I live in Canada and am wondering how important the ambient temperature is to the developing process. The climate in my area only has a few months with average daytime temps above 21C.
That's brilliant! Thanks for these responses. Those videos are really helpful and completely match my experience yesterday - wish I'd seen them before! I obviously need to a keep an eye on Instagram.
If it's really cold then it'll take longer to develop and it may take a bit of experimentation to figure out a good time. That said, if you keep the chemicals in an inside pocket, then it should be fine!
I was about to start a new thread on this subject, but then spotted this one. I ran a school club with pinstas today and it was probably the coldest it has been for a session (not freezing, but chilly, about 4C). The photos came out much paler than usual - that was after the kit had been outside for about an hour. I then tried an experiment and did another photo outside with the same exposure, but with chemistry straight from indoors, so room temp (mind you, the paper hadn't been outside for an hour). That photo came out fine - so the exposure was fine for the light level. So, do you think if it's impossible to keep the chemistry warmish in the field, then a longer development would work? Any experience of that? But what about if the paper inside the camera has got really cold? I noticed there was a lot more 'staining' on the photo from the chemicals going in, suggesting something happened as soon as it struck the cold paper. Any ideas how to avoid that? Any suggestions appreciated!
I know that Martin Vanners uses a hot water bottle wrapped in a towel in a box to keep his chemicals warm in the cold weather. In theory, longer development should compensate, though by how much is an experiment I haven't had to do yet.. You could theoretically pre-wash with warm water if the camera is really cold, but I haven't tried that, either :) maybe Martin can chime in?
Thanks Dave and yes: I use a hot water bottle to keep my chems warm and when I'm shooting out in the cold, I place my camera on top of it for a few minutes, before starting the development process. It will help get the cold out of the inside of the camera and gets the temperature of the paper up. Ideally you'd want your chems to be at around 68°F (20°C), which allows you to develop in 1-2 minutes and fix in about 1 minute.
That's brilliant! Thanks for these responses. Those videos are really helpful and completely match my experience yesterday - wish I'd seen them before! I obviously need to a keep an eye on Instagram.
If it's really cold then it'll take longer to develop and it may take a bit of experimentation to figure out a good time. That said, if you keep the chemicals in an inside pocket, then it should be fine!