiness will disappear after proper Fixing.. If you place this in your developer solution again you should see no change.

If the strip does darken in the second development, you must extend your first development time until it does or you will not be able to reach your D-Min (Max Highlights).

First development

For first development use of a highly active Developer is recommended. The goal is to develop very heavy highlight density to increase the overall contrast of the images underdeveloping in the first development will leave undeveloped silver halides underneath your highlights which will be re-exposed and developed later giving you a very low contrast image not suitable for slides.

My recommended starting point is Kodak HC-110 1+14 at 23° for 10-12 Minutes.

Bleach

The bleaching step will essentially dissolve the developed silver on the film but leave the undeveloped areas untouched. Once the bleach has been added the Acid will stop all development and the rest of the processing can be done with the lid off. I recommend inspecting the film. Right after adding the bleach you should see dark black areas on the film. As you bleach these areas should become Clear. Once this has happened stop bleaching and wash. Over bleaching can lead to film damage. Typically, with a Fresh Bleach this will take between 3-5 Minutes. If developing multiple rolls of film, I recommend developing only 2 rolls of film for each 600ml Batch of Bleach. Excess particles in the bleach can lead to undesired results.

Clearing Bath

The purpose of the clearing bath is to remove the staining caused by the Bleach. Add the bleach to your tank and agitate occasionally until your film is a white/pale yellow colour. After clearing is finished return Clearing bath to its container as it can be reused. As it starts to age it can start to have a slight discolouration. But will generally last until all bleach has been exhausted and then can be discarded.

Re-Exposure

In my testing I have found very little Variation during the Re-Exposure step. Testing from using no Re-exposure and Just the Light entering the development tank between Bleach and the Second Development all the way to unspooling and using studio lamps to Re-Expose. My recommendation would be with 35mm film to leave the film on the spool and hold the reel up to a light source such as a standard light bulb and rotate it around, so all areas of the film are receiving light for about 30 sec -1min.

For 120 film I would recommend removing it from the reel to ensure that all parts of the film get proper Re-Exposure.

Second Development.

Second development Develops all the remaining silver Halides that have now been re exposed, to Metallic silver and will give you the positive image. Because of this you cannot overdevelop the film at this step. The goal is to not leave any areas undeveloped as this will result in a lower Density in your shadows.

The developer used for this should be a more Dilute Version of your first Developer if using higher strength developer such as my recommendation HC-110. I recommend diluting this down to a 1+25 strength and have found that 5-6 minutes in this to give great results

If you removed your film from the spool for Re-Exposure, I recommend using steel reels for the second development as it can be very difficult to respool the film onto plastic reels and also the emulsion is very delicate at this stage and can be damaged easily. Film can also be developed using a See-Saw Method (Generally recommended only for 120 film and Shorter lengths of 35mm.

Fixing

Generally, this step is optional along as the second development was completed correctly there should be No Halides left to dissolve. An exception to this that I have found is some clear based films will still appear quite cloudy/milky after second development and this will clear up this cloudiness.

A hardening fix is recommended as the emulsion can be very sensitive, I would also recommend using a more diluted solution if using a “Rapid” type fix. As I have found some full-strength fixers can damage sensitive emulsions such as ATP 1.1

Washing and Drying

Wash film as per usual washing methods. Use of a wetting agent like Photoflo is recommended to reduce water marks, and Do Not Use a Squeegee on Reversed film as the emulsion is very delicate and will destroy your film.

General tips

• Increasing first development time will give clearer highlights and better for projecting slides but can also clip the highlights.

• Most film stocks will provide decent scanning results with a high dynamic range. But may look underdeveloped/very dark when looking at the negatives.

• When shooting with the intention of Reversing a new Stock, shoot 10-12 test shots on your first Roll and develop 2 frames at a time by retrieving the leader of the cassette and pulling out about 3 inches of film and cutting it of and developing it in your tank, increasing developing time as you go until the slides look how you like.

• Some stocks have even been Pushed 2 stops to 1600 with great scans and less noise than non-reversed negatives.

Current Tested Stocks and Development Recipes

My Favorite Recipe/Formula

• MFS 200 Black and White Reversal Film

• HC-110 24C 1+ 14 dilution from concentrate 10-11 minutes.

• 1 x Wash

• 3-5 Min Bleach (Until developed Silver is dissolved)

• Wash until Water runs clear.

• 1-2 min Clearing bath.

• 2x Wash

• Expose to diffused light for 1 Minute on Spool

• Dilute developer to 1+25 (add 200ml to your 300ml First Developer)

• Develop for 5-6 Minutes or until Spaces between frames are fully developed.

• Skip Fixing.

• Wash for 5 Minutes.

• Wash with Photoflo and Distilled Water, then hang to dry.

Recommended Films (Most Films work best 1 Stop Overexposed)

HP5+ (shoot at 200)

Delta 100

FP4+

Fomapan 400

Pan F 50

Clear Base Stocks

Adox/Agfa Scarla 160 (clear base)

Adox Silvermax (Clear Base)

Ortho 25 (Clear Base)

Rollei ATP 1.1 (careful development/Fixing required, sensitive emulsion)

Recommended developers

Kodak HC-110

1-14 Dilution

22-24

First Development Times:

12 Minutes Nominal

16 min Push

Ilford PQ Universal

1-6 Dilution

20-22 C

First Development Times:

12 Minutes Nominal

16 min Push

D76 (Stock)

25-26C

First Development Times:

12 Minutes Nominal

Not Recommended /Do Not Use

Fomadon LQN (Strips emulsion in second development)

Fuji Arcos