Re: Your Thoughts on Pre Soaking Sheet Film Prior To Development
I've been pre-soaking my film for over 20 years largely because it was recommended for pyro development. I've done everything from trays to JOBO and currently using the Stearman day tanks but I always pre-soak. I thought I had read an article many years ago where John Sexton recommended pre soaking for Tmax films, especially Tmax 100. I don't see a drawback to pre soaking so why not do it?
Re: Your Thoughts on Pre Soaking Sheet Film Prior To Development
Because it’s an unnecessary xtra step.
Re: Your Thoughts on Pre Soaking Sheet Film Prior To Development
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Doremus Scudder
I develop multiple sheets of film at one time in trays. A presoak is necessary to keep them from sticking together. I've found that the one minute presoak that Kodak recommends is too short for some films. One needs to be sure that the emulsion has absorbed as much water as it is going to and is at equilibrium before beginning development or you can get unevenness. I presoak for a minimum of three minutes.
Some say that Ilford films have a surfactant incorporated into the emulsion. I'm not sure if this is true or not, since I've never heard it from a really reliable source. If true, then a presoak would have to be long enough to allow the surfactant to reach some kind of equilibrium too or uneven development would result. Longer might be needed here.
With roll film and tanks where you can pour the developer in quickly, a presoak is unnecessary. If using a tall tank with multiple rolls and long pour times where it would take a significant fraction of the development time to pour in all the developer, I imagine a presoak would be helpful, since it slows down the uptake of the developer somewhat and would compensate for the long pour time.
Best,
Doremus
Doremus, as I look through the various responses, yours is from experience, with results similar to mine. The Kodak recommendation is far too short for the films with which I am familiar. I use a four minute presoak. Manufacturers data sheets are offered as a starting point for individual experimentation. The bottom line is simply, what works for you. A presoak for tray development has worked for me since 1953.
I have heard rumors of a new darkroom for you. True?
Best,
Merg
Re: Your Thoughts on Pre Soaking Sheet Film Prior To Development
Quote:
Originally Posted by
Merg Ross
Doremus, as I look through the various responses, yours is from experience, with results similar to mine. The Kodak recommendation is far too short for the films with which I am familiar. I use a four minute presoak. Manufacturers data sheets are offered as a starting point for individual experimentation. The bottom line is simply, what works for you. A presoak for tray development has worked for me since 1953.
I have heard rumors of a new darkroom for you. True?
Best,
Merg
Hello Merg,
Yes, the rumors are true, I now have a new darkroom! I was without one for several years. Five years ago, my wife and I bought a house in Eugene, Oregon with the plans of moving there someday. We've been renting it in the meantime and working on it during the summer breaks from our teaching activities here in Vienna, Austria (we're both trained opera singers and I've been teaching voice and directing choirs at the Performing Center Austria, where my wife is Artistic Director, for the last 10 years). I finally finished up the darkroom last summer, but have yet to make a print in it. I've got a five-year backlog of negatives to proof and then get going on!
At the moment, we're in the process of packing for the (hopefully) final move for us from Vienna, where we've lived for the last 30 years, to our place in Eugene. It's a new chapter for me and time to focus much more intensively on my photography. I've been shooting regularly, but haven't done nearly enough making gallery contacts and finding exhibition opportunities. I'm very much looking forward to it.
I finally got some of my more recent things up on my website (still 5+ years old...) as well.
And, just so this isn't totally off-topic. If I recall correctly, there was a thread here or over on Photrio about presoak times and uneven development. I'm not sure of the film(s) tested, but the upshot was that a longer presoak (I believe it was five minutes) was necessary for the most even development. I try for a five minute presoak, but often get impatient... three-four minutes is what I usually end up with.
FWIW, I learned developing from Ansel Adams' The Negative, and he recommended a presoak (although only for one minute). Here's a quote: "The pre-soaking allows the emulsion to swell and stabilize before it is immersed in the developer; this assures more uniform development" (p. 206). I've developed roll films without a presoak with good results, but for sheet film, a thorough soak is really necessary, and a long enough one to ensure that the emulsion really has stabilized before adding developer.
Best,
Doremus
Re: Your Thoughts on Pre Soaking Sheet Film Prior To Development
One thing to be careful about is Jobo-USAs recommendation of a 5-minute pre-soak. They did that only because it lead to the times/temp for rotary times to be fairly close to published inversion times. They explicitly said that it wasn't for any quality reasons. Of course, this only applies to using a Jobo. A prewash can be useful when doing hot processes, such as color, where a pre-wash can get the emulsion up to temp before developing. This isn't important for near-room-temp BW processing.
Re: Your Thoughts on Pre Soaking Sheet Film Prior To Development
Hasn’t this topic been debated to death. Whatever you choose be consistent, but consider this, absorbing water with a dry sponge doesn’t happen very consistently
Re: Your Thoughts on Pre Soaking Sheet Film Prior To Development
I routinely use a prewash. It perhaps avoids problems when developing 8 rolls of 35mm at a time. It eliminates air bells. It is absolutely necessary when development time is very short, as when developing Tech pan in Solarol or Dektol.