How charjohncarter does it...

rover

rover

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I am sure there are a lot of members here who read through the many posts at RFF, and elsewhere, trying to learn as much as we can... reaching for that golden bit of knowledge that will transform us into experts. Film processing is one area where I really want to improve so this forum is one that I have been spending a lot of time in. The truth of course is, if you want to be good at something you have to practice, practice and practice some more.

But, where do you start? That is what we are looking for here reading like devils, tips from other members, thread after thread, piecing together advice from some excellent photographers who's work is remarkably impressive.

We are very fortunate at RFF to have a number of very talented members who very kindly regularly offer their knowledge and advise about film processing. As I read thread after thread I have been able to get a good idea of what they do to get the results that I am so impressed with.

That is when the light turned on... wouldn't it be nice to have a simple explanation, all in one place, of how some of our members expose and process film, then scan and prepare it for final viewing? I think so, and just shot off emails to a couple members asking if they would be willing provide me with that explanation which could be posted for all at RFF to benefit.

I am happy to say that both members I approached yesterday said yes, and below are John's comments regarding his techniques. This isn't in any way meant to be a statement of what is right or wrong, simply a statement of what works for him. It is up to the rest of us to practice on our own and to find the techniques that work for us.

All that said, before I go any further, I need to offer a huge thank you to John. I really enjoy and appreciate his contributions to RFF, and am very happy that he has agreed to do this.

Thank you John!!!​

I will be adding comments from another member shortly, again, not right or wrong, just another technique which works wonders for him. I would love to be able to post more, and ask if you have a particular member you would like to hear from please just PM me and I will approach them. I surely will be asking more folks as time goes on myself if we all agree that this is a good idea. Also, please step up and volunteer your knowledge if you wish to. Truth is we have so many talented members there is no way to approach everyone immediately, and if you would like to, we want to hear what you do. And thank you all for this also.

So, here we go...
 
from John,

1. Films: I use Tmax100 at 50, Tmax400 at 250, TriX at 250, Ilford SFX with a normal red filter at 32, Efke IR820 with a Hoya R72 filter at .3 to .4 (no kidding). These are my main films.

2. Developers: I use HC-110h (dilution H) and Rodinal. I use straight HC-110h for Efke IR820 and Ilford SFX. At this time I use 500ml of HC-110h and then add 2.5ml of Rodinal for Tmax 100, Tmax400, and TriX.

Development: Ilford SFX (I really like this film), I develop in HC-110h for 18 minutes, 30 seconds initial agitation, then 3 inversion at every minute, stop, fix, rinse,photo flo.

Efke IR820, I develop in HC-110h for 14 minutes, 30 seconds initial agitation, the 3 inversions at every minute, stop, fix, rinse photo flo.

Tmax 100, I develop in HC-110h and Rodinal as stated above for 17 minutes, 30 seconds initial agitation, (this is different) 3 inversions at the 15, 10, 5 minutes mark, stop, fix (I find I have to fix this 8 minutes which is longer than the two above films), rinse, photo flo.

Tmax 400, I develop in HC-110h and Rodinal for 11 minutes and 45 seconds, 30 seconds initial agitation, 3 inversions at 10, 7, 4, 1 minute marks, stop, fix (again longer), rinse photo flo.

Trix, I do exactly the same as with Tmax 400.

All development is done at 68 degrees F or 20 degrees C.

Scanning: I now use a V500 and adjust the histogram so it is a little lower than the first black point and a little higher than the first white point. I other words I widen the scan area. I set it for positive film use 16 bit grayscale.

Final processing: I only have PSE6 which is more than enough for what I do. I invert to normal and then adjust levels to what I like. If it needs any more I do it in curves or in Color Adjust under Enhance.

It is almost done, except if it needs a little pop I unsharp mask at 14 amount, and 25 radius.

I then use unsharp mask to do final size sharpening.

