The Beginner’s Guide to Home Developing Part 2 - How to develop film at home

This is the second part of an article discussing how to successfully start developing your own films at home. Part 1 looked at the all-important preparation and the process of loading your films into the developing tanks. In part 2 we start sloshing chemicals and actually develop the films.

IMPORTANT CAVEAT

This approach represents months of intensive experimentation, trial and error, disasters and successes, with input from film photographers from across the world, but I am still learning and do not claim to be an expert – there are bound to be different approaches that could achieve the same results. The intention is to share what I’ve learned with fellow fans of film photography to encourage them to start developing at home and avoid the mistakes I’ve made, but I would strongly recommend doing your own research and engaging with like-minded individuals on the internet (Facebook groups and forums, for example) or at your local camera club. There are also good courses and workshops available. My technique will keep evolving but these steps are where I’m up to at the time of writing, which are giving me good and consistent results. For brevity, I am only focusing on home developing 35mm black and white film – much is common with other formats, although each have their own quirks.

Throughout the article there are links to products that I use and have found to be reliable – these may help you navigate your way round the photographic equipment maze and get you developing. Any items subsequently purchased via Amazon links may earn me a small commission at no on-cost to you, a scheme which helps fund my photographic habit! Links to other sites, such as First Call Photo and Bristol Cameras don’t.  

Once your films are safely loaded into the light-tight developing tank, it’s time to let the photochemistry do its magic – the fun part. Developing film is just like following a recipe, with carefully measured ingredients, correct temperatures, and a list of instructions to follow. For the beginner, there’s no scope for going off-piste – stick exactly to the recipe to get consistent results so you can make meaningful comparisons between films, ISOs, processes, cameras, lenses etc. Save experimentation for later.

Choice of developer is a massive subject area and well beyond the scope of this article. After trying several combinations, I tend to use Zone Imaging’s 510 Pyro developer and their Eco ZoneFix fixer for black and white developing, and I’ll refer to them as I describe the development process.^[i]

That said, I also have bottles of Kodak HC-110, Adox HR-Dev, and Adox Rodinal on the shelf. To start with, it’s best to stick to one developer so you can make meaningful comparisons between films – I used Ilford DD-X and Rapid Fixer to begin with but moved to more environmentally friendly (and less smelly) chemicals. You don’t use an acid stop bath with 510 Pyro either – just distilled water. I’m still trying to work out the impact of the different developers on the finished negative.

I rely on two tools for consistency, and to (hopefully) avoid making mistakes – my homemade ‘recipe’ cards, and mobile phone timer apps..

I produce individual laminated ‘recipe’ cards per developer and method, for example, I have a separate recipe for 510 Pyro development using the Ilford standard agitation method, or the slightly more relaxed Rüdiger Hartung semi-stand method. I use non-permanent marker pens to note the number of films, the type of film, and the ISO it was shot at, and there are tick boxes to identify the different volumes of chemicals to prepare depending on the number of films and the type of tank (the Paterson Super System 4 Universal developing tank needs 600ml for two films, but the AP Developing Tank Compact, Universal needs 650ml …). This information allows you to get the developing time from the film’s data sheet or the Massive Dev website or app, which I also note on the card.

My home-made recipe card for developing with 510-Pyro using the standard Ilford inversion method

The Massive Dev online developing database is an incredible asset for film photographers. It can be found for free at www.digitaltruth.com but is also available as an app on IOS or Android for under £10 – the app version includes a multi-stage timer. Both the website and app are highly recommended.

Screen shots of the Massive Dev app

Screen shot of the Develop! app

My only criticism, however, of the Massive Dev app is that you can’t easily add (or remove) stages as you become more experienced and want to customise your processes. I therefore use another app called Develop! which allows you to put in as many stages as you like, although you must put in your own times (which DigitalTruth, Massive Dev, or the manufacturers’ data sheets will give you). There are several other apps available to try – choose the one that suits your workflow. The old-school approach is to use a mechanical or digital timer. I also occasionally using a ‘smart speaker’ in the darkroom, where you can say something like ‘Alexa, timer for 3 minutes, fifteen seconds’, which is a useful back up in case you get distracted.

