Technique for Making B&W Slides

Last year I scanned thousands of old family photos, negatives, and slides.  In doing so, I came across a series of B&W slides.  The concept of making B&W slides hadn't really occurred to me until I was viewing them.  I thought they stood out as something different. It was a medium that offered the dynamic range of a slide with the tonality and artistry of a B&W photograph.

Months later I decided to try my hand at medium-format stereo photography and the idea of shooting B&W slides came to the front of my mind.

Kodak offers a T-Max reversal kit but it seemed a bit pricey.  dr5 offers commercial processing of B&W film into slides but at $15 / roll for processing only, it was out of my budget.  At six stereo shots per roll dr5 would cost almost $4 per photograph with the cost of film, processing, and mail.  That's fine for fine art but not snapshots. 

I love dropping off film to be developed.  I don't like wasting my time with drudgery. But, I also have a love of chemistry.  Would it be possible to mix up a decent home-brew formula?

There is a lot of information on the Internet about B&W reversal processing but it is scattered and also written for people who already understand the basic processes of film development.  I didn't understand anything so it took a while to get up to speed.  Here are a few of my primary resources:

• Photosensitive

• Photo.net search for B&W Slide

• Apug.org search for B&W Slide

• Julio1fer and ImageMaker's comments on the NelsonFoto forums

• Ilford reversal recommendations

• Lots of Wikipedia and other Google searches to help connect the dots and elucidate exactly what all of the chemicals do.

My formula, detailed below, is a mix and match of the many ideas I researched.  I first tested it on 4×5 film using a Paterson Orbital Processor on Ilford HP5+ film. I've also tested it successfully with Plus-X and Efke 100 in 120 format using tank inversion development.

All 4x5 steps were subject to continuous agitation.  All 120-size steps used 5 inversions every 15 seconds for the time recommended.

The process is only slightly more complicated that traditional B&W film development:

• First Developer - develop all of the latent image on the film
• Bleach - remove all of the developed silver
• Clear - remove the stain of the bleach
• Clear Highlights by Inspection - use hypo to dissolve silver until your highlights are just clear
• Second Exposure - Expose the film to light so that the remaining silver halide will develop
• Second Developer - Develop the remaining silver halide to metallic silver
• Fix & Harden - Really you shouldn't to fix but hardening is important for the process I've chosen
• Wash, Hang, and Dry - Final steps

Temperature of all steps was at 18C (64F). A number of people I consulted believed that lower temperatures reduce the toll that the permanganate bleach takes on the gelatin emulsion.  I think they are correct.

Whenever I try something new, I used distilled water for everything.  Though water quality isn't likely to be an issue, it is helpful to reduce the number of variables when doing testing.  After I establish a formula I only use distilled water for my chemical baths and use tap for washes.

- FIRST DEVELOPMENT

35g Sodium Carbonate
15ml HC-110
2g Potassium Bromide
500ml distilled water

Develop for 2x recommended time (i.e., to completion) using DigitalTruth HC-110 recommendations and adjusted for time using the Ilford Time-Temperature scale.

- FIRST WASH

Wash 15 seconds or inversions, empty
Wash 30 seconds or inversions, empty
Wash 60 seconds or inversions, empty

- BLEACH

A - 4g Potassium Permanganate
    1L distilled water

B - 55g Sodium Bisulfate
    1L distilled water

Mix A + B just before use.  After 1 minute the lid can be removed.  All additional steps can be in room light. No sunlight or you might solarize the image.

Continue bleach for as long as it takes to remove all of the black silver image.  If using a Paterson Orbital processor with only 55ml solution volume, bleach may be exhausted and need to be refreshed.  You may need to refresh twice or three times depending on how much silver needs to be removed.

Film should be creamy yellow color with only a slightly visible latent image.  Emulsion is extremely soft so be careful!

