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How to order:
  Locate the item you want using our online catalog. Click the "Add To Cart" button.
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You will be offered a choice of shipping methods, and will be shown what each method costs.
At that point you can cancel the purchase, or you can go ahead with the order. Pay on-line using VISA, MasterCard, or PayPal.
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You must be satisfied. Merchandise (except film) can be returned, for any reason, within thirty days of receipt, and your purchase price will be refunded (click here for details).

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Photographic chemicals and home processing equipment

    Processing chemicals and Processing equipment

    • Developing tank for roll film: 35mm, 126, 127, 120, 620 (Yes, you can process your color or black and white 127 film).
    • Spiral reels only (for customers who already own Patterson-type tanks)


Liquid Light
® photographic emulsion for prints on wood, glass, ceramics, plastics, china, fabrics, metal, stone, paper, artist's canvas, walls -- even an egg.

Printing with Liquid Light is the same as with black-and-white enlargement paper. Under amber or red safelight, brush the emulsion onto a surface. Expose with an enlarger or slide projector, or make contact prints from full-size negatives. Process with standard paper developer and fixer.

Prints are archivally-permanent with a full range of tones and transparent highlights that reveal the color and texture of the material underneath. Contrast is medium-high (approximately #3).

 

Coverage is approximately 1˝ square feet per ounce, or about 12 sq ft from this 8-ounce bottle. No fumes, odors or VOC's -- Liquid Light is completely darkroom-safe.

  Item: RO-LLE/8
  per 8-oz bottle
Use this Add To Cart button to buy:

      



Sometimes called the Life Magazine developer, it dates from the 1940's. For decades it was the favorite developer of many of the most recognizable names in photojournalism, including W. Eugene Smith, Henri Cartier-Bresson, and Andre Kertesz. It was the developer of choice at the Magnum and Black Star agencies. It is characterized by clear highlights, bright, open shadows, and a full, rich tonal range with a tight grain structure. It is well suited to both older style and modern tabular-grain films.

Because it has never been distributed as a mass-market product, it has a reputation as a difficult, cult developer, but nothing could be further from the truth. It is a dependable workhorse that gives outstanding results, roll after roll after roll. It is a solid, beautifully crafted tool for working photographers who cannot afford to waste time on unpredictable, fussy developers. It richly deserves to be more widely known.

Click here to download full instructions, including time/temperature suggestions, and replenishment quantities for all common film sizes. Adobe Acrobat Reader is required. If you do not have Acrobat Reader installed on your computer, you can download it at no charge from the Adobe web site. Just click the Get Reader icon:

Panthermic 777 Developer

"Panthermic" refers to the fact that this developer can be used successfully over a wide range of temperatures, between 60 and 90 degrees F, and you can develop to a wide range of contrast, without noticeable change to film speed or grain.

Once mixed, it has extremely long life, and is meant to be used for months (or years) with replenishment. We recommend you mix one gallon, then divide it into two half-gallon containers. Use one as your developer and replenish from the other, removing old developer and replacing it with fresh developer after each use. Your first half-gallon of replenisher is enough for 42 36-exp rolls of 35mm film (about 60 cents per roll). Every subsequent gallon will process 84 rolls (about 30 cents per roll).

Click here to download instructions for using this developer.

(Dry powder, mix with water to make one US gallon (approx. 3.8 litres)

Product HA777
   

To order on-line, click the Add To Cart button. When you finish shopping, you can choose from several shipping methods. You can pay on-line with VISA/MasterCard, or PayPal. Or you can print out your order and mail it to us with your personal check or money order.


Bluefire™ HR
An ultra-soft developer for long, soft pictorial gradation with ultra-fine grain films like Bluefire Police, Kodak Tech Pan, and microfilms. To learn more about this developer, go to the Bluefire catalog page (click here).
Packaged in dry powder form. Mix with tap water to make 1 litre of concentrate. Dilute concentrate 1:16 to make one-time-use working solution (add 15 ml concentrate to 235 ml water to process one roll of 35mm). Sufficient to develop 66 rolls of 35mm film.

Product BHR-1L
 



Bluefire™ Micro
A high-contrast microfilm-style developer for hard blacks, hard whites, and little if any gray scale from ultra-fine grain films like Bluefire Police, Kodak Tech Pan, and microfilms. To learn more about this developer, go to the Bluefire catalog page (click here).
1 litre size, 2-part dry developer powder to be mixed with tap water. Long shelf life and excellent working capacity.


Product BMI-1L
 


NACCO Spot Free rinse aid, 1 oz. bottle
Ultra concentrated (1:2000) film drying agent.
3 times more concentrated than Photo-Flo®.
Rapid drying, anti-static, anti-streaking.  A rinse aid is essential to reduce or eliminate water spots on negatives, and this product is not only economical, it's extremely effective.
Product NA-369
 


 

 


Equipment for processing film at home



These AP tanks can be used to process black and white, color, or  infrared film. Interchangeable with Patterson processing tanks and reels. But there is a good reason to prefer these to Patterson products.

Here's the reason. The spiral reels included with these tanks feature extra-large, thumb-sized tabs where the film-feed entry is located. There is a tab on top, and a larger tab on the bottom. They're dead easy to locate in the dark, and make it very unlikely you'll be trying to feed the film in backwards. 


Note: if you prefer the standard reel with narrow loading flanges, please purchase them here:

Standard spiral reel only. These fit standard Patterson tanks as well as AP tanks, and feature the standard narrow loading flange. Product REEL-GR   ea.
 



Film loading bag

This is a well-made double-layer fabric bag for handling light-sensitive materials, such as film, in daylight. It features a large double-zippered opening on one end, and elastic-lined wrist holes on the other. Totally light-proof.

Use it, for example, to load film onto spiral reels, and then into your processing tank. Makes it possible to develop film at home with no darkroom. Measures 17" square.

Product BAG1717
 

AP Compact Developing tank with two easy-load spiral reels. Chemical-resistant plastic. Process color or black and white film, 35mm, 126, 127, 120, 620, and 220. 

Product APTAN
   ea.
 

AP Compact style spiral reels only. These fit standard Patterson tanks as well as AP tanks, but feature greatly improved film-loading flanges which considerably simplify film loading in the dark. The only quirk is that to remove processed film conveniently, you should pull the reel apart rather than simply pull the film out.
Product REEL
   ea.
 

Personal note: my experience makes it clear that these Compact style (wide-flange) reels are significantly easier to load in the dark than Patterson and Jobo reels. A roll of curly 120 can take me ten minutes with a Patterson reel, and I worry about kinking it. It rarely takes even 30 seconds with one of these.
David Foy


 

 

 

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All prices are in $US. This page last modified Monday, June 16, 2008 . Please be sure to read our privacy policy. Entire web site protected by copyright. © 2001- 2007, The Frugal Photographer. All rights reserved. Reproduction of text, photographs, illustrations, and web page design without permission is strictly forbidden. ADOX is a registered Canadian trademark of Adox Fotowerke, Inc., Calgary. "Bluefire" is a registered trademark, used with permission.

Serving photographers on the World Wide Web since September 1, 2001