Can I develope my own 120 film?

[iCapture]

Hey, so i recently bought a Diana + camera and have 2 rolls of b&w 120 film that i need developed. I called Ritz camera and they said it was going to take about 2 weeks to do it, plus $5.50 PLUS $0.65 per picture.

Is that a fair price or are they ripping people off? I've never done film before so I have no idea.

And if it is a rip off, could i possibly develop them myself? How much stuff would I need to buy in order to do it?

[GPR1]

You can develop the rolls yourself, but the cost to acquire the right equipment and chemicals would make the Ritz deal look good.

If you want to do a lot of B&W processing, you would make out better learning the process and doing it yourself. It's very satisfying. It also requires a completely black room to handle the film and a darkroom for making prints.

Even finding all the equipment used you're probably looking at a few hundred dollars to be making your own prints, plus the space to do the work.

Greg

[aussieskier]

I do my own B&W. It depends on how much you plan on doing, and how much you care about quality :). Personally, I would go for searching craigslist for some used developing stuff. That is what I did, you can find stuff really cheap and get a cheap start.

[Karl C]

Instead of buying a lot of darkroom equipment, you could process the negatives yourself, then choose which ones you like and send them to Scan Cafe (http://www.scancafe.com). This way, you'd only need to buy a changing bag and developing tank, along with the chemicals, and wouldn't need a traditional darkroom. You could do the developing in a bathroom.

[Persephone]

Well, if i ever got back into that...my Photo 1 teacher from HS is really cool, said that all of his former students could come back, develop whatever they want whenever they wanted. He has a gang darkroom and all the equipment and all.

[aussieskier]

Instead of buying a lot of darkroom equipment, you could process the negatives yourself, then choose which ones you like and send them to Scan Cafe (http://www.scancafe.com). This way, you'd only need to buy a changing bag and developing tank, along with the chemicals, and wouldn't need a traditional darkroom. You could do the developing in a bathroom.

That was more what I was talking about. I do all my developing work in the bathroom :lol:

[Bob D.]

At $5.50/roll for processing you can pay for a reel, tank, and trimmings pretty quick. That is IF you are gonna stick with it and do more than a dozen or so rolls. As others have said put up a WANTED ad on a local bulletin board or in one of the freebie ads in a local newspaper. There's bound to be a number of people in your area with DR equipment gathering dust in their basement that you can pick up cheap. A Stainless Steel tank and reel should be easy to pick up for less than $10. I'd go for a new changing bag unless it looks to be in near new condition. Pick up some jugs to store your developer and fixer in and you are pretty much set.