- SECOND WASH

Wash 15 seconds or inversions, empty
Wash 30 seconds or inversions, empty
Wash 60 seconds or inversions, empty

- CLEARING BATH

30g Sodium Metabisulfite
1L distilled water

2 minutes.  This generates sulfur dioxide gas which can be irritating.  Ventilate this step!

- THIRD WASH

Wash 15 seconds or inversions, empty
Wash 30 seconds or inversions, empty
Wash 60 seconds or inversions, empty

- CLEAR HIGHLIGHTS

25g Sodium Thiosulfate
1L distilled water

A higher concentration will speed the process.  Some suggest going as high as 40g / L in concentration.
Agitate and inspect until highlights are just almost clear.  If you leave the film in too long, you'll dissolve too much silver and your blacks will be grey.  This step should take between 0 and 10 minutes depending on film, your EI, and the concentration.

- SECOND EXPOSURE

Unwind film is on a reel and hold it up to a 60-100W light for 1 1/2 minutes on each side.  Some recommend keeping the film suspended in water in a glass tank during this step.  I haven't found that necessary.  For 4x5 film, I just hold the open Orbital tank up to the light, flip the film and repeat.

- SECOND DEVELOPMENT

    7.5ml HC-110
    500ml distilled water
    Use 1.5x recommended development time by inspection until desired density is reached.

- FIX

    5-10 minutes with hardening fixer inversion every 1 minute

- FOURTH WASH

    Wash in running water for 5 minutes

- PHOTO FLO   

    1.25ml + 16oz water

- HANG AND DRY

Note 1: The Paterson Orbital Film Processor only uses 55ml of chemistry to develop four 4×5 sheets, 2 5×7 sheets, or 1 8×10 sheet.  This is excellent economy. However, at 4g / L of Potassium Permanganate, 55ml is not enough to bleach the film completely.  For now I have extended this step to doing serial 5 minute bleaches until the pour-off is still purple (the solution turns grey with silver when exhausted).  I may experiment with a stronger bleach concentration.

Note 2: The Paterson Orbital Processor is made with black plastic.  After the silver from the first exposure is removed, you will still see a negative image because the black plastic is shining through the bleached areas.  Lift the film and inspect in the light to make sure bleaching is complete. This really threw me off the first time I tried this formula.

Note 3: I chose permanganate bleach instead of dichromate bleach because, like many of us, I do my development in a bathroom used by all the members of my family. Permanganate is acutely toxic but dichromate is carcinogenic.  If someone is going to get sick, I'd like to know right away.  Also, at the lower temperature I haven't had a problem with the soft emulsion getting out of control.  I still need to be careful, but it isn't sliding off the film base as I've heard it can do at higher temperatures.

Comments

[Gleb]

Hi, I love that you use grams of carbonate, not "2 tablespoons" as I have seen elsewhere. Question: when you say "500ml of water", does it mean final total volume, or you do not care about some extra volume, say from 15ml of hc-110 and 2g of bromide?
Thanks!

[Gleb]

Hi, I love that you use grams of carbonate, not "2 tablespoons" as I have seen elsewhere. Question: when you say "500ml of water", does it mean final total volume, or you do not care about some extra volume, say from 15ml of hc-110 and 2g of bromide?
Thanks!

[Aaron]

I measured out two tablespoons on my scale, tried the results and wrote it down from there. I don't concern myself with final total volume. I simply add 500ml of water. I don't think any of the formula here are sensitive enough to really matter.

[Gleb]

Hi Aaron,
35g of which Sodium Carbonate: Anhydrous or Monohydrate?
Thanks!

[Aaron]

I use monohydrate. Actually I use 'washing soda' from the grocery store. It really shouldn't make much difference. If you use Anhydrous, you'll need less. A little too much or too little is not going to ruin this process.

[Lee]

I wonder clearing highliht is same as fixer.

- CLEAR HIGHLIGHTS

25g Sodium Thiosulfate <--- Kind of Hypo?
1L distilled water