I use a slosher tray, and process emulsion side up. The only thing that ever touches the emulsion is chemistry, and I never get scratches.
I use a slosher tray, and process emulsion side up. The only thing that ever touches the emulsion is chemistry, and I never get scratches.
Here is a photo of the Photo Formulary "Slosher"
http://www.photoformulary.com/Deskto...ion=0&langID=0
Now that’s a track record to shoot for…Originally Posted by jnanian
All these suggestions are helpful – many I hadn’t considered. Lowering the development temperature was just one simple example. I presume that allows one to work with a cooler, harder, less-vulnerable emulsion.
I’ve been skeptical about surgical gloves since I thought the reduced sense of “touch” would complicate the sensitive handling of wet sheets. But your practical tips suggest otherwise. Plus, covered fingers wouldn't raise the chemical temperature so much. And they'd enjoy better protection. Worth a try.
Or … perhaps this “Slosher” (photo below) would eliminate a need for gloves. I was surprised by all the votes of confidence below. Looks like the Slosher’s dimensions are 11”x14.5”. It would fit inside trays of mine whose bottom dimensions are 13”x17”. That means mixing more chemicals than I usually do – a small price to pay to eliminate scratches. A very interesting item. Are there drawbacks? Even with emulsion side up, can “sloshing” scuff or abrade the film’s bottom (non-emulsion) side? My traditional handling has never hurt the non-emulsion side.
I would try the slosher, but buy two of them. Use the first one in the developer and set the other in the stop. That way you can keep track of up to six separate film development times and pull the individual sheet from the developer slosher and place in the stop slosher. Then simply move the stop slosher to the fixer, to hypoclear, etc. Do the process emulsion side up. You will not have any scratches. The downside is the use of somewhat larger volumes of chemistry and the need for more sink space than small trays. Once the film is in the fix you can turn the lights on.
I prefer BTZS tubes for the developer stage so that the lights can be on. Also, the tubes allow small volumes of developer and even different developers/dilutions for individual sheets of film if desired.
Lights? What are these things of which you speak?
I have not had problems with abrasions on either side of the film from my slosher.
It is home made, and I beveled and sanded the holes until they were smooth. The plexi base is smooth. I sanded and rounded the edges and corners of the dividers. The emulsion side touches nothing but liquid. It is more like developing 6 single sheets at once.
I have been developing with rotary processing lately because of time, space, and volume of film consideration. Given the choice, I think I would still prefer using the slosher in trays, as this seems to give me the very best results.
You just have to make sure that you don't put two sheets in the same divider. I have almost done this a few times, but have always caught it before dumping the film in the developer.
John Sexton created his slosher (and coined the name) for situations where he is doing semi-stand development in situations where he needs extreme compensation. Many of us have adopted them for standard film development.
Do a search for slosher on this site, and you will find a lot of information.
I also use rubber gloves - skin will absorb chemicals, whereas rubber doesn't, thereby minimizing carryover of developer into the stop and fixer.
I use HC110 dilution H. That requires that I essentially double the development time. The result is more even development, and minor timing errors are even less significant.
I tend to standardize as much as possible, and I try to group negatives for simultaneous processing in a way to minimize variations. Occasionally, the need to get film developed forces me to process one or two N-1 sheets at the same time as a group of N sheets. I have a couple of small trays of plain water that I use as holding tray- at the shorter N-1 time, I transfer the negatives requiring that special treating to the holding trays, one negative per tray. then, when I have finished development of the rest of the negatives and have moved the slosher to the stop bath, I transfer those negatives back to the slosher. I use a plain water stop rather than an acid stop.
Film stays in the slosher from the point when I take it out of the storage box for processing until it has been developed, fixed and washed and is ready to be hung up to dry. I intentionally try to avoid handling it any more than necessary. Handling film is the best way to cause scratches.
Heroique:
I believe you are correct that the source of the scratches is probably from catching the corners of the sheets above while pulling out the bottom sheet. When I tray process, I lift the whole stack with one hand and peel off the bottom sheet with the other.
It also helps to prop up the back of the tray so that the films naturally stay on the side closest to you.
My experience has been that some film/developer combinations seem to be more likely to produce scratches than others. I don't recall ever scratching a txp neg in hc-110, and quit trying bergger film in pyro because of the scratches.
I've always run them emulsion up with good results. Just be sure never ever touch the emulsion...always just the edges and the back. And don't rock the tray...good way to get scratched.
The only drawback I know with the slosher is you need a lot of solution. You also need a lot of space if you want to move the slosher from tray to tray, which is easiest. My sink is only 6', which only fits 4 11x14 trays, but I need 5.
If you're going to make the investment, I would recommend the bzts tubes. But I think with care and practice you can succeed with just the trays.
I've never processed multiple sheets of film using the stack and rotate method. It does often cause scratching especially during the development stage since the emulsion is softest and at its most vulnerable. If you really want to risk it to save time I suggest you develop one sheet at a time and allow them to stack up in a acid hardening stop bath. Then fix and wash using the stacked method. Hardening the emulsion before stacking minimizes (does not eliminate) scratching. But even this is not a good procedure, IMHO, because stacked film doesn't wash or tone as thoroughly/evenly as separated sheets.
But ehh... I'm a paranoid SOB.
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