AGO Film Processor review

[@RoubenDickranian-e5d]

Thank you for highlighting this film developing system. I have been performing my development at either getting a store to do it or at home with a really basic home kit. At times I find doing my development at home can get rather messy. The AGO system looks like it will be my saviour. I like the way you have explained and highlighted AGO. I prefer explanations be done on a basic level, thereby I can do my own research on it if I wish. I feel the Ago film processing system could be my next purchase. Thanks again.

[@Dan_photo]

Looking at developing myself for the first time and I think this would definitely make things a lot easier for the convenience and confidence.

[@Shaka1277]

A great overview, really enjoyed it! Your point about consistency with the beeps is a huge thing. I often get asked (about the AGO and manual processing) when somebody should start their timer, how fast to pour, etc. and I always try to explain that anything is fine, as long as you always do the same thing. I feel like I owe you a beer 😅

[@pushingfilm]

Thanks mate! You gonna have more videos on it in the future?

[@Shaka1277]

@@pushingfilm Absolutely - the main thing I want to do is a comparison of AGO vs hand processing vs a lab for C-41. I'm sick of colour development after dealing with June and July's film though so I won't be doing it for a little bit.

[@kevin_2468]

Great video. Thanks for the clear and comprehensive presentation.

[@cggg490]

I’ve been using the AGO for a few months now. I only do color film. So far it’s been very helpful. I’ve done up to five rolls at a time when I have shot a lot. I’ve used with Cinestill cs41 liquid kit but I want to switch to a kit that separates bleach and fix. I’m considering the Bellini kit but it’s hard to find in the US.

[@pushingfilm]

Nice! Yeah I've used Unicolor/Cinestill, and Tetenal in the past. But recently, we had the new Japan-made Ilfocolor kits become available at a better price than the Tetenal (in Australia, at least), so I've been trying that. It's separate bleach/fix type kit as well. Wouldn't mind trying the Bellini, but it's also unavailable here.

[@BenjaminMoxham]

And do you like the results? I’m looking at doing this too to avoid lab costs

[@calebchurchill3642]

I use Bellini and never had an issue getting it. Im in the US. Freestyle Photo has it for $43.

[@christophercaballero9473]

As soon as I heard the price tag all interest went out the door unfortunately. Doing it by hand all these years have been fine and will have to keep going that way! Great review tho!

[@pushingfilm]

Yeah as mentioned, you'd need to justify it depending on your own volume and preferences :-) Thanks!

[@ericrinehardt9373]

I actually had the opposite reaction, as given the niche market, I just assumed it would be $750 or more. I guess I'm numb to sticker shock for anything film related. Negative Supply, for example, charges $650 for some of their silly 3D-printed manual film carriers. At least we're getting actual tech and some degree of innovation with the ago.

[@frequentlycynical642]

$480 at B&H here in the US. Plus Paterson tank if you don't have one. If you can swing that cost, the temperature adjusting feature would be worth the price of admission.

[@chrisloomis1489]

Travelling // I see this as a good use for the AGO unit in your HOTEL room to develop the day's film ... Amazing.

[@g-r-a-e-m-e-]

Are most hotels happy with you doing film processing in their bathrooms?

[@fulltang1]

People complaining about the price shouldn't understand the price of the competitors rather than comparing it to the price of sending it to a lab, especially from a large format pov. A single jobo expert drum 3005 is $700, so this is a great option for 4x5 shooters

[@shashvatsinha]

The scans look great - do you have a video that shows your scanning process?

[@TheWutangclan1995]

400 dollars is a lot but I welcome what AGO is doing. I love shooting film but developing it is really tedious and time consuming. I hope to see more inventions like this to make film development more convenient or quicker.

[@pushingfilm]

For sure!

[@c.augustin]

Having a review of the 4x5 holders would be great! I'm invested in the Jobo system, but constantly struggle with leakage. Their (not so new by now) "motor" is as expensive as the AGO, but without any real control, so changing systems isn't out of the pictures. (Paterson is not as common here in Germany as it is in other countries, but no problem to get.)