The next stage will take you back to chemistry lessons at school. First don some appropriate protective clothing – disposable rubber gloves are a must, and eye protection is recommended, although I wear glasses anyway. I also put on a white lab coat to protect my clothes from splashes.^[ii] This is particularly important when you use a staining developer like 510 Pyro, or the bleach used in C-41. Graduated measuring cylinders help you measure out the required amount of the chemicals. These come in various sizes – I recommend the small 150ml Paterson cylinders for measuring out the concentrates (a small 5ml medicine syringe is also useful), but the 650ml AP ones for the final mix, assuming you’re developing two films at once.^[iii] Measure out the required amount of developer and then add the required amount of distilled water to get to the necessary dilution. The data sheet or Massive Dev will tell you the ratio – 510 Pyro uses a 1+100 ratio, so you only need 6ml of developer for a full 600ml tank (compared with 120ml of ILFOTEC DD-X). I tend to use distilled water for mixing developer and for stop baths but filtered tap water for the final washing – what you use depends on how confident you are with the quality of your water supply, although some people swear by tap water!

Use a stirring/mixing rod to thoroughly mix the components together and then transfer them to plastic measuring jugs (the ones from Amazon or supermarkets are fine, because you do the actual measuring with the more accurate graduated cylinders, but you can never have too many measuring jugs!). Make sure you regularly stir the chemicals as they get up to temperature and before you use them.

Mixing the chemicals and checking the temperature

The logic behind using the thinner plastic measuring jugs is all about temperature, probably the most critical aspect of home development. Putting your films into developer solution causes a chemical reaction to happen, and I vaguely remember from O-level chemistry (GCSE for the younger readers!) that temperature is rather important. The times for black and white developing are normally given for chemicals at 20ºcentigrade (68º Fahrenheit) – a degree or two hotter will require less time, a degree or two colder will require more, and these variations are covered in the data sheets and can be adjusted on Massive Dev.

The best way to get the temperature right is to partly submerge the plastic measuring jugs in a water bath, which is at the desired temperature. I use a 4” deep, oven-rack cleaning tray that I got off Amazon (the grey tray in the pictures), which is placed onto a larger shallower greenhouse seed propagation tray (again off Amazon, the black tray in the pictures) that I use for mixing on and during the actual developing, which catches any drips or spills. You can buy proper darkroom sinks or fabricate your own using a lot of epoxy resin, but I find my Amazon purchases work just fine for me at the moment.

CineStill TCS-1000 temperature control system

Initially I found temperature regulation to be a real issue – the water supply to my darkroom (a converted shed) is via an outside feed, and the water temperature can be less than 10ºc in the colder months. You can try blending cold tap water with water from a kettle, but I found that to be a nightmare, and even with the luxury of a hot water feed from your boiler and a set of mixer taps, it is still tricky to get a consistent temperature. The solution to these temperature woes came with a digital sous vide. This clever contraption was originally designed to heat water at a specific temperature to cook food sealed in a vacuum bag but is perfect for regulating the temperature of a water bath for film developing. My cheap one from Amazon gave up after six months, so I upgraded to the CineStill TCS-1000 Temperature Control System, which is aimed at the darkroom user, and seems to be much more robust. This device has a digital readout and controls the temperature in 0.1º increments.^[iv] You fill your container to the required depth, immerse the end of the device in the water (the TCS-1000 has a useful clamp on the back – this can clamp to the side of the container, or in my case, the wooden bracket I screwed to the wall), set the desired temperature, and the heating element and spinning fins on the bottom do the rest.

The time taken to hit the temperature depends on how much water you have to heat, the temperature it comes out of the tap at, and the room’s ambient temperature. The sous vide is not particularly quick – mix your chemicals first, set the sous vide going, and by the time you’ve set everything up, loaded your films into the tank, and had a cup of tea, everything should be stabilised at the desired temperature.^[v] The thinner-walled plastic measuring jugs allow the chemicals to reach temperature more quickly. You’ll notice from the picture, however, that since I moved to the TCS-1000, I use the black AP concertina bottles (1 litre and 2 litre) for bringing my chems up to temperature. There’s a special holder for a pair of 1 litre bottles on the TCS-1000, which is very useful.  

I have a variety of glass and metal thermometers that I spread around the different jugs to monitor the temperature of the different chemicals. It is also worth investing in a digital thermometer, just like the one you would use to measure the temperature inside a joint of meat – it is a useful way of confirming the temperatures of your chems before you commit, but remember to rinse it between the different containers to avoid cross-contamination.

