Developing a Minox film in the Minox daylight tank
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- Опубліковано 7 сер 2024
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In this video I try and develop film shot in a Minox B 8x11mm camera. The last time I developed a film was thirty years ago and I have never worked with 8x11mm film so hopefully we can learn something together.
While I'm no expert on these types of Sub Mini formats and equipment I can strongly recommend MS Hobbies of Putney London if you are interested in knowing more. They can also develop and scan all formats of film including 8x11mm, Disc and APS. I have no affiliation with them
Love this tank, thank you so much for showing more people. someone should develop a copy of the tank!
Thank you for this demo. It helped me loading my tank with my first self-cut film.
I noticed that you did not use the Minox thermometer. Yours is slimmer and therefore cannot properly pump the solution circulating around the film as is required for creating agitation. The ingenuity of the design of the tank and the dimensions of the thermometer is another brilliant invention of Walter Zapp. In case you do not have the original Minox thermometer, you can replace it by buying a Kaiser No. 4081 darkroom thermometer, which has the exact dimensions.
Hello Fred Stock, Thanks for your insight. I was aware of the Kaiser product but was not aware it was fatter. I'd need to check but I believe the one I have is the original one. Maybe Minox did a couple of versions, who knows. Do you have a template to cut the keyhole out with? Mr Zapp was certainly a smart and dedicated individual.
@@mostlyvintagecameras4323 You could be right about the different versions. However, as far as I know the only variations made to the developing tanks concern the inner spiral cylinder, which were somewhat shortened to exclude use of 50 exp. films (which had disappeared from the market in the 1960's). The old tanks (suitable for 50 exp.) have two spacers (one for 36 exp. films, the other for 15 exp. films). The newer tanks have a shorter spiral and only one spacer. But the (outer) tank itself was never changed and therefore the "pumping channel" has for all versions the same diameter. Why change a winning horse?
Making the keyhole is something that required a simple solution because I make them in the exposed film, prior to developing, and there is not much space available unless you spoil exposed frames. I punch them with a simple, cheap punching pliers for leather work. E.g. for making small holes in belts around the waist and belts for watches. It is the model with the rotating punchers mounted in a circle. Very cheap! These appear to have a metal "anvil" on which the hole puncher presses to cut a round hole. I have glued a piece of thin leather on the anvil and this improves punching film. First I punch a hole, large enough to make pass the screw's head and next to it two slightly overlapping smaller holes that fit around the neck of the screw. I don't know if I express myself correctly in this description, because English is not my language. Just ask me if something is not clear enough.
hello there, may I ask how you cut your film yourself ? which technique you use to that that in complete darkness?
thanks
@@veronikapot5640 Hello Veronika, thank you for asking. A friend of mine with a milling machine and a lathe made me a cutter, which cuts simultaneously two strips of Minox film from a standard 35 mm film cartridge. I do the cutting and the loading of Minox cassettes in a portable dark room, available as a bag type model or as a more advanced foldable model. I have the more convenient foldable portable dark room. It is placed onto a table surface and it has two arm sleeves to enter the dark room. A large double zipper on the front gives a light-tight access to the interior of the dark room for loading it with utensils prior to working in the dark.
I hope this info will help you.
You may have just convinced me to pull the trigger on one of these. Thanks!
Well done Andrew, once you start buying into the Minox system its a slippery slope! I hope you enjoy the new Dev tank.
Watching spy craft on Netflix and say the Minox b show up and have been intrigue ever since. Thanks for making this cool video. :)
Hello BethePandaGames, Thank you for your comments and kind words. I have to say I have never been cool before so that's nice to read. I haven't seen "Spy Craft" but I think I will have to check it out.
All the best
MVC
Great video. I used to develop my BW Minox film at home some years ago. Since I had no Minox tank, I read you could tape the film in the dark to a 35mm film, and then use a 35mm tank. A bit fiddly, but it worked somehow and I got some great images. Now I have bought a black LX at a good price, and I am tempted to get a Minox tank and start again, after seeing your video. BW lab has a certain charm...even in 2023.
Hello Fernado Moreno,
Thank you for your comment and sharing your memories.
Taping the film to something else was a common practice, a milk bottle being a favourite choice. The Minox tank is great as it is a part of the Minox ecosystem and keeps everything authentic so to speak however it is also possible to get a modified Patterson reel which can work with a regular tank. You would need a changing bag or darkroom for this however.
