Combiplan tank - first attempt useless!

[Barry Wilkinson]

Always invert the tank in the same plane as the film. Otherwise the movement of chemical may wash the film out of the slots.

Barry

[Armin Seeholzer]

I use it much easier!
I only use the Combi as Developer Tank so the soup is in there bevor I start.
Also I have two more tanks where normaly get used to put meat in it or milk or wathever food! they are filled with the Stop or in my case more used Fix and in the third there is the new good fresh fix.
So I only can use the lights during developing and for the rest its dark, but it is much faster and better for each soup hes own tank!
Hope it helps!
Happy darkness, Armin Seeholzer

[Jon Shiu]

Hi, I only push the film clip down 1 or 2 clicks.

Jon

[Paul Greeves]

HI. I have some advice for using the Combi Plan tank. If you intend to use the tank in daylight I advise agitating the tank by inverting it, holding the narrow sides of the tank. This way the force of the water won't push the film out of the holder. If you rotate the tank holding the broad side of the tank the film will fall out.

[butterfly]

I'd like to thank everyone very much for their help and opinions. Tonight I developed 5 4x5's in one go, using standard (not recommended) Tmax instead of RS. They look absolutely fine. In fact one looks quite good :-).

Loading was easier tonight, but I could do with a bigger changing bag (a light tent?), and I think, although the tank is not a failure, I am going to organise blacking out my kitchen or bathroom, and try developing in 7x5 trays if that uses less chemicals.

I worked out the cost. Here in the uk, the cost of one 4x5 sheet and the chemicals to process, costs about a pound. Probably someone will argue that point. Maths isn't my strong point! But I am talking about readyloads which are double the cost of sheet film. I may therefore have a look at getting some DDS's and loading myself.

Tonight I feel very satisfied. It was fun, no stress this time. Dare I say it I am happy!

I wish I'd taken up large format years ago, especially since I went to New England last fall. I think of the velvia chromes I may have come away with!

Thanks to everyone once again.

Steve

[Janko Belaj]

I have to say that those HP tanks are just some of best tools I have found so far. But not without some problems in my learning curve. I had several bad experiences* with just one simple reason - I didn't read the manual... (like - who needs the manual to develop some b&w film? nonsense... not? not. :))
I have bought two of them and after two months I have ordered two more, and now I can "batch process" a lot of film. sort of dip and dunk method. I'm starting with clear water to prepare my film (efke emulsion) in 1st tank, second one is for developer and then one for acid stop bath or for water development (depends on work I'm doing), and the last one for fixer. So I have 4 sets of hangers and can develop 24 sheets in one session (I have tried to put 12 in a raw but film sticked together and I didn't like the process of separating them apart).
Sure, sometimes I'm developing just one set of film, and than I work as someone described earlier - slow and gentle agitation with counting twice 30 seconds for pouring chemicals in and out. works fine for me.
(*bad experiences? heh - the first set of negatives just didn't wont to stay in position... WHY? I screamed... well, stupid you - even flute in hangers is for glass plates. than, the problem with pouring chemicals in... or out. what a SLOOOOOOW process..! until you unscrew both caps for some 60-90 degrees... Sheets are floating in the tank? FLOATING? and they are coming out well sandwiched together... why do I have that little orange holder with bunch of teeth on it? yup. Read This F(ine) Manual... :))

[HenrikB]

To pour and drain chemistry quickly, turn the tank on its (narrow) side so that both the bottom drain valve and the valve on the lid are "up" - if you then open the lid valve and pour chemistry through the BOTTOM valve, you will have an air escape which makes the process much quicker!