When photography was discovered, it was not a company that came across it, or a University, it was some dedicated people who kept working the problem until they were able to capture an image. It happened in France and England at the same time, indicating that there were many people around the world working on the problem. The solution was not perfect, it was not neatly package for sale, it was home made. It required the photographer to work to overcome challenges in order to capture an image.
Then George Eastman came in, along with others, and they made photography marketable. Instead of a few rich people playing with photography, these pioneers made it available to the common person. Companies then jumped up, building cameras, lenses and the various parts that are needed by a photographer.
Then came the digital revolution. And how great that was. But this was driven by companies, Kodak being the first one to come up with a digital image. Cannon, Nikon, Fuji, Sony, Olympus and others keep driving digital photography forward and creating ever more interesting tools for our trade.
Film photography fell back to its roots. It had to be picked up by the individual to drive it forward. People began working on homemade tools to make film photography work again. And I love this about the community. People helping people, people building things, people discovering or rediscovering parts of our trade. All of this driven by a small fraction of the photographers around the world who still reach for those old film cameras.
So when something new comes along I pay attention. I see the fingerprints of this homemade force behind it. I want to support them and I often purchase what they are selling and see how I can fit it into my photography workflow. Grateful for their efforts and curious how this might change how I approach photography.
And so, with this spirit in mind I purchased the AGO Film Processor. I will admit to having a hidden driver behind this purchase and that was 23 rolls of film that I had just brought back from France after a vacation with the wife. What a perfect time to try this new tool and see how it might help me!
The AGO Processor is not an inexpensive purchase. That complicates things in the film photography world, because there are cheap alternatives to do things. For example, my first film development tools were bought for next to nothing on Ebay. So the cheaper option, although less cheap than it once was, is still out there. I paid USD 480 with a tank and two reels and purchased it an Adorama.
It comes in a nice box but there is no additional packaging. Just the thin box. This is actually something I like, less waste, less landfill and so forth. There is a small instruction book, a little box with some doodads, a disk to put on the bottom of the tanks to keep them horizontal, a modified Paterson Tank (only the lid is modified with three holes drilled into its side) with two reels, and obviously the AGO.
I immediately put it to charge. I also updated the firmware, something I did from my iPhone however it is probably easier to do it through a computer. No wired connection, just a WIFI link to download the firmware update, then change the WIFI link to the device and follow the instructions.
I then took it out to my darkroom and did a test run with empty reels and water. Once I got the hang of it, pouring chemicals in and out of it being the item worth practicing I decided to give it a try with actual film. I took a 5 reel tank and loaded it up with 35mm film and started the process.
The Good:
The system is actually very simple to use. You modify their standard B&W or Color workflow, pick if you want to use the automatic temperature measurements to modify your development time (only applies to developer), choose if you want the system to reduce development time by 15% (or you can do it yourself), tell it if you intend to have it standing up or laying flat and you are good to go. Hit the play button and it takes care of the rest.
It agitates constantly (you can change this if you like), it tracks the temperature change (I ran 20deg C chemicals through it and it increased by 1 degree C during development) and lets you know when time to pour out the developer. Pour in the Stop bath and hit play again. Another minute goes by and it beeps, so you pour that out and pour in fixer and hit play. Five minutes later it beeps at you and you can pour out the fixer and start the 10 minute rinsing cycle. You can stand it up and put a hose into the tank and let it agitate while fresh water flows into the tank.
My film came out perfectly. Absolutely even development, perfect contrast (as expected from HP-5 and ID-11 developer) and most importantly I was able to run around the darkroom cleaning up. Normally I have to plan things around 50 second intervals as I must go back and agitate for 10 seconds. This gives me more freedom while the film is agitated but more than that (see below) I can now develop more rolls of film at a time. This is a massive time savings for me.
The temperature feature is wonderful. If my developer is a minute off I don't have to worry too much about it. The device will adjust to account for it. This does not mean that you can pour in developer at any temperature, you need to get it as close to your temperature as possible but I am more relaxed about my approximations.
The best thing about this device is that it uses about 1/3 the chemicals. When I purchased this device I finally purchased something I had my eye on for a LOOOOOONG time. This is the 8reel Paterson tank. I always wanted the ability to develop a large number of rolls but the sheer chemical volume was way too expensive. So I would max out at my 5 reel system and would still have to prepare more diluted chemicals than I normally kept on hand to keep it filled. With this device I can process 8 reels using under 1L of chemical!!!!
The Bad:
When you pour in chemicals you have to do so slowly. This is a bit of a pain because if you pour it in faster, it can pour out the front. I then realized that you should pour in the fluid while the device is standing up. You can pour in much faster, have less spill and once safely in the tank you can lay the machine flat agin and hit play.
When starting up I was expecting to find a list of recipes for different film types so I could select. But it really only has three and you have to go in and adjust one of them. You can program more in, either through the laptop or manually. This was unexpected.
The instructions leave a little to be desired. For example, it asks you to tell it if the tank will be horizontal or upright...but the picture showing this option is not clear and I still have no idea what that changes.
The Ugly:
Look I like the device. I really like it. I have money to through at my hobby so my enjoyment is the only thing I measure. But when I first started out with film photography, the family finances were different. I had to look for deals. This device would have been out of my price range. And that is a real pity because once purchased, you can save allot of money on chemicals.
This device buys me time, I can use my development time to clean up my darkroom, a job that is never finished, and it gets me consistent development (something I already had found but with more human intervention) and it saves me a butt ton of chemicals. The only downside is the price. I love mine, will use it and would buy it again in a heartbeat. But for those on a budget, they can find cheaper solutions and save their budget for film.
