Monobath: The Perfect Condo Developer

My wife, Debbie, and I are into our second month of downtown Chattanooga condo life and enjoying every minute of it. Gone are the responsibilities and worries of maintaining an older home, yard work, cleaning unused parts of a large house, and owning endless amounts of needless stuff. We have streamlined our possessions to what we really need and value, and now they fit into 685 square feet of living space. With all of the city just outside our door, we have endless possibilities for walking (one of our favorite pastimes), and I have endless possibilities for photography. I couldn't be happier.

As we anticipated our move, I give much thought about how I would continue to develop film in our new place. Previously in our old house, I developed my film in the upstairs bathroom that was largely unused. I kept film tanks, beakers, funnels, various tools, and all the chemistry for B&W, C-41, and E-6 in the cabinet below the sink. I was careful to keep the room clean so as to not annoy my wife. Nevertheless, I still managed to drip some E-6 chemistry on the cabinet doors, and the resulting stains had to be repainted.

Since I shoot mostly B&W film these day, I decided that I would not use C-41 and E-6 chemistry in my new condo. They just get too messy and smelly. I I really want to develop color film here, I probably could do it in the first floor dog spa room, where there are large steel sinks and running water. The other issue I have with having color chemistry here is that storage space for multiple bottles is very limited. And it is this that led me to my decision to give a B&W monobath a try.

In case you don't know, a monobath is a single liquid chemistry that contains developer, stop bath, and fixer all in one bottle. Several online retailers sell a monobath, and for my first try I chose the Cinestill Df96 monobath, primarily because it ships as a powder that you mix at home (less shipping cost). The package contains two powders that you mix together in 600 ml of distilled water and top off with more distilled water to make one liter. According to the well-written and very useful instructions that come with the package, one liter of Df96 can process 16+ rolls of film.

Anyone who has ever developed B&W film and stressed about getting the right developer, the right developing time, the right developing temperature, and the right agitation will be surprised at the simplicity of the monobath process. For most films, you simply follow the developing time and agitation directions according to what temperature your monobath is, and the three different temperature levels used in the directions are all considered "room temperatures."

70º F (21ºC) - 6 minutes - Minimal Agitation

75ºF (24ºC) - 4 minutes - Intermittent Agitation

80ºF (27ºC) - 3 nimbuses - Constant Agitation

The instructions make clear what is considered "minimal, intermittent, and constant" agitation. They also state that some films  (such at T-grain films like Kodak Tmax films) require longer (2X) times to ensure full clearing. It also is possible to develop films that have been pushed or pulled one or two stops. The directions include a list of thirty films with possible EI numbers to guide your choice of developing times. I would say that the folks at Cinestill have done a lot of work behind the scenes to help users of their monobath get the best results possible, and I commend them for this.

So, recently one evening I loaded my tank with a roll of Ultrafine Extreme 100, which I had shot at box speed in my Minolta X-700, and set about developing film in my new kitchen. My temperature was 70º F (21ºC), my time was 6 minutes, and my agitation was minimal (ten seconds gentle agitation, then five seconds every minute). When the developing time was up, I opened the tank and began washing with running water. Here the instructions are a bit unclear. They clearly state that "no more than five minutes is needed for a wash to archival standards." However, the next sentence states that "a longer final rinse and rinse aid will help ensure archival negatives." So which is it? I decided that, since space allows me to keep a small bottle of Kodak Hypo-Clear, and I would follow my normal procedure of :30 rinse, 2:00 Hypo-Clear, and 5:00 rinse.

So what were my results? I would say that I was quite impressed with my negatives. They were fully developed and fully cleared. If anything, their were a little on the contrasty side with maybe a little more grain that I usually get with Ultrafine Extreme 100. I would call the experiment a success, but when this bottle is exhausted, I may try the monobath from the Film Photography Store just for the sake of comparison.

At any rate, my home developing workflow is back in business. Now it's time to go for a walk and look for some "pitchas!"

Happy Shooting!

Looking down from the Walnut Street Bridge to Coolidge Park
on the North Shore of Chattanooga

Looking at the Market Street and Walnut Steel Bridges
from the Tennessee Riverwalk

Reproductions of the Niña and the Pinta docked in Chattanooga
for Columbus Day/Indigenous People Day

A part of the Passages monument to honor the indigenous
Cherokee nation,who sadly were forced to begin their
"Trail of Tears" journey from this spot

Lovers Leap, Rock City Gardens, atop Lookout
Mountain near Chattanooga

Oktoberfest dancers, Rock City Gardens, Lookout Mountain

Sculpture, Chattanooga Public Library