Daylight Tanks for 8x10 (a la CombiPlan) -- Do they exist??

[Nick Kanellos]

I love my CombiPlan 4x5 developing tank. I've been using it for a decade with very satisfactory results. I can develop and wash up to six sheets in a single go -- all with the lights on.

Developing my 8x10's?? Different story. I've tried using the tray method described by Gordon Hutchings in his "Book of Pyro" - and also Ansel Adams in his book "The Negative". Spotty results overall. Literally!!! Uneven development. Splotches that look like water stains. I wish I knew what caused these - negatives sticking together perhaps?? They are particularly evident in skies. Scratches (more like gouges). Overdeveloped edges. So bad I thought my camera or film holders were leaking.

I'm really not keen on the the thought of coming home with 8 or 12 sheets after a weekend of shooting and processing one sheet at a time. So I give up!!!

Does anyone know of a daylight tank for 8x10 similar to the CombiPlan? I prefer it to BTZS tubes or Jobos or slosh trays (however slosh trays would be Plan B). But there doesn't seem to be anything out there. Help!!

[Gene McCluney]

There are no "daylight" style tanks for 8x10..however,
The industry standard method of developing multiple sheets of 8x10 film has been the 3.5 gallon deep tank, which was very common, and made by Kodak and Cesco-lite, as well as possibly others. I use them. The film is loaded onto stainless steel film hangers (available on the used market), and in the dark the film is hand lowered (in the hangars) into the tank. The tank has a ridge that holds the tops of the holders so they are suspended in the solution. You lift the hangars out (as a group) and tilt sideways, lower, lift again and tilt sideways-the other way, lower..as your agitation routine, and you can get very even development. Common developers used in deep-tank processing would include Kodak D-76 and Kodak HC-110. These developers can be replenished. Most deep tanks have a floating lid that can be placed on the developer surface to minimize oxidation when the developer is not being used, and they all have cover lids to keep the solutions clean when not being used. To efficiently develop 8x10 film on hangers, you probably should have 4 tanks. 1. Developer, 2. Stop, 3. Fix, 4. Wash.

In these days tanks and film hangers can be acquired at relatively economical prices.
The common 3.5 gallon tank can accomodate film hangers for most all film sizes smaller than 8x10, in addition to the 8x10 size hangers.

With some practice you can easily manage 12 hangers in this size tank, which for 8x10 would be 12 sheets. The 4x5 hangers in the 8x10 size form accomodate 4 sheets each hanger, so in 4x5 you could process 48 4x5 sheets at one time.

With proper handling of the film hangers, nothing touches the image area of the film except the processing solutions from the time you load the hangers to the time you take the film off the hanger to photo-flo and dry.

[Gene McCluney]

Developing my 8x10's?? Different story. I've tried using the tray method described by Gordon Hutchings in his "Book of Pyro" - and also Ansel Adams in his book "The Negative". Spotty results overall. Literally!!! Uneven development. Splotches that look like water stains. I wish I knew what caused these - negatives sticking together perhaps?? They are particularly evident in skies. Scratches (more like gouges). Overdeveloped edges. So bad I thought my camera or film holders were leaking.

While I prefer the 3.5 gallon deep tank, as mentioned in my post above, I have done quite a bit of tray processing of film, and it sounds to me like you are not using a water pre-soak for your film. If the film is fully wet on front and back (soak for 2 minutes minimum, and place the film in the water tray one at a time and pause between sheets to ensure complete wetness for each sheet), then the film will not stick and when you transfer the sheets to the developer--again one at a time and make sure the sheet is fully submerged before placing another sheet on top of it--the danger of sticking and flaws is greatly minimized.

Also, you need to constantly reshuffle the sheets in the developer, by taking the sheet off the bottom of the stack and placing it on the top, you do this constantly for the duration of the development.

[Ron Marshall]

There is also the option of a Jobo 3005, which holds 5 8x10 sheets.

[Peter K]

There was a Combiplan for 5x7 films aviable. But it was very sensitive for wrong movements during processing. The sheets could jump from the grooves and stick together. With 8x10 this problem cannot be handled anymore.

Peter K

[Nick Kanellos]

Thank You, Gene.

That's pretty much how I do it. Perhaps I didn't allow them to soak for two full minutes. Will be more carefull with my timings for the pre-soak.

One problem that I seem to have in placing the film into the presoak goes something like this:

1) Film is fanned out in my left hand. So far so good.
2) With my right hand, I grab the first sheet of film and place it into the presoak. I push the film down. Fingers of right hand are now wet.
4) I now -- with my wet fingers -- reach over to grab the second sheet. This being total darkness, I end up fumbling around to separate out the next sheet from the pile. I've now applied just the correct amount of water to glue the sheets together.
5) I end up having to immerse them all and gently try to separate them.

I'd love a third hand that can separate out the next sheet and pass it to the "wet" hand for immersion.

[Richard Ide]

Nick,
Place the dry sheets fanned out on a clean dry surface beside your tray. You can then pick up one sheet at a time with a hand that stays dry.

Richard

[David A. Goldfarb]

Sounds like you're just trying to do more sheets than you can handle right now. Start with two, then three, then four, and eventually you'll be able to do as many as you need to do.

It's a good method to learn, even if you also use other methods (I use trays, tanks and hangers, and daylight tanks, depending on the format, developer, and how much film I have to process), so you can try out any format without having to worry about how you're going to develop the film.

[Gene McCluney]

Lay film fanned out on dry surface near sink (within reach) take one sheet (for example-with right hand) and above the surface of the pre-soak tray drop it onto surface of water. Immediately with left hand push it under surface of water...when you think it is fully wet, take another sheet with right (dry) hand and repeat. Note...dry hand stays dry. When all sheets are in presoak tray, then you can manipulate them for the rest of the process with both hands.

You do not have to do this with the speed of light...it is only a water pre-soak. You can take your time..be as slow as you want in getting all the sheets into the pre-soak...then start your pre-soak timing after the last sheet is in. Don't forget to shuffle the sheets back to front as mentioned in post above, just as if they were in developer..this is to ensure even pre-soaking.

I sometimes have used a paper safe or film box (both with lid off) to contain the dry sheets, and since my hand is dry, I have no problem separating the sheets with my fingertips, or fingernail for picking up.

[ericantonio]

I've got these welding rod tubes that hold 8x10 perfect. Even has a rubber gasket on it. I use it with PMK.