How to Develop Color Film at Home - In Depth Tutorial

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You asked and now here it is. The full length developing video for developing 35mm and 120 film at home. This is how I do it from top to bottom and the kit I use. I will be braking the video into smaller sections over the next months for people looking for specific topics, or you can skip around to the specific spots you are interested in using the table of contents.

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My Developing Kit:

Distilled water: Pick up from the store
Scissors: Everyone has these
Stir Stick: Grab anything

My Scanner:

0:00 Opening
0:15 Intro
1:44 My Kit
6:48 Why Develop Your Own Film
9:23 Pros and Cons
10:23 Mix Chemicals
17:22 Load Film Reels
27:33 Developing Process
32:05 Chemical Care
35:09 5 Developing Hacks
38:45 Outro

When developing film this way, you can develop any c41 chemical required 35mm film or 120 film, even some movie films and 110 film and large format film. Films like Kodak Portra 400, Portra 160, Portra 800, fujifilm c200, pro 400h, and even cheap film stock like Kodak gold and so many others.

#developingfilm #howtodevelopfilm #35mmfilm

[film_friends]

Let me know if you have any questions and I’ll be happy to help anyone through the process!

[matthewgood]

As a scientist i have a small tip. Label the cap and sides of bottles. not just the cap. If you have both caps off you can mix up your solutions!

[derekmichael]

I've been processing my own film for about 7 or 8 years. Recently I've just not been happy with the results. It's like I've gotten too comfortable and forgotten some of the basics. Watching this video was so extremely helpful and I feel really excited to process some film using some of your tips. I sincerely thank you, Will.

[eloyhernandez]

Hands down the best at home developing video I've seen. Thanks for making this!

[maxcohen]

The film leader tool is genuinely the puzzle piece I was missing… I am not adept enough to do that with no visual aid so that tool is a real game changer 🙌🏻 thanks for the great video

[frankgutierrezvisualartist]

OMG!!! @ 23:30 😆I thought I was the only one that this happened to! I spent like the first few minutes trying to reel the backing! 🥴 This has been a great video! Thanks for making it easy for this "newb to film, " to understand how to develop at home!

[overexposed]

Banjo, strat, analog photography.. better believe there's a mustache present. Love this guy and great information.

[jabez]

Thank you for sacrificing that 120 roll .

[fernandomonge]

Straight up, the most thorough and comprehensive tutorial I could find! You've genuinely got me not only feeling more excited to start developing my own film but also more confident going into it for the 1st time! :)

[roseykawaii]

I literally had a midnight thought trying to remember how to process film. I took a class in high school and just loved developing film and enlarging them on the machine to make our prints on the light sensitive paper. I would love to get into developing film again since I miss my high school days doing it❤

[hiphopnin]

I just found this vid yesterday and can I say firstly its one of the most in depth videos on this subject on youtube. But the one tip that got me to dive head first into attempting developing is the use of the film retriever to help get the film started in the spool before putting it into the bag. To me that is genius because that is the part that made me hesitate the most. Great vid!

[Mamo]

A helpful tip. With 35mm film when you cut the film leader off before you're going to feed it into the Paterson reel, try not to cut it in the middle of the sprocket holes. You want to try to get as smooth an edge as you can on that leading edge without any partially cut little sprocket thingies sticking out on the edges. That helps minimizes the chances of the film getting hung up at some point while doing all that reel ratcheting.

[nycheeseburger]

The thoroughness of this tutorial is greatly appreciated, thank you!

[ceciliomolina]

I've watched quite a few of the tutorials on YouTube...and agree that this was the most thourogh and well presented. Great job Will...hope to see more from you.

[MrHenriquesDaniel]

I've watched a ton of videos about this, and this one is, for sure, the best and most informative! Great job! Thanks!

[princessshredder]

This tutorial is a real confidence booster! Thank you for giving your valuable time to sharing this so clearly with us!

[jvisuals]

Thank you so much for this, as a total newbie, the typical 5 minutes videos on YouTube didn’t cut it! This was a very informing!

[animikhchakraborty]

In-depth indeed! Thank you for popping out on my recommendations page!

[Joshypi]

Hey man! Just wanted to say thanks for such a helpful tutorial. Your kit, process, and directions were everything I needed to develop my 35mm film for the first time. I just developed for the second time and it turned out great as well! Really appreciate it.

[geenancylee]

What a thorough video. It has been years since I've developed. Thank you so much for covering 120 film too!