Hmmmm. C41 Developing at home?

So, I've been reading on the interweb about these. Press kits for the travelling photographer doing their own C41 development.

I've shot the first 3 rolls now and I've got a few other rolls knocking about (see post below), but because I can't find a good cheap mini lab around here haven't taken them to get developed yet. There is an extremely good lab I use here but at 65 DKK (c.£8) a roll it's a bit much for random experimentation (I'm too poor for this). Still, I'm happy to go there for slide rolls from the Hasselblad and important stuff I really care about, but not for this project. The last time I used the cheapy lab around the corner my rolls came back both filthy and scratched to buggery so I'm not going there again.

So: These kits look pretty easy according to the technical data- shouldn't be any harder than doing B&W at home (which i do profusely already). The important thing seems to be temperature control- the chems need to be at 38ºC (ish). Should be pretty easy to heat them under a hot tap tho. The kit'll do 12 rolls and costs £17ish. Magic! Apparently it lasts for 4 weeks but according to my researches it lasts longer if you're not fussy about colour-shifts. I'm not. Bring it on I say!

Further reading:

• Moominsean at moominstuff has a pretty good write up about this here.
• The DIY colour group on Flickr. This post, about doing it with household ingredients is particularly cool.

I'm going to buy a couple of packs when I'm back in the UK next week so should have something to report soon (finally). I'll also try to get through a couple of rolls while I'm there of Glasgow looking grotty and Argyll looking rainy.

#2 & 3 finished too

Just like it says in the title. Tomorrow I will get off my fat backside and take them to the lab. General thoughts so far (without seeing the first 3 films):

• I really shouldn't take so many pictures when piss drunk.
• I should really find some more reliable 35mm cameras.
• I need a bit more direction- these are going to be diverse & random, with a lot of pictures of the inside of bars and CPH at night. This is fun, but it will be a bit samey over time. I think starting with #4 I'm going to set a coherent theme for each roll of film and try and stick to it (within reason-if I see Godzilla stomping on a pølsevogn I'm going to be taking pictures as I run away regardless of what the theme is)

Roll #1 Finished

Quick note- finished the first roll in the Olympus ED. The counter read 36 at the time of my first post and I took 4 more shots today. 40 shots on a roll. Sweet. I will take it to get processed when I finish the other two that I've started (processing means going across town on my bike & I'm too lazy to go once a week...)

Loaded!- Rolls 2 & 3

So- I've started & nearly finished one roll of Fuji in the Olympus ED. I also loaded two cameras with the same film before I went out to the pub.

At the top of the above image is the Olympus XA. This is one of the coolest cameras ever made- a tiny rangefinder with a scary sharp lens and aperture priority exposure. Mine is a little bit tired & I messed up the rangefinder when trying to fix it- but still it lives in my pocket full-time.

Underneath is the Konica Auto S2. I got this broken at a flea market for 20 Kroner & restored it to functionality. It's a rangefinder with a nice, fast 1.8 lens. A little big & heavy but solid, reliable and cheap- perfect for taking out into the night.

Didn't shoot much tonight- just a few frames using my bike as a tripod. We'll see how that works...

Begin at the beginning

This is my new photography blag. I've got exactly 20 rolls of unused 135 film left in my fridge- hence the name of the site. I'm going to blag about each of these rolls in their entirety as I shoot them. I'm not sure about the best way of doing this yet- either show a contact sheet or each roll as a slide show. I'll experiment and we'll see.
 
Anyway, the purpose of the whole thing is to encourage me to get out and shoot these bloody rolls of film as some of them have been sitting there unloved for many months and the same fate may await the others. Also, I think if I'm going to show each roll in it's entirety I'll maybe think a bit more about what I'm doing and start getting a higher proportion of good shots on each roll. The rules I'm setting myself for this are:

• No buying any more 35mm film until I finish these 20 (ha! didn't say anything about 120...).
• No hiding- every roll gets shown in it's entirety- crap pictures included
• No trying to get the same picture loads of times (otherwise each roll could be really fucking dull- tho I'll go back on this if something amazing happens like Godzilla emerging from the Baltic). There is a moment for each shot- if the shot doesn't work it doesn't work.

So, to introduce youz to the the 20 rolls of film:

• 15 rolls of expired  Fujicolor X-tra 800 colour print film.  I got these really cheap in January but I still don't know why I bought them- I don't really shoot C41 at all... One of these is in the camera- an Olympus 35 ED inherited from my Grandpa.
• 3 rolls of Ilford HP5+ black & white print film. This is the best film in the world. I'll have no trouble using this and it will provide a welcome break from all that C41
• 2 rolls of Agfa Scala black & white slide film. These were given to me by my friend David for my birthday a year ago- I've been too scared to shoot them.

Aye, so. Hello.