Kind regards
MVC
Great video. Thanks! It's been forty years since I last used a Paterson developing tank, so this was a refresher as well a new learning experience with Minox equipment. I'll have to see what chemicals are still available for the few Minox films that are still available to buy new. Then it's making the decision to either print or scan. Why do I do this to myself! :-)
Thanks to you MVC for the very instructive video and to all those who partcipated it with their useful comments. Great!!!
Hello Rodrigo, Thank you for your comment. I'm glad you liked the video and found it useful. It is nice when the wider community can add useful information.
Kind regards
MVC
Lovely, thank you for sharing.
Merci, j'avais oublié la procédure
Merci pour votre commentaire. Mon plaisir d'aider.
Tous mes vœux
MVC
Cool content man keep it up ! Subscribed 🙌
Thanks! Will do!
I think those tanks were designed for 50 exposure films. I used to use Minox cameras 20 years ago. Thanks to your videos, I'm going to give it a go again. I've made contact with MS Hobbies, after 20 years.
Hello Ian, Thank you for your comments. I hope you enjoy rediscovering Minox photography.
All the best
MVC
@@mostlyvintagecameras4323 Hi, I've developed my first Minox film, for 18 years today. Thanks to you and Paul at MS Hobbies, who is most helpful, I'm hooked!
@@ianhand5006 Hello Ian, That's fantastic news. Good job. Did you feel like a spy when you hung the tiny strip of film up to dry?
Paul's a great guy. If you are in the UK in September I believe he will have a stand at The Photography Show at the NEC.
@@mostlyvintagecameras4323 Hi, I live about 50 miles from the NEC, so I may go there this year. I've now shot and developed 12 Minox films this year.
@@ianhand5006 Hello Ian, Thank you for your comment. 12 films is going some, I struggle to shoot that much across all cameras! Well done, keep up the good work.
Hello Thanks for your video big help for a novice like me..just one question How long did you run the tank under the tap? Thanks, Billy
great video, one observation, for the chemistry, as it takes 53 ml could you use a small syringe to measure the chemistry?, so it doesn't spill; that is a 60mL syringe, so you can't overfill, by much anyway.
Hello Andy Van, Thank you for your comment, you are of course entirely correct. However I do not have a syringe and just paying attention to what I'm doing would work our cheaper than buying one! It's a learning curve and now I have learnt at what point to spills over so I should be able to avoid it in future. That being said I would find it handy to develop the Minox film at the same time as a 35mm or 16mm one so today I have ordered a modified Paterson developing tank reel from MS Hobbies so I can do exactly this. Not so authentic perhaps but it gives me options.
Merci je vais essayer …
If you cut your own film and don't have the factory-added keyhole on the leader, does it work to simply punch a small hole yourself?
Hi Sean, Great question. During the video I mention I hadn't used this before and we were learning together. This is something I don't know. However I do know there are keyhole punches made for this task you can buy and that would be the way I would go (along with a film slitter). The best best is to give M S hobbies in the UK a call or Blue Moon in the US. Let me know how you get on.
If you didn't find an answer to this, for self cut film I've always just taped it to the spiral. Feed it into the little clip then tape it down. Have never had any issues with sellotape.
Normally, where can I buy a developing tank like this? I'm from China, if I want to cross the purchase, do you have any recommended ways?
Hello 垂直降落, Thank you for your comment and question. I am not familiar with the market in China I'm sorry to say, For the UK eBay is worth taking a look at however if you want to find one for sure once again M S Hobbies in Putney High St London or in the USA Blue Moon are worth a try. All the best MVC
What very fine grain developer you recommend for developing Minox film? Thanks
Hello Eduardo Barriga Caro,
Thank you for your comment. To be honest I am not expert on developers but I have always found Ilfosol S reliable if not too convenient otherwise good old Rodinal is reliable. I keep meaning to test Adox CMS 20 film with it's recommended developer but haven't got around to it yet. Perhaps you could give that a go and let us know?
Kind regards
MVC
Your Minox videos seem to be your most popular ones. Have you considered making more?
Hello Ian, Thank you for your comment.
