Developing just one sheet of 4x5 film

[Tin Can]

Pere, I was going to caution you against using up valuable Paper Safes!

But no need, they are still plentiful. I have a full set to 20X24". Very handy for paper and film for DRY storage.

Then I checked Adorama and B&H. Both stock many sizes. Good news.

The odd thing is all sizes to 20X24 are almost the same price and ship free.

30X40 is where the price doubles, however still not bad. I think I may need a 30X40 as long as they still exist...

If using trays, there are 2 tricks I use for BW:

One can use a paper safe as if it was a daylight tank. I just close lights to dip the sheets. The I developt with lights on. Than ) close the lights again to move the sheets to the stop bath tray and I open the lights in 15s, I do the reset lights open.

Attachment 181286

The other trick is using separators inside the tray.

Attachment 181284
Attachment 181285

To me, trays are the most flexible way, agitation can be controlled, and we can develop in the same batch with different times, just diping the different sheets at earlier or later, or moving the sheets to the stop bath earlier or later.

[Pere Casals]

using up valuable Paper Safes!

This is the one I use to develop sheets:



It was never used, still in a sealed packaging. It was a very cheap model (KUSTOM brand), made of very thin plastic, but still it's a luxury doing tray development with lights open.

Another way is placing a regular tray (or trays) inside a light tight box, something like this:



There are like light tight boxes around for technical usage, and also it's quite easy to DIY one, with a simple double light trap in the cover.

I think that this way is even better than the paper safe, it would prevent any spill on the table.

Also for tray development it is good leveling the table...

[jim10219]

Hi Randy,

Put the sheets in face down. Lift one edge of the stack up to make the bottom sheet accessible.
Pull that sheet up and out at an angle, so only the edges touch the tray bottom or the sheets above.
Put that sheet back onto the stack straight down. There should be no bubbles since it's already wet.
Repeat for all sheets in the stack to get one agitation cycle.

I've done this with hundreds of sheets. Never scratched one.

- Leigh

I may have to give this a try! I've never been successful with multiple sheets in a tray. I don't scratch them, but I do get uneven development too often to make it worth the risk.

[Leigh]

I may have to give this a try! I've never been successful with multiple sheets in a tray. I don't scratch them, but I do get uneven development too often to make it worth the risk.

Hi Jim,

I've been doing it this way since 1960 (almost 60 years), and never had a problem.
Hope it works for you.

I should have mentioned that when you lift the stack and pull out the bottom sheet, that sheet presses against your fingers, not against the other sheets, so nothing sharp to scratch the film (unless you're a dinosaur).

- Leigh