Then George Eastman came in, along with others, and they made photography marketable. Instead of a few rich people playing with photography, these pioneers made it available to the common person. Companies then jumped up, building cameras, lenses and the various parts that are needed by a photographer.
Then came the digital revolution. And how great that was. But this was driven by companies, Kodak being the first one to come up with a digital image. Cannon, Nikon, Fuji, Sony, Olympus and others keep driving digital photography forward and creating ever more interesting tools for our trade.
Film photography fell back to its roots. It had to be picked up by the individual to drive it forward. People began working on homemade tools to make film photography work again. And I love this about the community. People helping people, people building things, people discovering or rediscovering parts of our trade. All of this driven by a small fraction of the photographers around the world who still reach for those old film cameras.
So when something new comes along I pay attention. I see the fingerprints of this homemade force behind it. I want to support them and I often purchase what they are selling and see how I can fit it into my photography workflow. Grateful for their efforts and curious how this might change how I approach photography.
And so, with this spirit in mind I purchased the AGO Film Processor. I will admit to having a hidden driver behind this purchase and that was 23 rolls of film that I had just brought back from France after a vacation with the wife. What a perfect time to try this new tool and see how it might help me!
The AGO Processor is not an inexpensive purchase. That complicates things in the film photography world, because there are cheap alternatives to do things. For example, my first film development tools were bought for next to nothing on Ebay. So the cheaper option, although less cheap than it once was, is still out there. I paid USD 480 with a tank and two reels and purchased it an Adorama.
It comes in a nice box but there is no additional packaging. Just the thin box. This is actually something I like, less waste, less landfill and so forth. There is a small instruction book, a little box with some doodads, a disk to put on the bottom of the tanks to keep them horizontal, a modified Paterson Tank (only the lid is modified with three holes drilled into its side) with two reels, and obviously the AGO.
I immediately put it to charge. I also updated the firmware, something I did from my iPhone however it is probably easier to do it through a computer. No wired connection, just a WIFI link to download the firmware update, then change the WIFI link to the device and follow the instructions.
I then took it out to my darkroom and did a test run with empty reels and water. Once I got the hang of it, pouring chemicals in and out of it being the item worth practicing I decided to give it a try with actual film. I took a 5 reel tank and loaded it up with 35mm film and started the process.
The Good:
The system is actually very simple to use. You modify their standard B&W or Color workflow, pick if you want to use the automatic temperature measurements to modify your development time (only applies to developer), choose if you want the system to reduce development time by 15% (or you can do it yourself), tell it if you intend to have it standing up or laying flat and you are good to go. Hit the play button and it takes care of the rest.
It agitates constantly (you can change this if you like), it tracks the temperature change (I ran 20deg C chemicals through it and it increased by 1 degree C during development) and lets you know when time to pour out the developer. Pour in the Stop bath and hit play again. Another minute goes by and it beeps, so you pour that out and pour in fixer and hit play. Five minutes later it beeps at you and you can pour out the fixer and start the 10 minute rinsing cycle. You can stand it up and put a hose into the tank and let it agitate while fresh water flows into the tank.
My film came out perfectly. Absolutely even development, perfect contrast (as expected from HP-5 and ID-11 developer) and most importantly I was able to run around the darkroom cleaning up. Normally I have to plan things around 50 second intervals as I must go back and agitate for 10 seconds. This gives me more freedom while the film is agitated but more than that (see below) I can now develop more rolls of film at a time. This is a massive time savings for me.
The temperature feature is wonderful. If my developer is a minute off I don't have to worry too much about it. The device will adjust to account for it. This does not mean that you can pour in developer at any temperature, you need to get it as close to your temperature as possible but I am more relaxed about my approximations.
The best thing about this device is that it uses about 1/3 the chemicals. When I purchased this device I finally purchased something I had my eye on for a LOOOOOONG time. This is the 8reel Paterson tank. I always wanted the ability to develop a large number of rolls but the sheer chemical volume was way too expensive. So I would max out at my 5 reel system and would still have to prepare more diluted chemicals than I normally kept on hand to keep it filled. With this device I can process 8 reels using under 1L of chemical!!!!
The Bad:
When you pour in chemicals you have to do so slowly. This is a bit of a pain because if you pour it in faster, it can pour out the front. I then realized that you should pour in the fluid while the device is standing up. You can pour in much faster, have less spill and once safely in the tank you can lay the machine flat agin and hit play.
When starting up I was expecting to find a list of recipes for different film types so I could select. But it really only has three and you have to go in and adjust one of them. You can program more in, either through the laptop or manually. This was unexpected.
The instructions leave a little to be desired. For example, it asks you to tell it if the tank will be horizontal or upright...but the picture showing this option is not clear and I still have no idea what that changes.
The Ugly:
Look I like the device. I really like it. I have money to through at my hobby so my enjoyment is the only thing I measure. But when I first started out with film photography, the family finances were different. I had to look for deals. This device would have been out of my price range. And that is a real pity because once purchased, you can save allot of money on chemicals.
This device buys me time, I can use my development time to clean up my darkroom, a job that is never finished, and it gets me consistent development (something I already had found but with more human intervention) and it saves me a butt ton of chemicals. The only downside is the price. I love mine, will use it and would buy it again in a heartbeat. But for those on a budget, they can find cheaper solutions and save their budget for film.
|
|
|
The photos above are from my darkroom. You will see the 8 reel tank that I had longed to get but did not due to chemical efficiency. With the AGO I don't have to worry about that. The motor is powerful and manages this system perfectly. Just note I bought this separately.
