Developing at home, one year in
October 2026
A year ago I bought a second-hand developing tank and a bottle of fixer, mostly out of curiosity.
Twelve months and forty-odd rolls later, the kitchen still smells faintly of stop bath and I have
opinions about agitation schedules.
The biggest lesson: consistency matters more than the recipe. Same temperature, same timer, same
inversions. Once that was stable, the negatives stopped surprising me.
A 50 mm lens from 1972
August 2026
Soft wide open, sharp by f/5.6, and a lovely warm rendering. It needed a clean, and the aperture
blades were sticky, but an evening with a jeweller's screwdriver sorted it out.
Why I still print contact sheets
May 2026
Scanning is quicker, but a contact sheet shows a whole roll at once, in order, and makes it obvious
which frames are worth the time. It is the slowest step in the process and the one I would keep.