If you want to develop Super 8, Double 8, and 16mm at home, then up until now, there haven’t been a lot of options. To change that, Vintage Visual came up with Frank.
Frank is a semi-automatic, time-compensated motorized film processor for Super 8, Double 8, and 16mm. Frank handles the agitation, the timing, and the temperature compensation across B&W, C-41, E-6, ECN-2, and ECP. A motor drives continuous rotation while a built-in sensor reads the chemistry temperature and adjusts development time on the fly. The only manual steps are loading the reel and pouring chemistry in and out. From the first frame to the last, the prototype measured log 0.01 to 0.02 density variance, being effectively uniform. The whole process runs on under one litre of chemistry. Super 8, Double 8, and 16mm in one machine.
For people wanting to develop Super 8, Double 8, or 16mm at home, the options are thin. The Lomo UPB-1A tank is the most common starting point, but it has been out of production since the Soviet era. Finding one means hunting the used market. The workflow is entirely manual. You agitate by hand, watch a stopwatch, and try to keep temperature consistent throughout the process. Results depend on your technique, and consistency between rolls is hard to maintain.
Frank brings things into the future. Frank’s time-compensation engine has run in the company’s AGO processors for two and a half years, and it has been used by over 3,000 photographers. That same engine has now been rebuilt for cine film.
According to the company, the design is finished, and a prototype is already in the hands of a 16mm shooter.
Frank goes live on Indiegogo on 31st July and runs to the 12th September. It will retail at €1,281, all in, with DDP, VAT, and worldwide shipping included. Indiegogo Backers will get it cheaper, and the first 20 get Frank for under €900.
Please use common sense and your own best judgment when deciding to back anything on a crowdfunding platform, as there are no guarantees.
