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Developing a black and white film can be done at home, without a darkroom, and with a small amount of equipment. If you can learn to follow a recipe when cooking dinner, you can learn to develop a black and white film.

It's usually a good idea to gather everything together before you start. You will need:

Black bag (called a changing bag) to take the film out of the canister

Bottle opener (to open the film canister)
Scissors
Developing tank with film spools
Thermometer
Measuring jug
Stopwatch
Chemicals: Developer and Fixer
A few drops of washing up liquid, or film wash

Your film must not be exposed to any light until the whole process is finished. This includes the red light often used in darkrooms. So your film must be taken out of its film canister and loaded into a special light-tight developing tank in complete darkness. Most people prefer to use a special black bag, called a changing bag to do this in. Changing bags are designed for you to put your arms into tight fitting sleeves at one end while your film, developing tank, spool, bottle opener and scissors are placed into the bottom of the bag and zipped in.

With everything inside the bag, lever off the end of the film canister to remove the film, and cut the end of it straight. The film then needs to be loaded onto the spool, designed to allow the chemicals to flow over the surface of the film. Place the spool into the developing tank, and secure the light-tight lid.

That's the tricky part over. Many new photographers use a spare film to practice this before trying it for the first time on a real film - at this stage your film is easily damaged!

There are many commercial developers available, and all of them come with detailed instructions. They are usually diluted in warm water (at 18 or 20 degrees centigrade) and instructions are supplied for the ratios you should use (for example 1:1 - one part water to one part developer). You will need to mix enough developer to cover the number of films that you have placed in the developing tank.

Timing the developing process is important. Developing for too little or too long a time will give you poor negatives that have too little detail and are hard to print from. Your developer will give you instructions for the amount of time required, depending on film speed. Check the time you will need to develop your film for before pouring the chemical into the developing tank.

Your developing tank will also come with a separate lid to keep the liquids in. As soon as you pour the

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