[@georgiy2218]

A great invention with that temperture compensation! Thanks for your explanation! I find the price is not too expensive, if you look at JOBO's what they cost today (crazy!), and JOBO-technic is not up to date, there's nearly nothing changed. I had JOBO CPA2/CPE2 and sold them 15 years ago. This new divice is really well thought out.

[@JohnCross-rz5uq]

So, where do the chemicals go when you have finished ??

[@frankhu8692]

Sorry, just a silly question from a beginner who had never hand-developed any film, do you still need a machine to warm up your chemicals to use this? To my understanding we shood use distilled or purified water right? Then we do need something to heat up the mixrue of chemicals and water? Like a sous vide machine

[@pushingfilm]

I usually just leave the bottles in a bucket of warm water to get them to temp. Or, use the ideal temperature tap water when mixing up beforehand. Using distilled water is nice (depending on your tap water) but I've never done it. I only use distilled water (+photoflo) for the final rinse to avoid watermarks.

[@snakeytales]

Don’t understand whining about the price from community. Unlike Pentax 17 this is the real deal which offloads so much hustle while developing several rolls at a time. Hardware wise at could look simple (one time investment), but developing software and providing ongoing support requires time and effort. So as you mentioned, for people who develop fill more frequently it is the perfect spot between fully manual process and investing into 2K+ € film dev processors.

[@dan.allen.digital]

Interesting product and nice review. Probably not for me as I don't develop enough film at home to make it worth the cost. I usually use more chemistry because I have the issue of not using it quickly enough before it goes bad.

[@pushingfilm]

Yeah it doesn't seem so! Hand processing is tried and true for most home users 🙂

[@casperghst42]

A very cool product, to a very high price.

[@Film_Fog]

is the rechargeable battery replaceable? If not, then when the battery is dead in a year or two, so is the device.

[@poaejgpeg]

It uses commonly used 18650 battery cells.

[@pushingfilm]

Should be pretty easy to change, it uses accessible cells. Plus, they should last a lot longer then "a year or two"

[@b6983832]

This could be a good solution for black & white. In color, the problem is that the wrong temperature will affext the color balance, and it can't be fully compensated with increasing the developing time. This is not a serious problem for people scanning and editing their pictures digitally, as these systems modify the images quite heavily. But the negatives will be off scale, and it is a problem if you want to print these negatives in a darkroom.

[@bjmarchives]

Pretty neat I guess..but total niche luxury price. $500 for something I may prefer to do by hand anyways. 😮

[@pushingfilm]

Yeah, that's like mixing pizza dough for me. But if I made a lot of dough regularly, it might be a different story 😄

[@adriasc79]

Interesting but you have to make EVERY single step, warming the liquid, the waiting, the show how reacts to change temperature. :) nevertheless good video.

[@pushingfilm]

Not sure I understand what you mean, but thanks!

[@adriasc79]

@@pushingfilm :) Really enjoyed the video! I know the focus is on the machine, but it would be super helpful to show the full process-like how to warm the liquid and timing each step. Skipping those details can leave people confused, and seeing everything would show how easy (or hard) it really is.

[@pushingfilm]

@@adriasc79 oh I see! My aim with this video was more for people who are already familiar with the basics of processing. But, I see what you mean! Perhaps I will do more of a breakdown in the future. All those steps do matter 🙂

[@amberdee38828]

Oh honey... Temperature compensation only makes sense in cold environments, my tap running water is like 23C and I'd need this to cool down the chemicals :) Price could in theory be justified for a small businesses, but 500 euro all together... Ooofff... You have to be developing A LOT of film at the same time. This is even worse than Valoi charging hundreds for what's pressed metal!

[@pushingfilm]

@@amberdee38828 it also makes sense for colour processing at high temps. The machine offers benefits beyond the compensation feature. I get that it's not for most people though, I don't think that was their aim.

[@klofisch]

Compensating temperatures is not part of the C-41 process and will affect colour and contrast.

[@pushingfilm]

@@klofisch not that I (and many others have noticed). I even saw some controlled tests where it was negligible.

[@b6983832]

@@pushingfilm For photoshoooers, yes. This is what most of the kids are doing. But have you ever tried to print a negative that has a color crossover in a darkroom? I guess not.

[@RHelenius]

Dumb shallow field of view, we can't see half of what you are trying to show.