Beginner's guide to developing 4x5" sheets

[Bob McCarthy]

I use 6 trays. First is water. Second Developer, Third is a weak stop bath. Fourth is first fix. Five is second fix. I fix for 1/2 the time recommended in the first fix and 1/2 in the second fix. As the first fix begins to exhaust I replace it with the second and make a fresh second fix. This ensures that the negatives are always fixed fully with a fresh fixing bath. The Sixth tray is hypo clearing agent. It is then into the wash tank. I have been using this system since 1972 and to this day the negatives are as good as the day they were processed. Actually learned this in Yosemite from Ansel Adams. I fix the prints the same way but without a hardening fixer so that I can tone the prints with Selenium. It seems to work as well with the prints because I made a series of prints in 1981 which I have kept boxed over the years. Still sell those prints and they look as good as the day I made them. One final comment should be added. With film and prints the wash tank should have a slow overflow with a small drain or syphon at the bottom to allow any chemicals that settle to the bottom to flow out.

That is the best generally accepted way to archivally process prints as the paper absorbs chemistry and is difficult to clear, but ... somewhat overkill for film. I have my first negatives from the late 60's and they are just fine.

Develop - stop - fix - into a film washer

A great wash was the key from my education on processing.

bob

[stevebrot]

One cheap method that hasn't been mentioned is the "taco" method. This page describes it. This picture more or less sums it up:


I'm not necessarily recommending it (and it doesn't matter if I did because I'm pretty new to this) but I've used it once for 5x7 (two sheets in a 2 reel stainless tank) and it worked pretty well.

The advantages: you can do it in daylight, it's quite cheap on equipment, possibly less risk of scratching than in trays (though not necessarily).

Disadvantages: uses a fair amount of chemical (if you are flushing your spent developer), has it's own set of scratch potentials, not sanctified by the LF gods.

I use the "taco" method in a generic Patterson-type plastic tank (<$20 USD) and it works well for 4x5. As noted, it requires about a liter of chemistry and is a bit of a waste. I am going to experiment with using developer diluted to 1/8 strength coupled with longer development times. So far no issues with scratches or uneven development (fingers crossed).


Steve

[sully75]

Are people washing with tap water mostly? I've been experimenting with distilled and not sure if it makes a difference. One thing I'm stopping doing is wiping out my tanks with bath towels. Seemed like a good idea at the time, but I'm suspecting a whole lot of my dust was lint from the towels.

[DanK]

Are people washing with tap water mostly? I've been experimenting with distilled and not sure if it makes a difference. One thing I'm stopping doing is wiping out my tanks with bath towels. Seemed like a good idea at the time, but I'm suspecting a whole lot of my dust was lint from the towels.

I wash with tap water, but placed an in-line 'cheapie' filter to catch the larger particles....

My tap warm in the summer, around 75 degrees F - so I add a water bath step after the fixer - usually around 72 degrees.... doubt it does anything - I do it to ready the film for the higher wash temp...instead of 68 straight to 75....

I wash tanks, and trays in hot water and use a sponge to ensure residual isn't attached....

If I need to quick dry a tank, or tray for any reason - I use the Premier Professional Photo wipes...large, lint free....and inexpensive....

Thanks,
Dan

[DanK]

But, I only used distilled for final rinse with Photo-Flo before I hang the negatives....

Thanks,
Dan

[lmlmlm]

Just to let everybody know this is my first developed sheet based on what i learned from this topic, its not much of a picture but the process worked

How long do you usually keep the negs in the stop bath after the developer stage?
Thanks!

[Vlad Soare]

That looks pretty good, given it's your very first try. A little underexposed, but that's no development problem.
On the other hand, what does look like a development problem is that one half of the sky is lighter than the other half. The transition from the darker to the lighter side of the sky is a bit too harsh, which makes me believe that it probably didn't look like that in reality. How did you agitate? Did you just rock the tray?

Are those dust spots actually on the negative, or is it just a scanning issue?

Thirty seconds in the stop bath is more than enough. Even ten would probably suffice.

[lmlmlm]

Indeed for this sheet i only rotated the tray, not really touching the sheet itself. Wasnt sure what to do with the sheet really..

[Vlad Soare]

Agitation by rocking the tray works very well for papers, but not for films.
Here is a good how-to video on tray development. You'll need some patience, though. The guy talks a lot; I believe it's only in part 3 that he gets to actually demonstrate the agitation technique.

[Roy Menzies]

I have never processed sheet film before and am about to start. Someone just gave me a sort of hybrid tank system. The outer GRP daylight box is a Calumet, possibly for dental xray plates. Inside are 3 main vertical tanks for dev, stop, fix, with stainless steel film hangers (tanks and hangers "Kodak 4x5") and a slender tank, maybe for pre-soak. There are 6 hangers but 4 seem to fit more comfortably. The films are obviously moved from tank to tank. Two questions:
A) Is this a good method and B) the tanks need almost 2 litres of chemicals and the ID11 I just bought makes 1L stock so it must be diluted, ergo, can only be used once. This is going to cost almost as much as going to the lab! Help please