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Snip Tests Prevent Film Deaths

Snip Tests Prevent Film Deaths

And other strange and scary stories

Ben Henschel
October 08, 2024 • Estimated Reading Time: 5 minutes

Happy Tuesday film lovers! 👋

It’s finally October, which means two things:

It’s spooky season 👻
There are Christmas decorations for sale at Lowe’s 🤮

Something pretty scary happened the other day. I was developing a roll of Cinestill 800T, wrapping up the final rinse. I pull the film off the roll and to my horror I see….NOTHING! 🫣

The developer must be exhausted because, even with extra time to compensate for a weaker solution, it just barely developed. I scanned what I could, but I couldn’t even convert it to a positive. The joys of film. Fortunately, there wasn’t anything too interesting on that roll.

What could I have done differently? A snip test. ✂️

I’ve never actually done one. I’m not 100% sure how to do one. I just know it’s what you can do to test your developer before ruining a roll of film.

Note to self: Learn how to do a snip test.

Alright let’s get to it. Here’s what I’ve got for you today.

🧪 The Dev report - Kodak Tri-X 400.
🔥 Harman Phoenix Film, now in 120.
📺 A strange Polaroid film

🧪 The Dev Report

I did successfully develop some B&W film. Developing film, especially black & white is like baking a cake. There are many different recipes you can follow and each one turns out a little different. Knowing what recipe was followed and what the results were, is really important to figuring out what you like and don’t like. And So we have The Dev Report, where I break down the recipe I used to develop a roll of film, so we can see the results together.

Recipe

🎞️ Film: Kodak Tri-X 400
🧪 Developer: Rodinal
💧 Dilution: 1+25
- 19ml developer + 466ml water
🌡️ Temp: ~68º F
⏱️ Times:
- 🧪 Dev: 7:00
- ✋ Stop Bath: 1:00
- 🔧 Fix: 5:00
- 🧼 Hypo Clear: 2:00
- 🚿 Final Wash: 10 fill ups
👋 Agitation: 1 continuous Minute then 10 second every minute

Results

Ludlow, Vermont

Overall, I’m pretty happy with how these turned out. I definitely prefer the stronger concentration of developer, for two main reasons:

I like the increased contrast
Shorter dev times 😁

🔥 Harman Phoenix 200 Film

Last year, Harman released a brand new color film. And I mean brand new. Not re-spooled cinema film, but actually new film they manufactured themselves. As always, anything new being created for the film community is great!

Brooklyn, New York

I tried a few rolls of this 200 ISO, 35mm film back when it was first released. The results were…ok. Harman made it clear that this film had its quirks and they were right. I like grain, but Phoenix was a little too much.

Well, they’ve now released Phoenix in 120 format! I have a couple rolls on their way, but initial reviews/results look more promising than the 35mm version. The grain seems more toned down. Which is great.

Kyle McDougall has a nice review of it, that I recommend watching.