Photochemistry is a complicated business, and I won’t attempt to try to explain it here – I recommend watching the great videos available on the Ilford website. There are also millions of YouTube videos, but as ever, caveat emptor … buyer beware! I have a great book called The Darkroom Handbook by Michael Langford. It was written in the 1980s, but you can still pick them up on eBay. It contains a far better description of the chemical reactions that take place in photography than I could ever come up with.

To follow through with my example, I need eleven different containers for all the chems used for 510 Pyro development, all stabilised at 20ºc in the water bath. They are:

1.     Developer solution (in my case, 510 Pyro)

2.     Four distilled water stop baths

3.     Fixer solution (Eco Zonefix)

4.     Three filtered water wash baths

5.     Distilled water stand bath

6.     Wetting agent solution (ILFOTOL)

That’s eleven solutions in total as you can see in the picture, all slowly being warmed to 20ºc. You don’t need to separate out the stop or wash baths like I do, but I find it easier to have a jug or container for each individual stage – it stops me getting in a muddle in the intensity of the actual developing. Each component has an important part to play in the development process.

The water bath set up for developing with 510 Pyro, with 11 different solutions, using the old sous vide

Developer converts (or develops) the latent image captured by the film’s emulsion inside the camera into a negative image on the film. For 510 Pyro, a small amount of the syrup-like concentrate is dissolved in distilled water. Conventional developers are made up from liquid concentrate or by dissolving powder in water. Black and white developers are single shot and should be discarded after use.^[vi] The manufacturer’s data sheet or Massive Dev website/app will advise what timing and agitation pattern is required.

Pouring the chemicals, here into an AP tank

When you’re ready, remove the lid of the tank (but not the funnel!) and pour in the developer – pour it in as quickly as you can because time is important, but try not to slosh it everywhere.^[vii]

 On a Paterson tank, be sure to expel some air by pushing down on the centre of the lid while lifting the lip on the edge – this helps create a negative pressure inside and considerably reduces leaks. As you go through the process you’ll be rewarded with a little hiss as you do this – a sign that it’s worked. The AP tank, and older versions of the Paterson tanks does not have this feature, and leaks are much more common - have plenty of kitchen or blue roll handy to mop them up.

Then start your timer.

'Agitating' the tank

A word on agitation. The chemicals in the tank need to be ‘agitated’ to ensure the liquid reaches all part of the film inside the reel and gets evenly developed. This is normally done by ‘inverting’ the tank (turning it upside down), and the amount of agitation/inversion is laid down in the recipe.^[viii] I hasten to add that you’re not shaking the tank, like when making a cocktail, but slowly turning it from end to end while rotating the tank at the same time. If you shake it up, bubbles will form on the film and you risk ‘overdeveloping’ it.

To continue with the 510 Pyro example, there are two approaches. The standard ‘Ilford Agitation’ involves inverting for ten seconds (that’s about four gentle inversions), tapping the tank firmly on the bench to release any bubbles, and then repeating the pattern at the top of each remaining minute. HP5+ at 400 ASA in 510 Pyro requires 8 minutes and 15 seconds, so there will be 8 x 10 second inversions in total, and the Massive Dev or Develop! app timer will walk you through these steps.

Zone Imaging suggest an alternative method created by Rüdiger Hartung which is classed as semi-stand development. The development time for HP5+ in 510 Pyro using this method is 18 minutes and 15 seconds. In this case, you continuously invert for 60 seconds, followed by a good tap on the bench. You then leave it to stand for 9 minutes, giving it a single inversion at the start of the 10^th minute. If the film had been rated at 800 ASA for example, the time would be 28 minutes, so there would be a second inversion at the start of the 20^th minute.

I’ve had success using this method, and it’s a bit more relaxed than the standard Ilford method, allowing you to do a bit of clearing up while it’s standing.

The directions recommend taking off the tank’s lid (just the lid, not the funnel!) 15 seconds before the end of the time and begin pouring the developer out, so the tank is almost empty when the alarm sounds. This is to ensure you don’t over-develop the film. Have the stop bath ready to pour in immediately.

Stop bath, unsurprisingly, stops the developing reaction, and ensures that the reusable fixer which follows is not contaminated by any remaining developer. 510 Pyro requires four 20ºc distilled water stop baths, each constantly inverted for 60 seconds before being poured away. Conventional developers use a single acidic stop bath such as Ilford ILFOSTOP, which can be re-used. It is an indicator stop bath, changing colour when it is expired. Similarly, the app or data sheet will give you the timing/agitation pattern.

