Another Question for Users of 8x10 Tubes

[Brian Ellis]

With the 4x5 tubes I put the tubes in a large pan of stop bath after development is completed. However, the 8x10 tubes are so much larger than 4x5 that it looks like it would take something huge, almost like a vat, full of gallons of stop b ath to hold a bunch of 8x10 tubes at once. So my question is, how do you handle the stop step with 8x10 tubes? I guess the film could be removed from the tubes and put in a tray of stop bath, but this would reintroduce the risk of scratches and eliminating scratches is the whole idea of using tubes in the first place.

[Oren Grad]

Brian -

I've used the 8x10 tubes successfully with Paterson 12x16 plastic trays. You don't need gallons and gallons of solution. All you have to do is plunge the tubes in and quickly spin them a few times to make sure the emulsion is quickly covered with stop bath. You don't need to fill the trays to much depth for that to work.

Re your last posting, I bought my 8x10 BTZS tubes (all 2 of them <g>) about 6 years ago, and compared to what you describe, they were rather more elaborately and smoothly finished out of machined and glued parts. But bear in mind that there have been long intervals when BTZS tubes larger than 4x5 were entirely unavailable, because they couldn't find anyone to manufacture them at a price anywhere within reason. So the realistic standard to judge the current ones is against the likelihood that there'd be no product at all now if more expensive manufacturing techniques were required.

All that said, I quickly gave up on the tubes, and have kept mine around only for emergencies. I'm much happier with my Jobo + Expert drums, which produces cleaner and more consistent results with much less hassle. For those who are fortunate to be able to afford one, I'd recommend a Jobo over the BTZS tubes any time...

...Oren

[howard s]

i spin two 8x10 tubes at a time in a large tray of water. then, i put them directly into a tray of stop bath with the top off and spin them around several times. i use two ounces of stop bath to 128 ounces of water, and have no problems. by the way, i have measured the negatives using the tubes with a densitometer and they are consistent and even. howard

[Chet Kwapisinski]

I only do two tubes at a time in a large tray of water using the identical technique as with my 4x5s. IOW, cap off, roll in smaller tray of stop bath for a few seconds followed by fix in another tray etc... Cheers, Chet