For this week’s post I have created a video starting with the loading of a 120 format roll of Ilford Delta 100 film into the Ars-Imago Lab-Box and then go on to develop it using Ilford chemicals. You’ll notice that in the video I was pretty nervous, as this was my first time developing film with the Lab-Box, and actually the first film I’ve developed for almost four years, as I guess I found the Paterson Bag a little too tedious.
Note that although this is a video post, I have created the MBP Pro Members’ eBook, as usual, to share the scanned 120 film images at much higher resolution, so download your copy if you are a member. If you are not a member, consider subscribing here.
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Towards the end of the video, as I really got into the process, I was pretty much just mumbling to myself rather than making a video, but you should be able to follow along with the process and hopefully find this useful. I shot the video in 4K so that I could zoom in but then I filled a 128GB card on one camera in just over 20 minutes, so I had to record the ending again. All in all, it’s a bit of a mess, but the process is covered, so please take a look if you are interested, and there is some other information below the video, so please check that out too.
Note that I was using the Massive Dev app for iOS as my timer, and I also find this app invaluable for calculating the new development time based on the temperature of the water. This changes up to a few minutes with every degree of variance, so having an app that just spits out the new time as the temperature changes is really useful.
DEC 2019 UPDATE – HOW TO AVOID LOSING THE FIRST FRAME
OK, so in the weeks after releasing this post, I found that you cannot pull the film out of the light-tight chamber this far to attach the lead clip to pull the film into the spool. I am now literally peeling off the tape and backing paper without extracting any film, and now I’m able to keep the first frame on my rolls. If you pull the film out as far as I showed in the above and below photos, you will lose your first frame.
Loading the Lab-Box
The above is an iPhone shot from a later development session and this worked perfectly!
CHEATSHEET DOWNLOAD
On request, here is a button to download my ILFORD cheat-sheet that I use when processing, in Excel spreadsheet format.
When I completed my Film Fun series in 2016, we finished with an episode in which I walked you through the process of scanning the film using an Epson Scanner that I bought a little over ten years ago. Although I was happy to see that Epson had released Catalina drivers for the scanner, unfortunately when I plugged it into my computer for the first time in a few years, it had given up the ghost. I have scanners built into multifunction printers that I use for document scanning, so I didn’t really want to buy a new scanner, but because all of the dedicated film scanners that I could find online are all relatively low resolution, I decided to buy a Canon CanoScan 9000F MarkII scanner, and I’m actually really pleased that I did.
The quality of the scans is incredible, and the software makes it really easy to scan in a row of three 6 x 6 medium format negatives without really having to do much more than feed in the film, close the lid and press a few buttons. I did a few tests before I scanned the entire roll to see how high I could take the resolution and still see increased detail in the scans. I saw a difference up to 4800 dpi, but doubling that to 9600, the highest resolution of the scanner, did not give me any more detail, just much larger files, so I’m scanning these shots in at 4800 dpi, which is giving me just over 100-megapixel images to work with. Here is a screenshot of my settings in case this is useful for anyone.
Gallery
Here is a gallery of nine of the eleven images that I developed in the video. There are some with a bit of flare in them, as there is no hood on my Yashica-D TLR camera and a definite film-feel that I think you’ll be able to appreciate. The shots were just from a walk in the Shinjuku Gyoen Park here in Tokyo, and I believe I shot these four years ago, in the autumn of 2015, not three years ago, as I mentioned in the video. There was one that was a little too nondescript to include, and I shot two frames of the single lady looking at her phone, and on close inspection, the first of the two was slightly blurred. I suspect I’d felt myself move as I released the shutter and shot a second frame as a replacement.
The Pavilion at Shinjuku Gyoen Park
Trees and Reflections at Shinjuku Gyoen
Trees at Shinjuku Gyoen Park
A Lady Painting at Shinjuku Gyoen
Couple with Child at Shinjuku Gyoen
A Day in the Park at Shinjuku Gyoen
Lady Looking at Phone at Shinjuku Gyoen
People enjoying an Autumnal Afternoon at Shinjuku Gyoen
A Man Reading at the Shinjuku Gyoen Park
My Chosen Developing Items on B&H Photo
Here is a list of the chemicals and tools required to develop the film as I did in the video. Note though that at the time of publishing this post the list still contains the Paterson Changing Bag and Tank, which I no longer recommend. The Lab-Box is currently back-ordered, but will be available here: https://mbp.ac/lab-box Also, don’t forget to add the optional crank to your order. It makes life much easier than the standard knob.
