Amateur Photographer & Cinematographer (1937)

[Ihi amateur photographer Ip 6 CINEMATOGRAPHER a December 29th, 1937 Readers9 Hints, Tips and Gadgets SIMPLE FILM-DEVELOPING EQUIPMENT. THOSE who find one of the excellent modern developing tanks beyond them, and who are tired of “ see-sawing ” valuable negatives, may be interested in a method I have adopted which gives me perfect results. My aids are, (1) the apron of a Kodak 3JX2J daylight de¬ veloping box, (2) a 2-lb. size earthenware jam pot, (3) a roll of i-in. adhesive plaster. From the apron, which I bought at a photographic store for gd., I removed the two wire ends, leaving the eyelet-holes intact, this being the only alteration necessary. And now to the method. The apron is vertically attached to the dark-room door by the two eyelets, which pass over two small screws set apart to the appropriate distance, as shown in Fig. 1. The pimply side should be facing the operator. About 2 in. of adhesive plaster is now attached to the top of the apron, the lower edge of the plaster remaining free to receive the film as in Fig. 2. A second piece of plaster is placed conveniently to hand and the light switched off. The film is removed from the backing paper and one end is slipped beneath the plaster and stuck down. Handling by the edge, the film is unrolled and the lower edge is fastened by the second piece of plaster to the apron. The emulsion should now be facing the operator. The apron is removed from its support and rolled up with the film outside. When rolling up towards the end of the film, the apron forms a loop, as in Fig. 3, but this is easily overcome by lifting the tape and fastening the film down as high up as is necessary to get the apron flat. The rolling up is then completed with the film protected by the excess length of the apron. In those films having a special anti-halation backing it is advisable to ease the film a little higher up the apron, as in Fig. 4, to enable the film back to bleach satisfactorily. The use of the earthen¬ ware pot enables developing, fixing and washing to take place in the same vessel, and any film from 3j X2j to shorter lengths of 35-mm. may be processed in the same apron. No difficulty should be encountered in obtaining an apron, as dozens of Kodak film tanks are to be obtained second-hand, complete for a few shillings each, in photographic stores. As an alternative, Messrs. Kodak sell their film apron separately quite cheaply. The results obtained by this method should be indistinguish¬ able from that of any system using aprons as part of the process, and negatives should always be completely free from scratches or marks. B. Edelstein. AN END TO MATT MARKINGS ON FILMS. FOR nearly two years I, like many others, have been Kodak tank. I have tried several suggestions in the hope of troubled with the matt markings caused by the backing finding a remedy, from adjusting the tension of the spring clip paper sticking to the film during development in a holding the spool of film to reversing the spindles. But after each attempt I have still had to resort to Baskett’s reducer to remove the marks. It appeared to me that the only solution lay in separating the backing paper from the film before development, and after a number of attempts I succeeded in doing this in the Kodak changing-box. The operations are simple, and since adopting this method I have experienced no further trouble of any kind. Instead of fastening the end of the film to the backing paper as directed, a length of paper about 10 X2J in., which we will call the “ trailer,” is attached to the gummed paper on the film. Ordinary writing paper can be used for this. The whole is rewound and placed in the changing-box. Unwind sufficient length to attach the trailer to the reel, but before doing so, make a small coil of the backing-paper which must unroll from below the trailer, as shown in the illustration, so that it falls to the bottom of the box. The apron is now hooked on to the reel, the lid replaced, and the film wound in the usual way. When the end of the trailer is reached, the film, un accompanied by backing paper, follows it into the apron, and is wound up securely out of contact with anything save the apron itself. There is sufficient room in the bottom of the box to allow the backing paper to coil itself until the end of the film is reached, when it will be uncoiled and wound double from the point where it is attached to the film. Development can now be carried out without risk of any further trouble caused by the backing paper sticking, as this will now be wrapped safely round the outside of the apron. E. R. Moores. 2 721