Because the local photo lab is getting slow and expensive I decided to start developing and scanning my own black and white film. I already do that in the US, but it requires some gear and chemicals to get it done here in China. After I was here for about 6 months I decided to set up a film processing lab in my AirBnB kitchen – which I never use. After acquiring some low-cost Chinese-made gadgets I can honestly say my Ningbo setup is better than my US processing lab. I can shoot / process / scan in the same day for a fraction of the cost of the local lab. As of this post (10/11/20), I’ve developed about 34 rolls of film and probably the same number of sheets of 4×5 film.

My go-to black and white film is Ilford HP5+. Most of the photos below were taken using that film stock, but I’ve also experimented with various other films. These include: Fomopan (100 & 400) and Shanghai GP3 (100 & 400). HP5+ is a very predictable film and I will probably continue to use it as my primary black and white film even though it’s more expensive than the alternatives.

These photos were taken in Ningbo, Chongqing, Shanghai and Geely City (Cixi).