Leica Teacher

Hello everyone. My name is Ryan, I enjoy taking photos with my Leica M6 + a 35mm Nokton. Been shooting various cameras & films for the past year but this time around I’m limiting myself to one camera, one lens, & one film. The purpose of this blog is to document everything I’ve learned about shooting and self developing. The idea derived from tokyocamerastyle and posted this link. (After you read that, continue on)

So on February 11, 2012 I finally developed two rolls by myself. After Charlie showed me the ropes at his pad I felt that it was time. I went over to Chungmuro to buy the basics. 

1. 400 trix (2 packs of 10)
2. Tmax Developer
3. Kodak stop bath
4. Ilford Rapid Fixer
5. Developing tank

All I needed was a thermometer. I picked up a cheap one at Homeplus at the pet department for under a dollar. 

The prep

Not gonna lie, it was pretty nerve wrecking. On that day, I had a salsa dance performance. Been practicing for it for days…for some reason, I had the urge to develop right before practice. 

Prepped my water at 20 degrees celsius. My dilution was about 97ml developer + 388ml water. Since I shot my roll of trix at 1600 my developing time was about 8mins 45 seconds. For the stop bath, I used 485ml of water instead of the chemical. Finally for the fixer, I used about a the same dilution as the developer.

The process

My starting time was about 2:00pm in the afternoon and I was going to use my bathroom. I laid my films, tank, scissors, and bottle cap opener on the top of my toilet seat. Once the lights where out, it was time to begin. Everything was pitch black and I started to do my thing. I popped open the bottom of the films and proceeded to load up the spools. 

Spool number one took forever! I couldn’t get the film to slide in. 10 mins goes by and I was starting to see the silhouette of my hands take shape. Light was coming through the crevasses. At this point, I was like fudge…I hope this doesn’t eff up my films. Finally got it loaded! Spool number two was easier the 2nd time around. Also, I tried covering up the negative to prevent any more light leaks.

The rest of the processes was simple thanks to the Massive Dev Chart

1. Development: 8:45mins (Agitating 10 seconds for every minute)
2. Stop bath: 1 min
3. Fixing: 5 mins
4. Hypo Clear: 2:00mins (Charlie tip: Used dishwashing soap )
5. Rinsing: 10:30 mins 

Problem > Solution > Still a problem

I don’t have a scanner at the moment. So I tried to get them done at a fujifilm lab at a local mart. Got the scans back today. The result:

Some of the scans were good

Some of the scans were pretty bad

Lessons learned / Stuff to try out next time

1. Until I buy a new scanner, go to a place that knows how to scan black and whites.
2. Try using the chemical stop.
3. Develop at night with most of the lights off.
4. Don’t inhale too much fixer.

This project for the rest of this blog is from tokyocamerastyle called ‘The Leica as Teacher’. I’ll be using a Leica M6 and hopefully a 50mm Summicron on black and white film. Main purpose of this blog keep track of my progress and watch my photography skills grow.

As soon as I get my Summicron, I’ll be writing logs for each shot I take. Since I won’t have exif data, I’ll be marking the time, date, location, & camera settings. I’ll also write down some thoughts as to how I pictured the shot vs how it came out. Really looking forward to it. Until then, thanks for following.

Ryan