A Meditative Process
Last week was a bit hectic, as I fought with broken computers and a few too tasks than I could reasonably handle, but now that I have a little more time, I’m adding this final few paragraphs in closing. On Saturday morning, after releasing the video and initial blog post, with my first hour to breath for a few days, I developed my second roll of film that I’d exposed in 2016 and kept in my fridge.
Without the need to reach over the Lab-Box so that you could see my hands in the video, I pulled up a chair and sat down at my table, and took my time to load the film. The warm morning sun was pouring into my studio as I did so, making me feel relaxed, but also appreciative of the fact that I could sit in the sun developing film! I finished loading the film into the lab box, then prepared four beakers of chemicals. I’d ordered a fourth beaker so that I could prepare my final wetting agent before I started, to make life easier.
I cranked up the Massive Dev app and found that the Delta 400 I was about to develop needed 8 minutes and 40 seconds in the DD-X, and I started the timer. This, along with the three minutes for fixing and a 3-minute final wash provided me with around 15 minutes of almost meditative bliss. No video to worry about, just me, my roll of film, the Lab-Box, and some quirky smelling chemicals. With how good it felt to develop this roll of film I was sold. The Lab-Box is absolutely the way to go when developing at home. I’ve just ordered some more 120 format film, and now I’m looking forward to developing them too now. As much as I love digital photography, I think film has found a place in my work again, after a 20-year hiatus.
Today I’m going to walk you through loading a roll of 120 format film into the LAB-BOX for processing. The LAB-BOX is an ingenious little box that is used to process film in daylight, without the need for the laborious black-bag that many people, including myself, have been using as a full-blown dark-room replacement.
There are plenty of videos out there for this, but I thought I’d illustrate the process in photos, as this might be easier to follow along with for some people at least. We will then follow up with another post showing the development process. Today is just to show you how to load the film, and I think you’ll agree, this little box really is a stroke of genius.
Four years ago I created a couple of videos to share my first attempt at feeding a roll of film into the reel using the Paterson system, but as much of a revelation it is to be able to process film without a dark-room, I have to admit, I have only processed a few rolls since then, simply because it’s such a nerve-racking experience.
Then, a few weeks ago, I was communicating with my friend Brian Wood-Koiwa, a street photographer doing wonderful work here in Tokyo, and he mentioned the LAB-BOX, and I ordered one before getting to the end of his email. When I told Brian that I had ordered one, he told me that I probably needed the optional crank as well, so I had to wait for that to arrive before I could get into this, but it’s all here now, and I’m really looking forward to sharing this new process with you.
LAB-BOX
I won’t do an unboxing as such, but here is what arrived in its original box, and the optional crank which came a week or so later. There are stockists around the world, but for me based in Japan, Camera Film Photo in Hong Kong was my closest option and they were very fast, shipping each of my orders within a few hours of placing them, so I was pleased with their service.
LAB-BOX Multi-Format Daylight-Loading Film Tank
I bought the 135+120 Module Lab-Box, which comes, as you might imagine, with a module for developing 35mm film and a second module for 120 format film. I actually shoot more 120 format film, but I also have a few 35mm film cameras and a few rolls of film in my fridge too, so I figured that at $199, for the package with both modules, it wasn’t going to break the bank.
Unpacked and including the optional Crank, this next image shows what you will get in the 135+120 Module Lab Box package. Mine came with the 135 Module fitted, and the 120 Module in a separate box. There is apparently also a choice of three colors, with Green and Black available in addition to this Orange, but in my excitement, I didn’t even notice the options. I’d have probably gone with this striking orange anyway.
LAB-BOX Contents with 135 and 120 Modules + Option Crank
What each piece is for will become clear as we proceed, so let’s press-on. Following the very thorough manual, I first built the film guide that we see in the next photo and put it together in the 120 film format position. For 35mm film, you press the two sides together.
