Photo-Therm Sidekick info

[photonsoup]

has anyone had any experience with this unit? A customer of mine wants to trade some plumbing work with me. I already have a Jobo cpp2. There is a drum that does two sheets of 4x5 as well as the drum and reels for 35mm and 120. He has all the hoses and bottles that go with it. any recommendations?







I'd never heard of one before today. I checked eBay and there have been two sold for way more money than I would pay for it. The guy that owns it used it up until a year ago for all of his e-6 4x5 and 35mm. (he's 72 and finally went kicking and crying to digital, so he's getting rid of a lot of his film stuff)

[EdSawyer]

I have one. It's better than any JOBO. They are worth what they sell for on ebay. This one looks to be worth $1500+ I'd guess. (new it would be $6k+) I have the Super Sidekick which only differs in that it's programmable, I believe. Otherwise, the same as this one. Phototherm's support on these is good, even if you dind't buy it new from them. Frankly, unless you need the Jobo for prints, I'd dump it and take this over the cpp2 in a heartbeat. the 4x5 holder does 4 sheets of 4x5, btw, not two. Or you can do 4 rolls of 35mm or 2 rolls of 220 (or 4 of 120) per batch.

[Richard Wasserman]

I concur with what EdSawyer has to say. I would add in case you are not aware that the Sidekick is fully automatic—you can walk away from it and come back a bit to processed and washed film. I believe your model can be programmed if need be, perhaps by changing chips. Their customer support is superlative, give them a call if you have questions or concerns.

[photonsoup]

thanks Richard and Ed

I got the unit yesterday. I called Phototherm and they were very helpful.

I was surprised though that it uses 450ml of chemicals to process up to 4 sheets of 4x5. I have a test drum for the Jobo that will develop two sheets in 40ml and the pro drum that will do up to 10 in only 210ml.

I would like to do E-6, and the Sidekick will definatly use a lot more chemistry. It will do the Fuji Hunt 6 bath or the Arista/Tetenal 3 bath.

Do you do color processing in it or just Black and White? Any tips or suggestions?

Thanks
Bryan

[Duolab123]

I know that people that have used these love them. Very economical. They use more chemistry in the tank, you need to replenish. This way uses less chemistry than any one shot setup . The guy I know used for e6. You can use Paterson or Hewes (for Jobo) reels.