You guys know that I like to keep things as simple as possible
as photographers, I believe we should focus on making the image
that be in the field, or later in the darkroom or computer
and everything else we should try to simplify as much as we can
because our job here is to make that image
many film photographers believe that the step that is between exposing the film and working on those negatives
is not as creative. I'm talking about developing film
and I tend to agree with them
You see, developing film can get as complicated as you want
there are many developers out there, there are many film stocks of course, and there many ways to develop
those film stocks with the same developer
the amount of possible combinations is just huge and overwhelming
that's why when I started shooting film, I decided to settle on 1 developer that I liked and get used to it
and get used to the images that I was able to make with it
and just stick with that developer forever
I wanted to simplify that step, and I think that I achieved that for a long time
my favorite developer was Ilfotec HC
until last year, I think it was last year, this canadian company, I think they are from Canada
called CineStill released this new monobath, developer and fixer, all together in just one step
and that caught my attention because it promised to simplify even more that step that was developing
in this video I'm going to be talking about my experience with this developer / fixer / all-in-one solution
but before we do that, I just wanted to let you know
I'm in Indiana, as you know, and I have a little bit more time here
It's the summer, and you know that my photography kind of slows down in the summer
I don't like it that much, it's very hot, and humid, and bright out there
I'm taking some time to finish some old projects, and I'm taking some time to start new projects
I'm going to be talking about all of those pretty soon
but I also had time to work on new images, new prints
I was finally able to release a new one
for those of you who don't know, I release, or I try to release, 1 new image a month, 1 new print a month
I call this series Image of the Month
and this is the new one, this is the image for July
you might recognize this image, I made it in the White Sands in New Mexico
there's a video about that, I'm going to link it somewhere around there
this is my new image, you can grab your copy following the link in the description down below
if you want to
It's going to be available at a reduced price for just 30 days, well a little bit less now, but for the rest of the month of July
and for the first time I'm offering this print in 2 sizes. This is the 8x8" on a 12x12" frame.
and I also have 6x6", that is my traditional size on the same 12x12" frame
I think this is a beautiful print, it turned out very well
and so far, it's my best-selling print ever
if you are interested in grabbing a copy, do it before the end of the month so you can get at half the price
because then it's going to increase at full price, and I will never sell this print again at this price point
so let's talk about CineStill DF96
first of all, I want to make clear that I'm not affiliated with them in any way
I had to pay for this bottle, $20
it's supposed to be good for 16 rolls of film
it comes out at a little bit more than $1, maybe $1.25 or so, per roll
it's very close to what I was paying per roll before, using Ilfotec HC and a separate fixer
I think it came out at $1, or $0.95 per roll
so it's a little bit more, but it's not a big deal because as I said it promises to simplify the process
I've used it to develop 2 rolls so far, the one that you saw from Chain O'Lakes
all those images were developed with this
and the "One Frame" video from Lake Wawasee, that was developed with this too
and then I developed an old roll that I had in my Holga from last year
the images from the Bronica look pretty good, they were shot at box speed, they were developed at box speed
in order to develop with this at box speed with HP5, you have to heat it up to 80F and just agitate the tank for 3 minutes
and you'll get very clean, or what I believe are very clean negatives
the one from the Holga didn't come out as good, but I mean, it's the Holga
I was pushing it 1 stop to 800, so I heat the developer up to 90F and agitated the tank for 3:30 minutes
the process is very similar to what I was used to, you still have to rinse your film before
with some water at the same temperature as the developer you are going to use
and then, this is the big difference, those 3 steps, developer, bath stop and the fixer
all of those steps are done now by this one solution
you save a lot of time
it used to take me around 1 hour, from when I load the film in the changing bag
until I had it hanging, already rinsed and clean
it was around 1 hour
and these 2 times that I've used DF96 from CineStill, the monobath solution
it took me 35 minutes
25 minutes that I'm saving every time I develop a roll, that's a lot of time
this is one of the biggest disadvantages, in my opinion, of shooting film
if you are developing film at home, and I have to because I shoot a lot and I wouldn't be able to afford it
I wouldn't be able to send the film out to a lab, to have it developed and scanned
scanning film is another process that is kind of a pain
so any time that I can save in this process, where I'm not doing anything creative
for me it's a little bit of a waste of time
I'd rather be here, spending time with my loved ones or going for a walk, or you know, being out there
taking images
so just for that, I'm going to say that this solution is a big win
and it's completely worth it
for me, once again, maybe your case is different, maybe you already have a workflow that works for you
and if it's not broken, don't fix it
this stuff is going to be, hopefully, a game changer for me
and I say hopefully because I've been wanting to try it for months
but I wasn't able to find it anywhere in Europe
so CineStill, if you are listening, please make it available overseas
because I'd really use it
this is it, I just wanted to share my experience with this developer with all of you
and wanted to let you know about my new print, remember that you can check it out
following the link in the description down below
I'd love to know what kind of developer you use for your film, if you like it, if you'd like to use something like this
to simplify your process
or what's your opinion on developing and scanning film
for now, thank you so much for watching, and see you in the next one