I don't see why photographers wait for a photo lab when you can develop film at home, cheaper, faster, and with more control

When I was a food and product photographer, I could visit the cooking lab to collect the items for the shoot, get to my studio, do the shoot, then pop to the lab and have finished negatives and prints back all within a day. That was a very fast turnaround but still had drawbacks. For one, there was no way to experiment with pushing and pulling, or using different chemicals. It was also rather expensive.

That kind of turnaround is almost unheard of now, for everything from professional work to high street ‘photos in an hour’ services and I think that might be a good thing.

Processing your own film is incredibly rewarding, simple and fast and can save a pretty penny at the same time. I’ll break down my rationale below but I for one am never going to use a lab again.

There’s joy in the process (pun intended). I’ve been developing my own film for decades now and love the ritual of it. The laying out of the equipment, the smell of the chemicals and the hit you get from opening up the tank to see your negatives for the first time. It’s immensely satisfying and never gets old. That alone is the best reason to develop at home.

Then there’s the control. Being responsible for every step of an image, from conception, through shooting, to developing and printing, you get total control. Want to try a different developer, go for it. Feel like pushing for more grain, do it! You go into it knowing the age of the chemicals, the temperature everything has been stored at and that everything was timed just how you wanted.

There can be no doubt that film photography is increasing in cost. Film stocks are slowly becoming more expensive and sending a film off to a lab for developing and scanning is prohibitive for growing numbers of photographers. When you consider that most people shooting on film are the more enthusiastic type and shoot more frequently, you can see the bill becoming eye-watering.

Developing yourself reduces this significantly. Cost per roll might not be hugely different but over a year it is very noticeable. Plus you don’t need to pay for scanning at all. You can use a film scanner like those from Plustek or use camera scanning and once the gear is paid for, every frame becomes free.

Personally I love camera scanning. Again it’s a mix of the ritual and the instant outcome that satisfies and I’m certainly not against saving some money.

My Sony A7R IV spends a lot of time on my copystand these days. 61 megapixels is plenty for general scanning and there’s the option for 240MP pixel shift scanning for massive prints, should I need them.

The outlay for this setup is pretty minimal too. A copy stand, light source, macro lens and film carrier are ideal but you can get away with less if you’re inventive. I’ve seen people lay their film out on an iPad on the floor, with a tripod mounted over it. Maybe not the most elegant solution but I bet they got the same warm glow when they saw their images on the screen.

Finally, it’s not difficult. There appears to be this idea that developing film, especially color film, is difficult and filled with the need to learn arcane arts but the reality couldn’t be further from the truth. Film development is actually very simple. If you can read some basic instructions, you won’t have any problems, and half an hour later, you’ll be basking in the glory of your handiwork.

Check out our guide to the best darkroom equipment - from enlargers to print trays