I have been processing B&W roll film since 1973, but have never processed 4x5. I have been in bidding wars to get a Jobo Expert drum, but have not won one yet, so I thought I would try tray development to check out my new 4x5 camera.
I just filled some 8x10 trays with the appropriate chemicals and turned off the lights then used a gloved hand to run the film from tray to tray. My impression as I was doing this was that the film was getting marred each time my glove touched the emulsion (it's impossible to handle it outside the image area). I processed emulsion side up to keep the emulsion from touching the tray bottom. I agitated the film continuously by gently moving it up and down in the tray. I figured these negatives were going to be trash from all the manipulation.
Turns out they look great. The sheet film is more robust than I had imagined. I am really pleased with the results.
For drying, I prevously did a search on film clips for 4x5 but am still undecided. I got some clothes drying clips from my wife but they don't touch at the ends and won't clip the film. Also, it seemed like they would need to grab on the image area to stay in place anyway. I wound up using some surgical hemostats that could just grab the edge of the film, outside the image area.
BTW I was using TMX 4x5 in Tmax (nonRS) developer 1:4. I just guessed at times. 4 min for the first one seemed a little thin but still printable. I incresed it to 5 min for the following sheets and they looked very printable.
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