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Very excited....just finished processing my first roll of B/W film!!!!
And there do indeed appear to be images on it!!  The hardest bit was getting the film out of the cassette .... the tool I got to do it wasn't as easy to use as I thought and of course..after it popped open I fumbled around in the compete dark getting the film started on the reel. I tried to follow the instructions on the chemistry labels to a "t". A few things....I used a tank that had been given to me and it's older and you agitate by spinning the included thermometer. I might get a new one as I'm not sure it's as light-tight as one would like (chemistry came out the sides when I emptied it...not just the hole) but it did work. I also seed to get a squeegee when I'm done. I'm just so thrilled I didn't end up with a ruined roll
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Welcome to the club.
I'm still amazed when the film and prints show up with images.
Mark Barendt, Ignacio, CO
"The mind that opens to a new idea never returns to its original size." Albert Einstein
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Congratulations! I just got done with my third roll. I've got a Patterson tank that was given to me. It's got the agitator stick as well. I decided not to use it and do inversions. It leaks liquid also, not a lot! but enough that I wear a rubber glove. I'll probably purchase a different one later. Instead of a squeegee I've been wetting my fingers with the Photo-Flo during the last step and lightly pinch the negatives between my index and second finger and draw down a couple times. So far it's worked for me. Good luck with your next batch.
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Congratulations! It's been almost four decades since I processed my first roll of film, but I still get nervous until I see the first image on the reel.
Don't squeegee the film! Just get some Photo-Flo 200. You put a few drops in the tank when it's finished washing, swish it around a bit until it suds up, then take out the reel, remove the film, and hang it up to dry in a dust-free spot.
You'll probably get a better developing tank pretty soon, but for now, whatever works is fine.
"What drives man to create is the compulsion to, just once in his life, comprehend and record the pure, unadorned, unvarnished truth. Not some of it; all of it."
- Fred Picker
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Congrats guys and welcome to the dark side! Toss the agitator stick and if you squeegee, do it only once.
Oh, and show us some pics!
"So I am turning over a new leaf but the page is stuck". Diane Arbus
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Congratulations! So obviously nothing has gone wrong yet - when it does, check out the FAQs in my signature below.
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I love reading these accounts. Nice job - both of you.
The hardest part of any new task is taking that first step. Before that, everything is a bit of a hypothetical haze. It's supposed to work, right? But once that step is taken, you then have a concrete direction, a speed, and a destination. Now you know it works. And things only become more clear with each continuing step.
Regardless of your age or experience, you guys are the future of this original form of photography.
Ken
P.S. Agree with Valerie. Please show some results here, when you can. Doesn't need to be great art. Heck, none of mine are...
"The richness of the experience that occurs when one is exposed tangibly to a subject, material, or process is unmatchable in the abstract... Thus, when 'touch it,' 'taste it,' smell it' become the watchwords, the results are most often extraordinary. Equally extraordinary are the lengths to which people will go to avoid [that] experience."
— Tom Peters and Robert H. Waterman Jr., In Search of Excellence, 1982
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Welcome to a whole new world. You'll never want to leave
Helping to save analog photography one exposure at a time
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Thanks all! And congrats to Kenton on his three successful rolls! I'll scan in some images tomorrow (letting film dry well) but I should add (and if you've seen my thread under 35mm about my first roll that I got back from processing you know) my scanner is a cheap consumer model so the scans may not be that good. (looking at getting an Espon.) You know there is a certain magic in pulling the film out of the tank that just can't be duplicated by putting the card in the card reader Tnx again!
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Congratulations cepwin! I know what you mean about the difference between pulling a roll of film out of the tank and reading files from an sd card. Fifty rolls of film later, I'm still rapt when I hang a roll in the bathroom and see lovely little images just waiting to be printed.
I don't know what you're using to open your cannisters, but I use one of these: I think it was all of $2 from the kitchen aisle at the supermarket. I also line up everything in front of me the same way in the darkroom every time: Tank, reels, bottle opener, scissors, film cannisters - so, even if I fumble a bit, I know where each of those things are in relation to each other.
With regard to squeegees, I do the same as others and just dip my fingers in the photoflo and run the film between two fingers. The only time I got drying marks I think was because I didn't put enough photoflo in the water.
Don't stress too much about having a low end scanner. Mine was $40 on eBay and it's nearly ten years old. It does the job in terms of digitising negatives for archival purposes and an idea of what I've shot/intend to print. Given that my scanner is so lame, I generally scan AFTER I've printed a proof sheet because the scanner introduces all sorts of variables in terms of contrast etc. and I NEED to know what will print at Grade 2 and what will need more/less exposure or a harder grade.
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