Rodinal and Stearman 4x5 tank

[monochromeFan]

I have to ask this, i really do, its meant well.

The film i have always done, 35mm and 120 in a paterson tank has always done best with careful agitation. Regardless of whether using Rodinal or DD-X or that eco pro Xtol clone.

The agitation has always been slow and easy, non violent. The Literature with the stearman 445 tank, wants a heavy duty agitation process similar to trying to mix a gallon of paint by shaking it with your hands.

What is best practice?

[Mick Fagan]

I've been using a Stearman tank from the original kickstart thing.

Fill the tank to the little tab you can see in the filling side, about 460-465ml give or take. I always mix 500ml, then only use what I need, this makes life easy.

I turn the tank completely upside down, then back again with the pivot point being halfway along the skinny side for the first minute. I then do three inversions every 30 seconds with the last inversion finishing 10 seconds in from the start of a minute, with the second set of inversions finishing at the 40 second mark. As I understand things, fluid stops moving after around 20 seconds, hence my practice. The idea is to constantly have some movement/agitation happening.

I use D76 1:1 almost exclusively and have extremely good negatives, your kilometreage may vary!

[jnantz]

<... > heavy duty agitation process similar to trying to mix a gallon of paint by shaking it with your hands.

that's how you are supposed to develop rolls of tech pan in Technidol ... a friend develops rolls of sub mini film like that in a tank in a jumbled ball with whatever developer he is using Which Rodinal are you using: RO9, Blazinol<?> a crystalized bottle of syrup from the 30s or something else? I think there's currently like 4-5 different versions .. mentioning the exact version might help sort out your answers, seeing they are all different formulations and called almost the same thing.

.. good luck with your developing !

[esearing]

I use a somewhat vigorous figure 8 motion swapping hands inverting the tank top to bottom. But it also likely depends on the scene , developer, and agitation scheme you use with normal tanks. There are less fluid dynamics in the rectangular tank than there are in a cylinder to allow replenishment on the surface of the film so the trick is to not over fill the tank and let the air in the tank move the fluid around. Flipping the tank horizontally on its sides would likely work well too . Tank is good for stand/semi-stand too but I would invert a couple more times than a short round tank.

[Alan9940]

In my experience with the SP-445, I found that too vigorous of agitation must have caused the film to move slightly in the holders which left dig marks in the emulsion from the small clips that hold the film in place. Therefore, I evolved to a smooth relatively slow flip of the tank (board side facing me), pause for 1/2 - 1 sec, then flip it back over and tap the tank on the sink a couple of times. The slight pause allows the chemistry to flow fully through the tank.

[bashful]

I don't recall anything about violent agitation in the manual - they give a procedure which is to hold the 445 upright in both hands, tilt it slightly to the left, rotate it away from you with the right corner uppermost for a full rotation, then tilt it to the right and rotate again, so you're effectively sloshing the chemicals across the face of the film. You can do it as slowly as you like. (I've done plenty of 4x5 in Rodinal, and it's been acceptable by my amateur standards)

[tomwilliams]

I don't recall anything about violent agitation in the manual - they give a procedure which is to hold the 445 upright in both hands, tilt it slightly to the left, rotate it away from you with the right corner uppermost for a full rotation, then tilt it to the right and rotate again, so you're effectively sloshing the chemicals across the face of the film. You can do it as slowly as you like. (I've done plenty of 4x5 in Rodinal, and it's been acceptable by my amateur standards)

Your agitation method is new to me - I don't have a manual, so maybe I missed it. Of course if it works for you - bob's your uncle. Can you mention a source for the manual? Stearman's publication on SP445 developing procedure ( https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/12...f?v=1601659932 ) discourages side-to-side inversion ("The two caps should always be at approximately the same level") , but doesn't constrain the speed of inversions, as far as I can tell. From the linked pdf: "Start agitation by inverting the tank, holding it inverted for 1 second, then turning it right side up for 1 second". Nothing about how energetic inversions should or should not be. I have observed that gentle inversions are required when only one side of a film holder is filled, otherwise the singleton sheet can dislodge.

[paulbarden]

The Literature with the stearman 445 tank, wants a heavy duty agitation process similar to trying to mix a gallon of paint by shaking it with your hands.

Please provide the exact source of this information. A direct quote would be useful.

[Bob Kerner]

I have a Stearman. There's noting in the directions about heavy duty agitation. Here are the instructions from the website and the pdf the tank ships with:
Agitation: Start agitation by inverting the tank, holding it inverted for 1 second, then turning it right side up for 1 second. Everyone develops their own favorite technique, so you'll want to experiment. That said, we've found that 4 inversion cycles every 30 seconds is a good starting point.

I'm not sure where the OP is getting the "heavy duty" part. There's an abundance of information, both written and video on YT, about how to use the tank and different agitation methods available here, on Reddit and other sources. I have the tank and follow the instructions, with the only variance being that I make a point of inverting the tank in a variety of positions to make sure the liquids distribute properly. I haven't had any issues other than 1 sheet that I obviously mis-loaded into a rack the first time I used it.


Edit to Add: I've developed using Rodinal in the Stearman. I don't do anything different.