AGO Film Processor – Renewing old skills and Developing Film for the first time in 35 years

Like many of my generation (boomers) I got my start in photography in High School shooting for the yearbook, though my interest in photography started much earlier.

My first time in a darkroom was my freshman year at university. For the next 16 years as a newspaper staff photographer there were few days I wasn’t in a darkroom multiple times. For a news photographer developing film was more a race to get done than an art. But there was an art to getting it done fast on deadline. That kind of day-to-day usage makes it a rote experience. Like my co-workers I could tell the temperature of the developer within a degree by dipping my finger in and load a roll of 36 exposures on a stainless reel in seconds.

I left newspapers in 1989 and joined the staff of a magazine where everything was E6. No darkroom. When I left almost 25 years later everything was digital.

Now it’s 35 years later and I’m starting to ‘develop’ a strong interest in processing my own film. I shot a couple rolls during the lockdown and a local lab processed. But I didn’t enjoy driving across town and handing it over and waiting days. Patience was never my middle name.

Not too long ago I saw a Kickstarter promotion for a small film developing machine called the AGO from Vintage Visuals. I didn’t really need a machine since my volume would be so low, but I liked the idea so much I decided to support it. Of course, readers here have seen the AGO reviewed. What I did find frustrating was using a Patterson reel for the first time. I know usage will make it easier, but I loved those old stainless steel reels I used in the past and missed them.

I’ve had the AGO since its release but hadn’t shot a roll till a week ago. A friend of mine helps organize one of many Wreaths Across America events that occur in all 50 states as well as overseas. Families and friends, descendants and others place wreaths on veteran’s graves. It’s a beautiful solemn heart-warming event. My friend asked me three years ago to photograph the first one he organized and now I look forward to the event every year.

The event was in a small down half an hour south of me. The town, Montevallo Alabama, is known for its beautiful liberal arts college. But Its history goes back to its role as a key armaments manufacturer during the civil war. Wandering the graves in the old city cemetery is a lesson in that history.

I shoot digital for my friend’s needs, but this year decided to take a film camera, a Leica M4-P with a Voigtlander 35mm 1.4 lens with a yellow filter. The skies were flat and grey which made metering easy.

It was confusing shooting digital and film at the same time. My little fuji X100v has a 35 mm equivalent lens like I had on the Leica and they look almost the same. I mostly shot digital since that was the need. Working digitally allows me to move fast and hardly miss a shot.

The Leica is a slower more contemplative way to work. Doing both at the same time wasn’t a great idea. The situation was full of great images for each system, digital and film. I shot a single roll of Ilford Delta 100. After the event I still had half the roll left of the 36 frames so just wandered the cemetery looking for other photos. But it will always be the people photos that I love and enjoy most.

The AGO from Vintage Visual was a delightfully easy tool to use. My first time to develop a roll of film in 35 years, the first time I’ve had that particular aroma on my hands in too long. It gets hot here in the summer but our basement always hovers in the upper 60’s this time of year. So the water and chemicals all were exactly 68 degrees as measured by my instant read cooking thermometer which was great.

Scans produced on my old Nikon Super Coolscan 5000 ED with Vuescan software and edited in Lightroom Classic.

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