pin hole frustration

[RitterKreuz]

I ordered all of the stuff required to take some pictures with my pinhole camera and develop my own shots... so far i have tried at least ten test shots.

the film develops either all blacked out or all clear.

Im not sure what im doing wrong.

Does anyone know anything about Tmax 100 film? or dark room processes?

thanks

[Rifleman]

For information on any of the Kodak T-Max films, you can go o their site and read what you need..........

On the processing side, I've done more than my share of B/W imagery. What is it that you need to find out ?

[RitterKreuz]

im wondering why my film keeps developing clear...

Im also wondering what is the best type of photographic paper for a beginner to use.

[Rifleman]

First off, you need to do some exposure tests to get your "shutter time" acceptable. You might try one second, two seconds, four and eight as a starting point, and process each one the same way. Once you get an image starting to show, you can manipulate your time for the best range on the neg.

For your paper needs, you'll need to have a properly exposed neg and something like a glass plate to make a contact print of the neg at the same size, or some type of enlarger to make bigger prints than the actual neg.

Remember you'll need different developer, stop bath, and fixer for each of both film and paper. Developer for the film needs to be a set temperature  (usually around 70F) and the wash for both film and paper can be standing at room temp.

[Omag 2.0]

Another way of building a pinhole camera, is to buy a cheap dSLR. Remove the bodycap and drill a small hole in it. Place the bodycap back on the body, don't use any lenses.

This works also and saves you the trouble of developping shots. But it's a bit cheating, as you have a working camera to start with...

[RitterKreuz]

First off, you need to do some exposure tests to get your "shutter time" acceptable. You might try one second, two seconds, four and eight as a starting point, and process each one the same way. Once you get an image starting to show, you can manipulate your time for the best range on the neg.

For your paper needs, you'll need to have a properly exposed neg and something like a glass plate to make a contact print of the neg at the same size, or some type of enlarger to make bigger prints than the actual neg.

Remember you'll need different developer, stop bath, and fixer for each of both film and paper. Developer for the film needs to be a set temperature  (usually around 70F) and the wash for both film and paper can be standing at room temp.

Okay... as for exposure time i followed the film manufacturers recommendation first. when that didnt work i acutally tried. 1, 2 ,4 and 8 seconds. then following advice on a pinhole forum i continued to experiment with 10 second 20 second 30 second 60 second and 2 minute exposure times. Some guys even said there are films that require 10 minutes. which i found a little crazy.

I have tried all of those times and my negatives still develop crystal clear.

i have the plate glass for making the negatives to positive on another sheet but i have never got that far yet.

Kodak says that Tmax 100 film must be developed in absolute darkness, not even a safety light may be used and no light of any kind may be entering the room. I have configured my dark room this way which makes it nearly impossible to A. load film, and B. tell when or if i am even getting an image during the developing process.

The film i used to use with this camera required about 3 top 5 seconds of exposure, and could be used in a dark room with a decent safety light (night light is what we used.) in other words it was very easy to work with, but unfortunately i cant find it anywhere

[Rifleman]

Maybe you could try to find some Plus-x(125) orTri-x(400) film and get some Microdol-x for film developer.....those films were very easy to use for me, but then again, I was using a camera with a precise shutter speed and aperture......your only variable is the shutter speed so things are a tad more complex .......if the Microdol isn't too easy to find, you should be able to sub in some D-76......I never had anything bad to say about Kodak developers, for paper, I mostly used Ilford.