A self-contained photo developing machine is provided. The apparatus includes a developing canister which holds the photo processed material on a central shaft, a compact manifold injection structure which infuses the attached canister with the developing solutions, a valving structure which provides the selected developing solutions to the manifold injection structure, a drain assembly which evacuates the used developing solutions from the canister for seperation and recovery of the different chemicals used, and a computer control system which selectively and automatically controls the entire developing process. A radially extending arm is often included to selectively pump the desired chemical from the solution storage tanks to the canister and subsequently evacuate the spent chemicals to an independently selectable solution recovery tank.