This will give you plenty to think about and I'm open to questions ... about 5 years ago when I got the Internet I decided to improve what I was doing so I read everything. It took a lot of time and many false paths. But I'm still looking for the 'Perfect Wave' as we say in CA, I'm 99 per cent there. My last refinement was to use Mpix for prints. They use true B&W paper and wet print from your digital file.
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I hope you all appreciate John's comments as much as I do, and hopefully we can add some more summaries which will be great reference for us all.
 
Just a quick note...

As John has not linked any of his galleries here at RFF in his signatures I will hold off on that and ask the he do that himself if he wishes when he sees this.
 
It was nice of Rover to think so much of my stuff, but I'm just a kitchen developer and a PSE6 post processor. I worked hard to get my development and post processing down and if anyone gets some time saving or help, then I'm happy.

My Flickr is a mess, I shot 6x6, 6x7, 35mm, Polaroids, pinholes, probably more. My cameras range from Brownie Hawkeye Flash to Leica and Rolleiflex. I've made maybe 6-7 lenses that I use on various cameras. but the real killer is I have a lot of family stuff on there. The family stuff is very boring usless you are family. If you type 'carter3john' you will be able to get to my 'photostream.'

Thanks again Rover I really didn't think you were going to do this, but it is fine.
 
Many thanks charjohncarter.

I find it particularly interesting as I may have to switch from HP5+ to TRI-X in the near future, depending on how much Ilford raise their prices by in February.

John
 
What bwcolor said. There are some people here who really know how to make a b&w film sing and charjohncarter is definitely one of them.
 
Thanks, John! I always watch for your posts, and have learned a lot from them.

And good to know (from my perspective) you've not got a huge lab set up, but more of a "real world" environment.

Thanks also to you, Rover- a great idea- bravo!

Rick
 
I have learned a great deal from John over the last couple of years since I started developing film myself. John has been very generous in answering questions and explaining his methods, and I've incorporated a lot of his methods (particularly on agitation). So I was delighted to see Rover's thread this morning, which is both a tribute and thank you to a great member here, and a compilation of John's techniques which are otherwise spread across a number of threads.

Many thanks to both John and Rover!

Any chance of making this thread a sticky?
 
Ha ha very interesting. I never thought it would come to this confession. Over the last two years I have often hunted for "charjohncarter" and "HC110" on RFF search to see how he gets those glowing tmax and trix just to fine tune my development. I have to confess that his tidbits about development is the most copied technique in my repertoire. He does deserve a salute for not just experimenting but also publicizing the results via RFF . Thanks.

Arun
 
Rover, that is a great idea to organize this information, and John thanks for sharing your knowledge. I'm looking forward to using this page as a resource.
 
John's work is great, with beautiful tonality. His use of mixtures of HC-110 and Rodinal look interesting, I am going to have to try that and see how it compares to Rodinal alone!
 
charjohncarter said:
My Flickr .. I shot 6x6, 6x7, 35mm, Polaroids, pinholes, probably more. My cameras range from Brownie Hawkeye Flash to Leica and Rolleiflex. I've made maybe 6-7 lenses that I use on various cameras. ....
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I know John loves B&W and I've had him as a flickr contact for a long time. He's touched on his photpgraphic passtimes of 'alternative cameras'. For those interested in that type of photography I recommend a visit to his flickr stream which I believe he mentioned in his post "..If you type 'carter3john' you will be able to get to my 'photostream."

Thanks John
 
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And Chris Crawford is a great example of one who shares willingly, and is always helpful. He has great info in the Tech section of his website. Another person whose name on a post makes it worthwhile reading. Kudos to Chris as well.

Let's also not forget Jan Normandale, who is another stellar helper.

Rick
 
Zonan said:
And Chris Crawford is a great example of one who shares willingly, and is always helpful. He has great info in the Tech section of his website. Another person whose name on a post makes it worthwhile reading. Kudos to Chris as well.

Let's also not forget Jan Normandale, who is another stellar helper.

Rick
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That's true for both, Chris' thread a while back ought to be linked or whatever it is called.
 
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