Fixer does as the name suggests and fixes the image onto the film – fail to fix the images, and they will fade away over time. The Eco ZoneFix fixer from Zone Imaging that complements 510 Pyro lasts, in solution form, for fifteen 35mm films before it is expired (24 films for the Eco Zonefix Plus liquid fixer). Conventional fixers, such as Ilford RAPID FIXER, can, in theory, be replenished infinitely by adding a quantity of fresh fixer after each development. Performing a ‘clip’ or ‘snip’ test will allow you to check the active status of the solution.^[ix] Check the app/data sheet for agitation and timings.

Washing is important to wash away the biproducts of the different chemical reactions, including the silver halides, which, by now, have done their job. Large commercial labs run processes to recover the silver from these waste products, but this is not viable in the home setting. There are two ways of washing your films. Tank manufacturers such as Paterson provide hose attachments (Paterson Force Film Washer) – one end fits into the funnel opening, while the other attaches to your tap. By running the water for five to ten minutes, all the residual chemicals are flushed out. Unfortunately, this approach does not work for me because there is too much temperature variation between water coming out of the tap in my darkroom and the required 20ºc of all the chems in the developing process, and that can’t be good for it. If I had a hot water supply, I could regulate the tap water mix to approximate this temperature. Thankfully Ilford have provided an alternative – using filtered water, which can be brought up to 20ºc with the other chemicals. They recommend three wash baths of around 600ml (again assuming two films). Pour in the first bath, invert five times and then pour it out. Pour in the second, invert ten times and discard. The third is inverted twenty times. They have shown that this approach successfully flushes out all the residual chems and uses much less water. Plus, it solves my temperature differential problem.

I then let the films sit in a 20ºc distilled water stand bath for a few minutes while I do a bit more clearing up. I was having a problem with water marks on the finished negatives and someone suggested that soaking the fixed films in distilled water helps reduce that. It seems to work, so I’ve kept it in my workflow.

The final stage is to rinse the films in a solution of wetting agent (surfactant) such as Ilford ILFOTOL. Some people swear by a drop or two of washing up liquid but introducing other chemicals such as perfume into the process seems wrong to me. The wetting agent, which should also be at 20ºc, coats the negatives and alters the surface tension, thus aiding the drying process and reducing smears and water marks. Just five inversions are enough for this final part of the process but return the solution to the container as you’ll need it again in a minute.

The reel opened to reveal the developed film

You can now take the films out of the tank. Don’t try to pull the film off the assembled reels as it’s easy to damage the negatives – just separate the two halves by rotating one side in an anticlockwise direction and simply lift the film out. Try to avoid letting the wet film touch the workbench and definitely don’t let it touch the floor! Use film clips to hang the negatives up to dry. The Paterson clips, for example, come in pairs, with the weighted clip going at the bottom. I have screwed mug hooks into the ceiling of my darkroom, which are ideal for drying, but you could hang the films from a shower rail or from a line strung across the room.

Hang up the negs to dry, and don't forget a drip-tray

It helps to remove as much of the water as possible from the negatives, however, the emulsion side of the film is particularly delicate, and you want to avoid scratching it. There is some debate about the best way to do this. You can get a rubber bladed squeegee from brands like Paterson – rubber gets harder with age, and can also be scratchy when cold, so it is best to have the squeegee soaking in the 20ºc ILFOTOL solution throughout the process, allowing the blades to get soft. Others swear by dipping their fingers in the wetting agent and running the film through them, which seems a lot less risky to me, assuming your fingers are clean.

You can also run a lint-free PEC-PAD wipe over the negatives, which removes more of the water, but it’s probably best to let the surfactant in the ILFOTOL do its job. Don’t forget to put a tray under the hanging films to collect the drips. Your drying room wants to be as dust free as possible, for obvious reasons. You can buy elaborate drying cabinets that have a heating element and a fan, but I find leaving them drying overnight seems to work OK. If you’re impatient to see your results, it’s OK to use a hairdryer on its low setting but be careful not to blow dust everywhere.

