Which way do you prefer to develop your 4x5 sheet films

[Leigh]

Permit me to suggest using Diafine developer. It's a two-part (Part A and Part B) developer.
It's not sensitive to temperature or time, as most developers are, so it removes two problems with tray processing.

You put the dry film in Part A and agitate very gently for four to five minutes.
Move the film to Part B and agitate in the same manner and for the same time.

Then stop bath, fix, and wash as with any other developer.
Use of PermaWash or similar hypo clearing product dramatically reduces washing time.

Also, do NOT use a presoak with Diafine, so that eliminates one tray in the process.

Diafine produces excellent gray scale and very fine grain; usable with any b&w film.

- Leigh

[Kirk Gittings]

I use BTZS tubes primarily but used tray for the first 30 years till my back got to me. It is simple, cheap, efficient etc.

[LuisR]

Mod54 for me works very well. Never had any issues that affected a printed neg.

[DG 3313]

Beseler 8x10 tube, 2 sheets of 4x5 in 16 minutes. 3 ounces of chemistry with the lights on. I have only been using this system 20 years but, it keeps me in LF B/W.

[Heroique]

However I wanna know, if I use HC 110 to develop films, can I use the same developer for say four batches developing one after the other or should I need to fresh developer everytime?

For starters, you'll want to consult Kodak's HC-110 spec sheet.

They say that if you're using dilution B (1+7 from stock), then you can develop 10 8x10 sheets per gallon in a tray before exhaustion. (I'm pretty sure they mean for the developer, not you.)

A few math steps will make it apply it to your situation.

[kintatsu]

I love using my trays. It takes me about 15 minutes per sheet, but it's worth it to me. Of course, I don't pre-soak, as Ilford recommends against it, and I've never had any issues with not doing it.

Then, there's the tactile side of it. Being able to feel your film and your chemicals adds something to it.

HC-110 is incredible, in my opinion. Dilution H gives me 9 minutes for FP4+. The concentrate also lasts for a very long time.

[Steve Sherman]

As it happens this coming weekend the New England Large Format Photography Collective is sponsoring a "Thru Process" workshop for our 20+ membership.
As one of the instructors I set out several weeks ago to expose some film to exact standards with the only variable being the chemistry and difference in agitation schemes to effect development. Developers tested were Pyrocat HD, D 76 and HC 110.

I can report the Pyrocat HD chemistry in a Reduced Agitation method, constant agitation tray development, divided A & B Pyrocat or rotary processing in Jobo drum method produced significantly sharper negatives than a non pyro developer. These pyro negatives exhibited a shorter toe and quicker transition to the straight line portion of the film's curve. The film used was Ilford FP 4 Rated @ 100 ISO

2 cents.

[David Karp]

I prefer using a slosher in trays, but circumstances often force me to use Jobo drums in a homemade contraption. Search the site for slosher.

[lbenac]

Jobo expert drums.

So am I.

[Tim Meisburger]

If you are in England, I recommend Patterson Orbital trays. You only need a moments darkness to load them, and if that is difficult they can be loaded inside a cheap changing bag. You can set them on a table in front of the tv to spin by hand, or buy a motor base and set a timer to remind you when to pour out one chemical and load the other. They use less chemicals than any other system.