The Filmomat Automatic Film Developing Machine The Size of a Microwave
You can't get your film developed at the drug store anymore, but this machine does it in your kitchen
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Shooting film is a wonderful experience in a lot of ways, but finding a processing lab that’s good, fast, and affordable is getting harder all the time. A clever photographer decided to take matters into his own hands and built an awesome customizable machine that can develop a wide variety of films but is only about the size of a microwave.
The whole contraption actually looks a bit like an odd piece of stereo equipment with some plexiglass tanks sitting on top of it. There are several chambers for chemistry that automatically empty and fill on a timer as determined by the development program.
Not only does it manage the time, but it also manages the crucial variable of temperature to make sure the film gets everything it needs for proper development.
Shooting film is a wonderful experience in a lot of ways, but finding a processing lab that’s good, fast, and affordable is getting harder all the time. A clever photographer decided to take matters into his own hands and built an awesome customizable machine that can develop a wide variety of films but is only about the size of a microwave.
The whole contraption actually looks a bit like an odd piece of stereo equipment with some plexiglass tanks sitting on top of it. There are several chambers for chemistry that automatically empty and fill on a timer as determined by the development program.
Not only does it manage the time, but it also manages the crucial variable of temperature to make sure the film gets everything it needs for proper development.
It can handle roll film (like 35mm and medium format) as well as sheet film from large format cameras, which can be wildly expensive to develop.
There’s no Kickstarter or even website for the device right now, but with all the internet hype that’s building around it right now, a real product probably isn’t far off.
I remember having my own little table-top color film development machine that never actually worked, but spilled gross chemicals all over my dorm room and released a cloud of smoke that I was convinced was going to kill me. This seems like a pretty big upgrade.
