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Many color film and print developers prefer to buy the necessary darkroom chemicals in kits to ensure compatibility with their chosen type of color film and print paper. Color Photography Darkroom ChemicalsĬolor developing is a bit more complicated than black-and-white developing. If you plan to develop paper prints, too, you’ll need to stock up on Paper Developer. Other helpful chemicals are Wetting Agent for avoiding water spots on your negatives, and Wash Aid for fully cleaning chemicals like Fixer off your negatives. The three most important chemicals for developing black-and-white film are Developer, Fixer, and Stop Bath. The process tends to be fairly straightforward and predictable once you get the hang of it. Black-and-White Photography Darkroom Chemicalsīlack-and-white film developing is the most common type of home darkroom development. In actuality, developing film is as easy as following a recipe.īefore you begin to select the right equipment and chemicals, it's important to decide if you want to develop black-and-white film, color film, or both. Home Film Developingīuilding a darkroom and working with the related chemicals may sound daunting if you’re new to film developing.
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If you have a home darkroom or intend to set one up, you’ll need to invest in a few crucial chemicals to get started.
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Even with the ubiquity of digital photography, plenty of film photographers are still developing their own film and photographic prints at home.
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