Film processing involves developing, stopping development, fixing, washing and drying. Special equipment and chemicals are required for both black-and-white and color film. The process involves immersing the film in different chemical agents to create metallic silver and remove unexposed halide crystals. The film is then washed and dried before being stored. Color film processing uses different chemicals to create full-color images.
There are four main stages in film processing: developing, stopping developing, fixing, washing and drying. To process film in this way, special equipment is required, including developing tanks, timers, and photo-processing chemicals. Both black-and-white and color film can be developed manually; the two processes are very similar, although color image processing involves the use of different chemicals.
The first step in film processing is the actual development of the film. To begin with, a special developing agent is poured into a tank, followed by immersion of the film in the chemical agent. The agent promotes the release of electrons, which transform the silver halide grains of the film into metallic silver. A thermometer is used during this stage to ensure that the correct temperature is maintained throughout the process.
The next step in film processing involves stopping the development progression. This ensures that the film does not over-develop, which compromises the integrity of the scanned image by making it too grainy. A chemical mixture known as a stop bath is employed. The film is placed in the stop bath, where it dilutes the developing agent.
The third step in film processing is called fixing. During this procedure, chemicals known as a fixer bath remove unexposed halide crystals on the film. The chemical solution does not attack metallic silver; it operates only on the halide and eradicates it from the developing photos.
Immersing the film in clean water further removes any developing chemicals. This ensures that no white spots appear on the film negatives. After washing the film in a pot of water for about five minutes, the film is hung up to dry.
The drying process generally takes one to two hours. After it has dried, the film can be viewed more easily and the photos can be more easily selected for enlargement. Once drying is complete and the images have been selected, the negatives are then stored in appropriate packaging, usually clear vellum bags or polyvinyl chloride (PVC) bags.
Both black and white and color film are developed in this general method. When developing color film, however, chemicals are used that react differently to the film than their black-and-white counterparts. As the film processing method progresses, color slowly begins to appear on the film. When dry and ready for viewing, the chemicals have prepared the full color format images.
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