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Just an experimental image!

For the last few months I’ve been playing around with an idea for a project using cheap, disposable cameras to take a series of photos. I had the thought that using as simple as camera as possible might let me concentrate more on the image, and I also wanted to play with a grainier, softer focus look than I get with other cameras. All of the disposable cameras I have been able to find have a fixed focal length lens and they all seem to use ISO 400 colour (C41) film. There’s just the one exposure setting, so you are limited to fairly bright scenes. In practice I can shoot anywhere from full sun to medium shade.

I want to be able to develop the film myself, but only have a basic setup to develop BW film at home. Luckily, it is possible to develop C41 film in black and white chemistry! My first experiments using normal BW processing times gave very weak images so I tried something called ‘Stand Developing’. In stand developing you use a weaker solution of developer and leave the film in it for much longer with minimal agitation. The end result is that the highlight areas on the negative ‘use up’ the developer touching them, while the shadow areas with less exposure keep developing for longer. So you get a more even development at the expense of contrast. Not all developers are suitable, I used a copy of Rodinal which is most often used for stand developing.

The developed negatives have a strong red cast because of the C41 film stock colour. They scan fine but when printing I’ve had to use contrast filters to get a decent print, with fairly long exposure times.