LAB-BOX Film Guide to feed the film to the spool
In the next image, you can see the hub and 120 format reel. The 135 format reel has fins on it, I imagine to both fill out its width and also to help agitate the developing chemicals. You can also see here the ingenious little clear plastic belt with the not so clearly visible film clip that you clip onto the film to spool it onto the reel later.
The LAB-BOX Spool with Hub and leader
I then replaced the orange knob on the side of the Lab-Box with the optional Crank that I bought and found that the end of the crank feeds into the spool inside the tank, as you might imagine so that we can turn it later. Here I have also opened the grey lock on top of the film module on the left, ready to load my film. You can also see the reel with the film clip and film guide now in place inside the tank.
LAB-BOX with Spool and Film Feeder Fitted
Also, notice that I have turned the dial on the 120 Module to the vertical position so that it’s pointing to the triangle at the top. This is the position to open the film canister inside the 120 Module. You then feed the end of the black backing paper that is on 120 format film through the little slit on the side of the 120 Module and close the grey lock, before placing the Lab-Box lid firmly on to the Lab-Box.
Feeding the black backing paper out of the slot
Pull the backing paper out through the slit and this, in turn, feeds the film into the canister. You keep pulling the backing paper out until it stops. You’ll see the number one on the paper showing that you’ve reached the start of the roll. You then close the film canister by rotating the dial to the square.
LAB-BOX Film Chamber Open at Square Symbol
While we’re on this view of the Lab-Box, note the little notch at 9 O’clock on that dial, which is where you rotate the dial to in order to remove the spindle that the film was wound onto once we’ve finished the development process. You then tear away the backing paper and having double-checked that the film canister is closed, open the Lab-Box again.
Tear away the backing paper after pulling out to 1.
Then either tear or cut-away the remnant of backing paper from the end of the film, and ensure that you also remove any tape that might still be stuck to the end of the film. It’s important not to pull the film back out of the canister while doing this, as your first frame isn’t far into that canister at this point, so we don’t want to expose that to the light.
Cut or tear the end of the backing paper
Dec 2019 Update – How to Avoid Losing the First Frame
OK, so in the weeks after releasing this post, I found that you cannot pull the film out of the light-tight chamber this far to attach the lead clip to pull the film into the spool. I am now literally peeling off the tape and backing paper without extracting any film, and now I’m able to keep the first frame on my rolls. If you pull the film out as far as I showed in the above and below photos, you will lose your first frame.
Loading the Lab-Box
The above is an iPhone shot from a later development session and this worked perfectly!
Attach the Film Clip to the center of the film, and as you see as you wind the crank to take up the slack, the film is now poised to be pulled down the Film Guide onto the reel in the development tank.
Attach the film clip before closing the lid and winding film onto spool.
Before we do that, we need to return the 120 Module dial back to the top Triangle position to open the film canister and allow the film to be wound out. In this position though, with the Lab-Box lid firmly on, you can now wind the crank clockwise until you feel the film loosen as it completely leaves the chamber and is fully wound onto the reel.
Rotate the 120 Knob to the Triangle to Close the Film Chamber
You are now ready to start and develop your film, but just to illustrate this final step, I’m going to show you something that you would normally never do. The film that I used for this first practice session was actually an old roll that I had exposed to the light and used for practice purposes with the Paterson system, so it’s already ruined, which means I can open the lid once again to take a look at the spooled film.
You’ll never do this with unexposed film, but this shows you the film wound onto the spool
You can see how nicely the film has been fed through into the grooves in the reel and is now sitting there patiently waiting for its chemicals. To start the development process you simply pour your chemicals into the top right side of the Lab-Box, and they flow down into the development chamber without letting any light in, just like magic.
I have actually not developed my first roll of film with the Lab-Box yet, but I’m going to do that over the next few days and put a follow-up post together to walk you through that process as well. I’m going to continue to use my ILFORD chemicals that we looked at back in Episode 477, so if you want to check that out, it’s at https://mbp.ac/477.
Next week I have an interview coming up, so it will be a few weeks from now before we conclude this two-part series. I hope you found this useful to this point.