You are right of course there does seem to be a good deal of interest in the Minox brand and rightly so. Right now I have a film from an EC I need to develop, there is a GT in my camera cupboard which I will take a look at in the summer, I have a broken EL and I'd also like to do a full overview on the B and C. I have some Adox CMS 20 film I want to cut down to give the 9.5mm format the best chance but it is very low ISO so that might also need to wait for summer. Then of course there is all the stuff I have that is not Minox! MVC is more or less a hobby for me as I want to share what I do know about some of these old cameras with "the next generation" but of course like all hobbies it takes time and money and as I have a full time job its hard to fit in. Currently I have films in an Olympus IS100, a Rolli 35S, a Pracktica GP100, an Ensign 420(?) and an Ensign box camera and one or two others I don't recall offhand plus I have a film from an AF7 to develop and films from two other point and shoot cameras coming back to me today. At the speed I make videos that over a years worth of content! I'd love to make more Minox content and use more niche cameras but I try and mix them in with more popular ones that more people might want help using. Oddly videos about Canon EOS cameras always have a lot of interest and I still have quite a few of those I haven't looked at! Don't Panic my Minox man more Minox goodness will be forthcoming!
Thanks again for your support.
MVC
Good to see that you will be making more Minox videos! If you only want to use 53ml of developer, you need to use the relevant spacer in your 50 exposure tank.
Very good, but, were is The film?
The long strip at the end he pulled out?
Hi, I heard that using this minox tank you can damage the cartridge, and make it useless for reload it with new film, because it soaks the velvet inside the cartridge. Is it true or what is your opinion? Many thanks. Great video 👍🏻
Hello Omar Góngora,
Thank you for your comment and question. As I mentioned in the video I am not experienced with using this dev tank. The cassette is held above the spiral the film is on so should be kept dry however I can well imagine a situation where overfilling, pouring the wrong way or flashing with rinse water too fast could lead to the issue you describe. For a more definitive answer I would suggest you drop MS Hobbies an email as ask them as they truly are the experts with Minox.
Perhaps let you know what you find out in the comments here?
Kind regards
MVC
Is this the only way to develop the film? I've never seen or used one of these cameras. I just got one today, the cameras I have used that took rolls of film, I took it to a place that develops them. I'm wondering if I can just have a photography place develop or do I have to do it myself?
Hi Terry, thank you for your comment. If you want to develop the film yourself there is an adapted jobo/Patterson reel available so you can use a "normal" 35mm/120 dev tank. If you want a company to do it for you there are some. In both cases my recommendation would be to telephone MS Hobbies in the UK or Blue Moon in the USA.
All the bedt MVC
Can you give us the details of the chemicals you used. I'm not familiar with any of them at this stage. Thanks! :-)
Hello Edward, thank you for your comment. I used ID-11 with a normal stop and fix but there are a lot of choices. Bellini from Italy do a good one bath B+W chemistry. For occasional use you might consider Ilford Simplicity range, it's a bit expensive per litre but may have less waste for low volume users. I haven't tried stand developing a Minox film yet but a Rodinol developer would be good for that.
Hi, how can you scan those images from the minox film?
Hello omargongora1171,
Thank you for your comment. How to scan is a work in progress tbh but I think a 61MP camera and some kind of copy/macro set up will be involved!
Kind regards
MVC
A funnel will catch dribbles.
Hello William,
Thank you for your comments. You might just be right about the funnel, Good idea. Thanks
MVC
OK, once you have Minox film developed, is there a way to scan negatives and convert them to positive images and save them to your PC or flash drive, then scale them to 5x6 size and print them out on your printer ?
Hello Gary, Thank you for your Comments. It's an interesting question and the short answer is yes you can. I plan to look at what you can do with these negatives in a latter video. The best solution would be to use a virtual drum scanner which really means getting someone else to do them for you. Once again I must defer to M S Hobbies who have a custom mask for a flex tight scanner for 8x11mm and also disk negatives. For myself I plan to try out a 35mm scanner with glass slide mounts and maybe cutting a mask in a 34mm neg to cut light from around the edge. I'm told projecting the image and photographing the projection works well with either a slide projector or an enlarger but that has it's own issues. there is also one more option I plan to try but it takes time to try these things of course!
Some high end scanners can handle the smaller 9mm films, like my Nikon Super Coolscan 8000ED.
I bought a used Nikon CoolScan LS40 for $250. Found a used FH2 Nikon film adapter for $40. I put the Minox film on the side of the adapter and insert into the CoolScan. Works great.
For Yanks, that is about 1.8 ounces.
Hello Edgy00, Thank you for your comments and clarification.
All the best from the UK
MVC
Very informative. Pls stop breathing on thr microphone 🤢🤮