C-41 development

This article has focused on black and white developing, but just a quick word on developing colour. The C-41 process for colour negatives is quite different from black and white. For a start, you use the same process for all colour films, irrespective of make and ISO speed. Secondly, the chems need to be at 38ºc (100.4º Fahrenheit), but armed with a sous vide, that is easy to achieve, albeit taking a bit longer. There are only seven different stages (compared to the eleven for 510 Pyro): a pre-warm for the tank; the developer; bleach; fixer; and finally, three stabiliser rinses. Colour chemicals are all reusable and come in kits, for example, the Bellini C-41 kit makes one litre of chemicals, and the developer is good for up to sixteen 35mm films if looked after properly.^[x] Another difference is the timing – it doesn’t change by brand or ISO, but increases as the developer gets older, for example three minutes fifteen seconds for the first four films, three minutes thirty for the next four, three forty-five for the next, and so on. I put off trying colour for ages, but when I built up courage to try it, it was remarkably easy.

By the way, make sure you don’t pour the developer down the sink as you would for black and white, as I did with my last kit, wasting twelve films worth of developer … I won’t be making that mistake again! There are a few other quirks of C-41, but they are for a future article. Developing colour slides (transparencies) uses yet another process, known as E6, which I’ve yet to try but intend to soon.

It's not glamorous, but it's essential - the washing up!

The final stage of the development process is not particularly glamorous but is very important. As mentioned at the start of this article, your developing equipment needs to be kept scrupulously clean to avoid the build-up of chemical residues and possible cross-contamination. To start with, and not knowing any different, I just rinsed the reels off in cold water. However, I soon began to experience problems loading film. I now know to wash them in warm soapy water, scrubbing the grooves and the ball bearings in the reels with an old toothbrush, then rinsing in clean water, allow them to air-dry. As discussed, use a hair dryer to ensure all moisture is removed from the reels before you try to load new film in them.

Inspecting the negatives the following morning is very exciting. It is recommended that you wear white cotton gloveswhen handling negatives as the oils in your skin can be detrimental to the longevity of the emulsion, plus fingerprints need to be wiped off or removed in post-production. A USB-powered light pad/box is a very useful tool, allowing you to inspect your negatives under a magnifier – a decent 10x linen-tester/magnifier is also a very useful investment. Take care to get a light pad with a good light rating – 5,500k is equivalent to daylight. I file my negs in Adox or Clearfilepolypropylene sleeves, which are completely transparent for easy viewing on a light box, plus are archival.^[xi] The 35mm sleeves have seven pockets which take a whole 36 exposure film in groups of six negs, although I use the top pocket for a title strip, and they are kept in a ring binder.

Cutting and filing the negs over a light box, with sharp scissors, white cotton gloves, magnifier, and rechargeable compressed air blower. The PEC-PADs can be used if the negs have dirt on them.

Cut up the strip of negative strips with a small pair of sharp scissors – I use Fiskars needlework scissors, which ensure a clean straight cut, and holding the negs over the light box helps you keep between the frames. Any dust can be removed with a squirt of an air duster, and/or gently wiping them with a soft lint-free cloth. There is a chance that the propellant from aerosol air dusters could damage the film’s emulsion, so a USB rechargeable compressed air blower is preferable – it’s also useful for blowing dust off lenses and keeping your workspace clean. Water marks can be removed by a gentle wipe with a lint-free cloth such as the very versatile PEC-PADs moistened with IPA – that’s isopropyl alcohol not the beer!^[xii] Non-water-based marks on the emulsion can be removed by something like PEC-12 Photographic Emulsion Cleaner.

My box frame displaying the films I've developed

The final thing I do after everything has been cleared away is to put the empty film cassette into a shadow box frame that I’ve been assembling from all the films I’ve developed! It looks great on the wall of the darkroom.

How you then proceed is up to you.

Most people will want to get the negatives scanned into digital files, which you can then email, share on social media, or print on your home or office printer. You can scan your own (there’ll be a post talking about home scanning) or give them to a lab to scan for you. If the latter, it’s probably best to leave them uncut as they may use a machine to scan them – when you take them down from drying pop them into a spare film canister to keep them safe and you’ll probably get them back cut into strips of four or six frames to put into sleeves.

However, the ultimate conclusion for your analogue journey would be to make prints from negs onto photographic paper using an enlarger and developing them in chemicals. This is my next challenge – to learn the mysteries or home darkroom printing, and I’ll be writing up my experiences.

