A few weeks ago some kind soul (sorry, I've forgotten who it was)
posted a really simple suggestion to the list to solve a common
problem. Problem - drying marks on home developed film. Solution - use
distilled or de-ionised water for final washing.
The water here in Southern England is chalky so it tastes nice but is
terrible for drying marks so I tried this simple suggestion. And hey
presto - it works a treat. So thanks muchly to whoever made the
original post pointing out something that should have been obvious.
Here is another simple suggestion. A problem I have is keeping
chemicals, because I develop very few films. And these days it seems
difficult to get chemicals in small quantities. 10 years ago you could
get Microphen powder in sachets which made up to 300mL - perfect for a
35mm tank, and 300mL is a standard of medicine bottle in the UK and
easily available from a pharmacy. Now it comes in litre's worth, so
you need to find a much larger dark airtight bottle.
So I decided to give Ilford DDX developer a go. This is even worse - a
litre of concentrate for GBP10 (USD15 approx). OK, it will do 16 films
if you manage to use all of it before it goes off, but that's a big
bottle that will hold a lot of air. Advantage is it's one-shot so you
use it and pour it away, but storing the concentrate without it
spoiling was a bit of a challenge.
Solution - back to the pharmacy in search of 60mL bottles. (60mL
diluted 1+4 equals 300mL, 1 tank's worth). They were a bit stunned
when I asked for 15 60mL bottles, but since I wasn't in a rush they
were happy to get them on their next order. Now for the next 15 films
I have got the cencentrate in full, dark, airtight bottles, and it's
even pre-measured ready for use.
OM content - you can guess what camera I used for the film without the
drying marks. More interesting is that I've had a mild attack of
Scalesitis this year and acquired a used 85/2 and 100/2 and was using
them at a very poorly-lit rock gig in a pub. The 100 is undoubtedly a
lovely lens, but I found the 85 was ideal for the job. Field of view
just about right, compact, lightweight and very easy-handling. I can
see it getting lots more use for this kind of work.
John
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