Last week, I paid a good friend of mine a visit. Torben from Denmark is one of the most well versed Leica-guy that I have ever met. I first met him during a Leica outing organized by Photomalaysia sometime in 2008 ( If I am not mistaken). He has in his collection some really mean Leica gears Now he uses the best Leica M ever produced. That s another story. Anyway, I believe Torben shot film for most of his life. So here we have me, I needed a refreshment or rather, a guide to show me how to dev BW film. It s not that I have not done it before but I wanted really consistent results.

So here are some steps which I would like to highlight in this entry. It will also serve as a reminder to me as well. Hehehe. During the demonstration session, I noticed one thing. Eliminate all possible source of errors. Torben uses one developer only. I asked him why not try other developers. He said this is to achieve consistent results and he can expects or predicts the outcome of the film. I hereby need to stress that all developers has their own characteristics.  Temperature is the next important factor during the developing process. Torben actually has a separate tray filled with ice water bath with the developing tank in the tray. He checks the temperature every now and then and pops in a cube or two of ice to maintain the temperature at 20 degree Celsius. He says..If the formula says 20 degree Celsius, make sure it 20 degree Celsius during the 12 mins of developing time.

We used water as Stopper. It works the same. Fixing is interesting. Torben used the same temperature theory as the developer. We kept the temperature constant at 20 degree Celsius. Fixing time is from 2-5 minutes. But you can check easily by looking at the negatives. If it appears cloudy and hazy..Fix again. Last step, instead of using wetting agent, Torben flushed the negatives for half hour. And the last step is the easiest..Dry it. O..I forgot. Instead of the up and down agitation. We actually used the spindle that came with the developing tank. We swirled the negatives slowly for every 10 sec of the minute. I can see that the negatives came out less contrasty and it s better than mine LOL. Here are two pics to share with you guys. Cheers! Happy BW Developing. Thanks Torben

My dear wife..Yee Woon

My dear Cousin..Anderson

Photo data:
Year: 2009
Film: Kodak Tri-X
Developer : D76
Lens: 50 mm Summilux