This article has hopefully given you some skills to help you get through your first few films worth of black and white home development, avoiding some of the pitfalls that I encountered. Every new film developed adds to your knowledge as you tweak your workflow based on your own experiences, plus  you can learn a lot by sharing your experiences on forums and social media, or at your local camera club.

I’m constantly learning so am more than happy to adjust my approach based on new advice from more experienced photographers. Please email contact@andrewlong.info with any comments or ideas, and I’ll put out an updated version as a blog post on this website, www.andrewlong.info.

Useful Sources

Royal Photographic Society (RPS) https://rps.org

RPS Analogue Group https://rps.org/groups/analogue/

RPS Analogue Group www.facebook.com/groups/rpsanalogue  

UK Film Photography and Darkroom www.facebook.com/groups/filmphotographyuk  

Ilford www.ilfordphoto.com  

Massive Dev film database at www.digitaltruth.com and via the Apple/Android app stores.

Develop! Film Development Timer by Todd Breslow on the Apple App Store.

The Sunny 16 Podcast, www.sunny16podcast.com and on all podcast platforms – an informative and entertaining podcast dedicated to film photography.

I recommend Zone Imaging’s 510 Pyro developer and their Eco Zonefix fixer for black and white developing – it is more environmentally friendly than many conventional developers, easy to use, and also much less smelly! (www.zone-imaging.co.uk)

I recommend BelliniFoto’s Monopart C-41 kit for colour (www.bellinifoto.it/en/prodotto/kit-amateur-c41/), available at Nik & Trick (www.ntphotoworks.com), First Call (www.firstcall-photographic.co.uk), and Bristol Cameras (www.bristolcameras.co.uk).

Note: products bought from the links to Amazon may earn me a small commission at no on-cost to you, a scheme which helps fund my film habit. Links to other sites, such as First Call Photo and Bristol Cameras don’t.  

^[i] Eco Zonefix is available in powder form, or as a liquid concentrate. Both are similar multi-use fixers, and the format is down to personal taste … er, I don’t recommend you taste them, though! I use the Bellini C-41 kit for colour.

^[ii] I used to work for an artists’ paint manufacturer where there were all sorts of nasties on the production line. The factory director and my lab-based colleagues drummed the importance of donning appropriate protective clothing into me, and it’s stuck with me ever since.

^[iii] If you use the Paterson (600ml) and AP (650ml) developing tanks, it’s useful to have a measuring cylinder that goes up to 650ml … the Paterson ones only go up to 600ml!

^[iv] Be wary of cheaper sous vides on Amazon – many of them only work down to 25ºc, which is too warm for black and white development. This new model I bought works down to 0ºc.

^[v] The CineStill TCS-1000 is much quicker than the food orientated sous vide. It is also noisier!

^[vi] Colour C-41 developers can be re-used for a certain number of films.

^[vii] It is an idea to turn off bright overhead lights at this stage, just in case intense light finds its way to the undeveloped film. By the time you get to fixing, the risk is over.

^[viii] Tanks also come with a ‘swizzle-stick’ agitator, which goes down through the funnel and swirls the chems around the reels. I have not used this technique, preferring the full inversion approach.

^[ix] A clip test is easy to do. When you trim off the leader of a 35mm film before loading it in the tank, put the end to one side (I store mine in an old film canister). Then, using a pair of tweezers, dip the film end in the fixer and start a stopwatch (your phone has one). The film should go from an opaque grey or brown colour to the transparent base material in about 30 seconds with fresh fixer. Any more than a minute, and I’d investigate it a bit further – there’s a more elaborate clip test you can do.

^[x] C-41 chems are prone to oxidisation, which limits their usable life. It’s important to store them away from contact with the air, plus in dark containers to block the light. I recommend the VacuVin vacuum wine stoppers in conjunction with 1 litre brown glass chemical storage bottles, which together keep the chems in good condition.

^[xi] The more traditional ‘glassine’ sleeves are only translucent so negs cannot be viewed on a lightbox The sugar-paper-type material is also vulnerable to moisture, and negatives will stick like glue if the sleeves get wet!

^[xii] Around the time of the last partial solar eclipse, thanks to a glitch in some database, all buyers of PEC-PADs from Amazon received an e-mail offering a full refund with a warning that PEC-PADs were not suitable for viewing the eclipse with. Photographers across the UK, and conceivably across the world, were grateful for this free gift, knowing that the 4” x 4” fabric squares used for cleaning lenses etc wouldn’t have given much a view of the sun anyway!