Update 2: The Heart of Black Hole
Hey fellow explorers, it’s nice being able to update you again on the progress of The Black Hole Lab. First of all, we would like to thank all of you for the kind support and encouragement, allowing us to share the story of our film lab. Here, we will be update you on what we consider as the beating heart of our small scale operation;
The Film Processor.
With our previous experience working with film processors, its, to put it simply, frustrating, time consuming, and last but not the least, disappointing. There’s no one to be blamed, except that the machine that are available nowadays are usually out of commissioned for the past 20 or so years.
After scouring through the internet for months, we found a potential candidate to be the beating heart of The Black Hole Labs, the Noritsu V30. A legendary machine that can process up to 30 rolls an hour! The order is then placed and the payment is transferred, all we have to do now is to wait for its glorious arrival.
A quick couple of weeks later, the film processor has finally arrived. Knowing its approximate weight, we quickly called some of our close friends to help unload the machine from the lorry. The machine is well protected by seemingly reliable wooden planks and seemed undamaged.
The machine is then carefully rolled into a temporary space while we test whether the machine is functioning as it should. Every step of testing is done meticulously. We know that every film roll are valuable so the machine MUST perform flawlessly no ifs and buts. We first tested whether there are any leakage in the machine. From start to finish, it took us nearly about 2 days or close to 18 hours, which includes ensuring that every tank, every valve is void of any possible artifact.
The machine is then tested through film leads to check whether it feeds properly. We then check for scratches and smudge marks to make sure that the film rolls that enter into the machine is safe and processed seamlessly.
Finally, we feed the machine our own film rolls into the machine to check whether are there any unwanted marks left of the film after development. We first check whether are there any scratches that are visible on the film, the we scan the film using our scanner; the Noritsu LS-600 & HS-1800.
The Scanner.
Looking at the results, we are happy and relieved to say that our processor and scanners are both functioning at tip top condition.
Once again, we would like to thank firstly our friends that helped us out during setting up of the film lab. We also sincerely thank our readers and followers. In the next update, we have something even more exciting to share with all of you. Do help us to share our content and our existence to your friends and family, we sincerely believe that spreading through word of mouth organically is the healthiest engagement. Stay tuned!
Can’t wait to scan yours! Check out our services here!