If you’ve got the film from your 35mm printed and processed at the neighborhood labs, have ever wondered about the process? In this blog I’ll take you through a the inside of the entire procedure.
To start, get your favourite old camera out. It’s the one that you found at an op store or at a garage sale. The one that has Lomo on the side , or Leica across the top?
Whatever way you choose, it’s in existence and you could be able to put it to good use. Take a film of your choice, and spend your morning or afternoon taking pictures of your subjects.
When you’ve finished your shooting, the satisfying sound of film rewinding is sure to please your ears. While smiling, go into the local lab to have your amazing photos processed. You should be smiling since you’ve taken pictures on the original camera’s sensor, film! ….and there is nothing that can beat the original, isn’t it?
Your film has been taken away. It is now your turn to continue your journey, while the folks in the lab work ahead and transform your work into memories. The film of your childhood is going to get underway.
The next section of this story will cover what happens after you have left. You will meet the lab technician.
The initial step a lab technician should take is to pull the end of the film from the canister exposed by with an instrument for picking film. This is often one of the most difficult actions as older cameras can twist the ends of the film inwards on itself while rewinding.
The film is sensitive to light, therefore it’s not as if the canister could be opened during daylight hours to fix the bent film issue. This portable box for dark film was developed to solve this exact issue.
If the technician is unable to get the film’s final edge out with the film picker or a special lab tape, then the film is placed into the dark box. The canister is removed by pressure to be manually rolled to create a 35mm temporary container.
After the film’s end is removed, the film canister is put in a holders that allow the top that the film is cut into squares.
After cutting the film is then bonded to a leader card with special tape that doesn’t peel off during the development process. In the following image, the leader card is constructed from a flexible plastic.
Two films may be attached onto the sides of the lead card. It is crucial to tape sides of the leader card and the film to ensure that no film is ripped off during the development process. The leader card is a small rectangular holes in the center. The holes are able to catch onto prockets, which help allow the leader card to follow the film through the machine.
It is crucial that films from one customer’s aren’t mixed up with other customers’ films. To prevent this from happening, the unique serial number known as twin check is attached to the customer’s purchase as well as the film it’s matched to. The numbers will be duplicated after the film is removed from the machine.
The film is now ready for Processing.
A leader’s card can be put in centrally and the machine shifts the leader card forward.
The door to the machine is in the open position. When the leader card is in line against the vertical silver plate, the door will be closed and locked, and ensure that the machine is light-tight.
One of the most terrifying possibilities to every film studio is the possibility of a power blackout. I’ve experienced it countless times. In the event of a power blackout, the machine is shut down and the film that was not developed becomes stuck in the tank or bath.
I ought to have mentioned this in the beginning… This is essential that a properly maintained photo lab runs control strips at the beginning of each day, or every second day in case they have an active lab. This is extremely crucial. After the control strip is created, it is analyzed using an instrument called a densitometer. The densitometer’s results can then be used to calibrate machines, making sure that the chemical and colour levels are in order.
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At this point, the film has been fully and completely entered into the machine. The film is going to undergo an evolution from undeveloped to developed in a sequence of tanks for processing (baths) located inside this machine (the internals of the machine as follows).
This process is known as C-41 processes. The processes that the film will go through as it moves across the machines are detailed in the following paragraphs:
The first step is the developer The developer creates silver images in the film’s emulsion layer by generating a latent image by the exposure of film. Then the developer – which is locally oxidized through this reaction – mixes with couplers that are incorporated into the emulsion to produce dyes that are colour-based. The amount of dye created is proportional to the quantity of silver image created.
Method 2: Bleaching This bath transforms the metallic silver image created in the process of development back into silver halide to allow the fixer to eliminate any silver from the mixture.
3. Fixing Fixer dissolves bleached image as well as the undeveloped, unexposed silver halide, which was initially present inside the film’s film emulsion that is later washed away by the wash.
The process 4 and 5 is washing A water wash , which is commonly utilized in larger processors is a process that removes all chemicals used in processing and their by-products from the film. The correct rate of wash water and temperature are crucial for long-term stability of the dye.
Process 6: Stabilising This is a process that includes an agent for wetting along with other chemical compounds that provide an even drying process of the film as well as long-term stability.
7. Drying This is when the film gets heated in order to evaporate any moisture.
When the film is done running through the C-41 procedure The technician cuts the film from the leader, and then is able to hang them on a stand that is commonly called a tree. The film is then hung at the right in the proper the order.
After the technician from the lab has weighed the sample roll of photo paper (called paper control strips) using the densitometer after which printing and scanning of the roll of film that has been developed is possible.
Once the film is scan at a high-resolution negative, it will be displayed as colour positives on a monitor (good photo labs employ an calibrated screen to verify the color and exposure are accurate).
At this point that a skilled lab technician can adjust each photo using a specific keyboard. The different levels of Cyan, Magenta and Yellow can be added to or subtracted from each image to ensure the color is accurate. Additionally, adjustments are made for the correct exposure for each photograph. Printing negatives from negatives is a art, and that’s why it is essential to ensure that the technician who prints your images has been trained extensively in this particular area.
Now you are aware of the process of making film rolls beginning with the shooting process to being printed. It can take time to get used to for new workers and if processes aren’t properly followed, there are a lot of things that can go wrong. In my experience, I’ve seen a few incidents of the loss of film in some labs negatives, negatives not being cut correctly or, more importantly films being delivered to incorrect people.
