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Film Development

Pentax Spotmatic Closeup

Posted on August 4, 2023March 25, 2026 by Ian Barber
Pentax Spotmatic Closeup Frame4

A while ago, I acquired a 28mm M42 mount extension tube (unknown make) but never really thought about using it, so I decided to try it mainly just to see if the image quality suffered by using the tube. The film used was 35mm FomaPan 200 (ISO 100)The developer used was Kodak D23 (stock for […]

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Posted in Film Development
Film Development

Developing Film At Home

Posted on May 11, 2023March 25, 2026 by Ian Barber
Developing black and white film at home

Developing black-and-white film at home can be a fun and rewarding experience for photographers who want to take their skills to the next level. Here are the steps you need to follow: Materials You Will Need: Developing Process: Conclusion: Developing your black-and-white film at home is a fulfilling and rewarding experience. By following the steps […]

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Posted in Film Development
Film Development

Pyrocat HD After 5 Years

Posted on May 11, 2023March 25, 2026 by Ian Barber

Pyrocat HD is a black-and-white film developer that was developed by Sandy King. It is known for producing high-quality negatives with excellent sharpness and tonality. Pyrocat HD is a staining developer, which means that it works by staining the silver grains in the film rather than completely removing them. This can lead to smoother tonal […]

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Posted in Film Development
Film Development

510 Pyro & Pyrocat HD

Posted on July 23, 2022March 25, 2026 by Ian Barber
510 Pyro Developer

Having just received a bottle of 510 Pyro developer, I was curious as to how it compared against my standard developer which Pyrocat HD.

This is my no means a scientific test, it was just more of a quick experiment to see how much of a difference there was between the two pyro based developers.

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Posted in Film Development 4 Comments
Film Development

DiaFine ISO Test

Posted on April 10, 2022March 25, 2026 by Ian Barber
Color Checker Passport

For this test I chose to use FomaPan 200 35mm black and white film.

The purpose of the test was to photograph an X-Rite Color Checker at different ISO ratings and then see how they looked after developing them with my normal process

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Posted in Film Development
Film Development

Would Diafine Help Me Out

Posted on April 9, 2022March 25, 2026 by Ian Barber
Zone 11 Highlights

I Messed Up With Exposure
I visited a local church which I usually make photographs of because I knew that on this particular day it was going to be open or a short period which gave me the opportunity to make some photographs of the interior.

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Posted in Film Development
Scanning Film

SilverFast AACO

Posted on April 8, 2022March 25, 2026 by Ian Barber
SilverFast AACO

SIlverfast has an option they call AACO which stands for Auto Adaptive Contrast Optimization.Usually, when I am scanning black and white film, anything which is described as Auto makes me look for the option to disable it bu this may be an exception. According to the user guide, SilverFast AACO is a tool used to […]

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Posted in Scanning Film 2 Comments
Scanning Film

VueScan Can Get It Wrong

Posted on April 8, 2022March 25, 2026 by Ian Barber
Silverfast Zones

I have finally got round to fixing the densitometer after waiting what seemed for ever to get a spare part so now I have started to conduct a series of film tests mainly to establish my own personal EI (ISO) rating for the film/camera and developer I use in all formats as well as film […]

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Posted in Scanning Film
Kodak D23

HP5 35mm Kodak D23

Posted on March 31, 2022March 25, 2026 by Ian Barber
Doncaster Floods Kodak D23 Ilford HP5

I have to confess that it took me some time to get more interested in using 35mm cameras as I have mainly used Medium and Large format with film. I bought myself a Pentax Spotmatic about 18 months ago and I really seem to have the bug again now.To start with, I was buying 35mm […]

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Posted in Kodak D23  |  Tagged 35mm, Ilford HP5, Kodak D23 3 Comments
Kodak D23

Making Kodak D23

Posted on March 30, 2022March 25, 2026 by Ian Barber
Making Kodak D23

I have always bought commercially made developers and looked away at the possibility of making my own from raw chemicals mainly because chemistry was not one of my strengths. The more I studied photographs which were developed in Kodak D23 the more I knew I wanted to try it because it somehow gave the look […]

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Posted in Kodak D23  |  Tagged Kodak D23 2 Comments
Categories
  • Film Development
  • Kodak D23
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Recent Posts
  • Pentax Spotmatic Closeup
  • Developing Film At Home
  • Pyrocat HD After 5 Years
  • 510 Pyro & Pyrocat HD
  • DiaFine ISO Test
  • Would Diafine Help Me Out
  • SilverFast AACO
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