Best Film for Beginner Doing Tray Development

[Randy]

A pre-soak is mandatory...I like 10-15 seconds between sheets.

Doremus, I had never heard this before - I do pre-soak, adding one sheet at a time, but never waiting longer than just making sure the previous sheet was completely submerged before adding the next sheet - never had any sticking problems.

[peter schrager]

You can develop with a pyro developer as this will harden the surface and make it less prone to scratching. I have also found found that using Xtol makes negatives with less scratches; don't ask me why it just is.

[Alan9940]

Doremus, I had never heard this before - I do pre-soak, adding one sheet at a time, but never waiting longer than just making sure the previous sheet was completely submerged before adding the next sheet - never had any sticking problems.

This is the way I used to work...right up until I had some 8x10 sheets stick together. After that, I used Doremus's method and never had any more sticking problems, though I haven't tray developed (other than some recent dabbling with ABC Pyro) in many years.

[Willie]

I dry film in the bathroom and have a dehumidifier that can bring the humidity down to very low levels—is that good or bad for film? If it’s bad, I can leave the dehumidifier off.

If drying in the bathroom leave the dehumidifier off. Steam the room with hot shower water, just enough to create steam. Then hang the film to dry, shut the door and don't open for a few hours while the film dries. The steam will remove all airborne dust and such and if you treated the film with foto-flo you will have clean, dry negatives.

As for which film to use. Do your tests with the film you plan on using for your work. Why not get used to what you will be using from the start?

[Doremus Scudder]

Doremus, I had never heard this before - I do pre-soak, adding one sheet at a time, but never waiting longer than just making sure the previous sheet was completely submerged before adding the next sheet - never had any sticking problems.

I think it depends on the hardness (or whatever) of the water you have. I've had sheets stick together if I introduce them to the presoak too fast (and had to wait and work them slowly apart). I simply count to 10 between sheets now.

Best,

Doremus

[paulbarden]

FP4 isn't quite as scratch resistant as the more expensive TMax from Kodak, but for several reasons, it is, in my opinion, the best sheet film for learning purposes. It's consistently high-quality, reasonably forgiving, and is amenable to a range of contrast control during development.

Amen.
FP4 is king in my world.