What do I need to develop my own film?

Medium format cameras - shooting 120 film in a 6x6 Adox Golf?

• I'm completely clueless when it comes to medium format film! I was duped into enrolling in a retro-camera seminar with a friend but we don't know anything about this stuff and the professor just said "Shoot 10 rolls of film, develop it and make 10 good prints by April 10.. bye" I have a 1950's Adox Golf 6x6 German folding camera. That's pretty much all I know about it. Someone said I might have to cut the 120 film or roll it onto a different spool.. what's that all about? After the roll is shot do you just open the camera, take it out and put it in a container until it's ready for developing or do you have to take the camera into the dark room to remove the film? I've literally never even held a roll of 120 film before so I really need some basic instructions on this stuff. The class is a seminar class so we only meet 4 times in the semester, which is why I'm asking on here instead of in the classroom. I took 3 years of photography classes in high school but we only dealt with 35mm film which I know inside and out how to shoot it, develop it and make prints. I know standard dark room procedure, I just don't know about all these medium format film things, since they don't roll back into a light tight container before being removed from the camera and all these things about the size of the film and the spool.. aah! Please help!

• Answer:

  From what I can tell googling it appears to be a standard 120 film folding camera. The 75mm lens is roughly equal to a 50mm lens on a 35mm camera when comparing field of view, but it's square, 6x6cm. To load it, open the back and transfer the spool from the left hand side to the right hand side ( with the knob above it). This will now be your take up spool. Now place your fresh spool in the left hand side and pull the backing paper over the opening to the take up spool, feed the end into the slot in the spool and take up the slack just a bit. Once you've got it on there enough that it wont fall off right away close the back. You will see a red window on the back. Twist the knob to advance the film keeping an eye on that window on the back, you'll eventually see the film manufacturers name then eventually a number 1. Some manufacturers 1 look more like a |, some films will have arrows just before you see the number, other will have circles that increase in size . o 0 O, but most usually put the name again then the number 1, stop when you see that 1. You're ready to take your first shot. Now you'll have to meter your scene. If you have an SLR or other camera with a built in meter that actually shows real numbers and f/stops you can always use that. ASA and ISO are for the most part interchangeable, so if you have a meter that says ASA but you can only find ISO film consider them the same. 100 ISO film would require you to set your meter to 100 ASA. Shutter speed and aperture are the same. You have apertures from f/6.3 to f/22. Shutter speeds from 1/25th of a second to 1/200th and bulb (stays open for as long as you hold the shutter), set it by turning the second dial on the lens with the red dot, that red dot lines up with the shutter speed you're after. The "viewfinder" is uncoupled, meaning it will show the same thing all the time, focus by guessing the distance to your subject and adjusting the front of the lens. Distances are in meters, or if your bad with math and want feet it's probably close enough to guesstimate yards instead of meters. The sideways 8 is the infinity sign. So, you've got your film in, you've metered the scene, you've composed your shot in the viewfinder and you've guessed the distance and applied that to your lens adjustment. Set the shutter (Yahoo frowns on the use of the slang term for rooster) by pulling the lever just behind the shutter speed to the right. Release the shutter by pressing the button just beside the film advance knob, or you can purchase a cable release and screw it into the threaded opening next to the shutter. After you've taken your shot advance the film until you see the number 2. Stop at that and you're ready to shoot your next shot. The backing paper runs the entire length of the film and prevents light from exposing it, but these cameras were made for black and white film that wasn't sensitive to red light, hense the red window in the back. It's a good practice to not expose that red window to too much direct sunlight. Regular room light and subdued light is most likely just fine. I had a folder once much like this one and 3200 speed film got some odd fogging from this camera, I suspect that the window didn't block enough light, it was the only roll that had any fogging at all. Once you're done with your roll keep advancing the film until you know that it's completely onto the take up spool. Open the back in subdued light and take the roll out, seal the roll with whatever the film has on the end. Some manufacturers make you lick it like a stamp, others have sticky glue already that probably tastes horrible. :) Take the roll that just fed the film and transfer it to the other side, insert new roll the way you did before, and you're on your way. You may ask an owner of this camera anything that I didn't cover or got wrong. Here's a link to someone on Flickr http://www.flickr.com/photos/s-demir/4554058628/in/photostream/