Jobo prices...ridiculous

[Duolab123]

I forgot to tell you You need to bungee cord the goggles to your head to free your hands and seal off the light from the little LED Viewfinder in the goggles

[Duolab123]

Forgot to tell you I use Bungee cords to strap this thing to my head

[Jac@stafford.net]

I have a strange, huge daylight 4x5 sheet film processing drum. It can do something like 18 or 24 sheets at a time. It was given to me by a former processing lab who said, "The roller motor is long gone." (I guess so! Must have been a monster.)

[dsphotog]

Jobo gear costs a lot because it's worth it.

Expert film tanks will pay for themselves in chemical savings alone.

[Darin Boville]

I'm somewhat surprised we haven't seen a kickstaer project on this...

--Darin

[Colin Graham]

I resisted Jobo expert drums for years with grumbles and curses about the cost, but after finally buying one was impressed with how well they are engineered. So much so I recently bought another one.

But just to be balanced, the accessories are bloody ridiculous. $40 for a cylinder-shaped sponge on a stick? A $2 bottle brush wrapped with a microfiber cloth works much better.

[Ari]

A $2 bottle brush wrapped with a microfiber cloth works much better.

Nice, I like that.
Good-quality gear always costs more, it's often worth the price you pay.
Ease of use and even development are two good reasons to invest in a Jobo tank.

[Colin Graham]

The Rubbermaid brush in the photo works well for both the 3010 and 3006 drums- not sure about the other 3000 series drums. The bristles themselves would likely scratch the plastic, so I double-wrap a microfiber cloth around it first. Easy to have a separate cloth for cleaning and drying, and just throw them in the wash occasionally. I think Jobo recommends replacing their sponge every month or so...sponges can get pretty gross.

[Moopheus]

My Jobo tank is one of the few bits of darkroom gear I have that was purchased new, and I have no regrets about spending the money.

[photonsoup]

Carefully watch eBay after searching for what they actually sold for. If your patient, bargains do appear. A few moths ago one went for $350 with a lift and several drums, but it was pick up only. I called UPS and they would pick it up, package and ship it for about $100.

Mine was listed at a buy it now price of $700.00, there was a 3010 drum in the photo that was not in the description. It was listed several times. I offered $500 and he accepted. He was in BC, Canada and I'm in Montana so shipping was about $180.00 by the time customs finished with it. But I wound up with a CPA2 with a lift, a 3010 drum, a 2551 drum, foot pump, sponge, a bunch of bottles, and graduated cylinders. All I had to fix was a new LED indicator light that lets me know when the heating element is on. It work fine for a couple of months before I got around to replacing it. I carefully watched all the Jobo listings for about a year and a half before I found this one.