8x20 Questions

[Dan Dozer]

Here is the sort of tray I was referring to and I believe that this is the type that I have. These are polystyrene and should be rigid. They also make some really cheap, but I'm guessing that those are soft plastic and would be impossible to pick up to pour chemical solutions out of.

One note - the film just fits in these trays. If you are using a developer that needs a lot of agitation like I do (I use PMK Pyro), too vigorous agitation can cause a different level of development around the edges of the negative/tray so you need to be a little more gentle than normal.

http://www.greenhousemegastore.com/p...ray/seed-trays

[John Jarosz]

I use those same trays. And you're right, 8x20's just fit. I develop negs one-at-a-time. To prevent overdevelopment at the edges I keep the negs against the bottom and gently slosh the developer above. Lifting the neg out of the developer during agitation will result in overdeveloped edges. YMMV. But the trays are cheap and very rugged. I've had mine for 4 years.

[karl french]

To follow up on this thread, I just used the above mentioned trays to print some 7x17 images on 9x19 paper. It worked very well. As I assemble an 8x20 outfit, I'm wondering about a similar tray that would work for printing 8x20 on 10x22 paper. I've seen some ULF folks using what look like clear plastic storage bins.

[John Jarosz]

If it were me, I'd cruise places like Bed, Bath & Beyond or the Container Store and look at a zillion different kind of molded storage boxes made from any of the flexible plastics. Then when you found a size you can live with I'd use tin snips to cut the walls to a height you like. As all those storage containers get larger they also get taller which is no good for our purposes. But they still will function quite well as a shallow tray once the walls are trimmed.

[Kirk Fry]

Make your own trays from plastic purchased at Tap Plastic. They will tell which plastic and glue to use and cut the plastic to your instructions. And no I have no connections with the outfit other than as a user....

[Willie]

Brush development of the film in trays can get rid of the problem of overdeveloped edges.
http://www.michaelandpaula.com is the website of Michael A. Smith and Paula Chamlee. Michael's main format is 8x20 and he is good at it. Their workshops are excellent and they teach development by inspection which can help with your darkroom setup and use.

[karl french]

I'm thinking of these trays for platinum/palladium printing. I'll process the film in Jobo drums.

[neil poulsen]

Make your own trays from plastic purchased at Tap Plastic. They will tell which plastic and glue to use and cut the plastic to your instructions. And no I have no connections with the outfit other than as a user....

I did exactly this with two trays for 8x20. I think that I used 1/4" plastic, and it ended up costing me about $80 or so. Good trays though.