I began processing my own large format film because I wanted to shoot more, and home processing drastically reduced my costs. Although I had a lot of experience processing film when I was younger, I hadn’t developed film for 10 years when I returned to it. Overall I found that large format film processing is a little bit more difficult than roll formats, but still pretty easy as long as you are organised and methodical. That’s not to say I didn’t my fair share of problems to begin with! There is not too much specialist info on processing sheets in tanks, and what there is can sometimes be contradictory. In the end I had to do my own testing and experimenting to come up with a method I was truly happy with. I wasted quite a bit of film along the way so let’s hope you don’t have to.
These are my Top Tips for Large Format Film Processing
Split your film holders into different batches.
One of the great advantages of large format is that you can develop each sheet seperately. If you work as I do and shoot each holder as a pair of near identical images, you can make sure that each image goes into a separate development batch. This is a great insurance against film processing problems. It can also give you the chance to push or pull the second sheet of film if the first one wasn’t exposed correctly.
Loading film into the tank.
I use a Combiplan tank for developing. It’s easy to load, takes up to six sheets of film and uses a litre of developer. One thing I have found is that it is very useful to make sure the the film emulsion is facing away from the filling point of the tank. In some rare circumstances I have found that developer can splash on onto the film as you fill the tank. This creates little points of uneven development. Once loaded I always check the gaps between sheets with my fingers. I also pull very gently on them to check they are securely loaded.
Developer Dilution
If you use a tank with a relatively slow fill time you might find that developer dilutions that only need a short film processing time will give you uneven development. I have decided to go for using one shot dilutions that take about 10 minutes and have had no problems. It is also easier to be more consistent with longer development times.
Agitation
Agitation is the part of film processing which I find the hardest to get absolutely right. It’s much harder to get an even negative with 4×5 film. I have gone through a number of methods and some seem to work better with some developers than others. At the moment I have settled on inverting the tank constantly for the first minute of development and then for 10 seconds every minute. One of my agitations takes two seconds and I try to keep them consistent so I know I am always doing everything the same way. At the moment I am shooting HP5+ developed in DD-X and have found this combination pretty bulletproof.
Prepare your wash water the night before.
If you live in a cooler climate like me, you’ll find that your tap water can drop to 10 degrees celsius in the winter. Washing a negative in water that is too cold runs the risk of cracking the emulsion (reticulation). I like to fill two 5 litre containers of tap water the night before I do some developing and let the come up to the correct temperature. I then use this water to to mix up solutions and for washing. It saves a lot of time trying to bring things up to temperature.
Washing Method
I use the Ilford Photo archival washing method for my films. It uses very little water and is quick and easy.
- After fixing, fill the spiral tank with water at the same temperature, +/- 5ºC (9ºF), as the processing solutions. Invert the tank 5 times.
- Drain the water away and refill. Invert the tank 10 times.
- Once more, drain the water. Invert the tank twenty times and drain the water away.
- I then soak my film briefly in rinse aid before leaving it to dry.
This method also means you can avoid very cold running tap water in the winter as it only uses 4 litres of water.
