best method to process film?

[Wally]

What are some experiences with HP/Combi???

I've had good luck with these.

It takes about 1050mL to fill, and if you have the lid fully pushed down, and you keep pressure on it when you invert, it hardly leaks (a drop or two at worst, for me).

It fills a little slow, but not too bad. As a consequence of the slow fill, I make sure my developer dilutions let me set devel. time to > 3 minutes.

I use Besseler drums when I've only got a couple of sheets.

[Dave Langendonk]

Automation. A JOBO processor provides very accurate and consistent control of time, temperature and agitation, and it's programmable, so it remembers multiple processing routines. One need only load the film, press a button and walk away with confidence one's film will be processed as programmed.

+1

It's hard to use a Unicolor drum on a Jobo processor

Seriously, especially for C-41 the automation of a Jobo ATL processor combined with Expert drums is hard to beat for consistency.

[Andrew O'Neill]

You will get varied answers. Depends on your budget and temperament.

If you are old school and cheap, use trays.
Old school and a little lazy, slosher.
Want daylight processing and cheap, Combiplan or the new Patterson insert.
A gear head who is cheap, BTZS tubes.
A gear head who resents the exorbitant prices of Jobo drums, Jobo reels
A gear head willing to pay through the teeth for any advantage, Jobo expert drums.

The main limitation is that each sheet must be processed for the same time in each batch.

I can easily afford a jobo system but prefer trays. BTZS tubes are great for individualized development AND stand development. Trays are even better. As far as temperament goes, I'm quite impatient but don't mind standing in the dark agitating trays or spinning tubes and I'm far from being a gearhead. A true gearhead doesn't do any of their own processing.

Work with what works for you.

Now I'm off to test my 14x17 camera that I built myself. Crap, I built it myself. I guess I am cheap afterall

[Paul H]

So far nobody has mentioned the Paterson Orbital Processor. Very convenient and easy to use. Load in the dark, then do everything in daylight. does 4 sheets at a time.

Alan

My favourite too, plus only requires 150ml or so of developer. I use mine for 9x12cm and 4x5", but it can do two 5x7" or one 8x10".

The only problem is getting hold of one - usually easier from eBay UK or other UK source.

[Brian Ellis]

I'll try again.

Why didn't the tubes work for you? If it was a problem related to your build quality obviously that could be solved by buying the real BTZS tubes rather than making your own. If not that then it's hard to figure out what the problem would be. The tubes have many advantages - everything done in daylight once the film is loaded, minimal chemistry (one ounce of developer per sheet with D76 1-1, two ounces if undiluted), easy to keep track of different development times in the same run. No need to stand in the dark jiggling trays and inhaling chemical fumes. No scratches. No uneven development. No need to pay the cost and take up the space of a Jobo system. Etc.

I've used BTZS tubes, trays, and Jobo. I haven't used the other systems mentioned here. Obviously there's a lot of personal preference involved in any processing system. But the BTZS tubes 4x5 and 8x10 - were best for me.

[Scott Walker]

I don't think this method was mentioned. Explained to me by a fellow photographer.
For 8x10 sheet film, use 4, 8x10 trays with adequate chemistry to cover the film.
Put 1 sheet of film in each tray emulsion side up and agitate by rocking the trays.
Use a 16x20 tray for stop & another for fix.

Seems so simple I am going to give it a try.

[Jay DeFehr]

I'd design an automated system that uses individually controlled chambers for intermittent agitation of single sheets with minimal solution volumes. I'd make as much of the apparatus printable as possible, and the rest over the counter, and I'd make the design and the software open source/ freely available.

[ic-racer]

I don't think this method was mentioned. Explained to me by a fellow photographer.
For 8x10 sheet film, use 4, 8x10 trays with adequate chemistry to cover the film.
Put 1 sheet of film in each tray emulsion side up and agitate by rocking the trays.
Use a 16x20 tray for stop & another for fix.

Seems so simple I am going to give it a try.

I'm going to be putting a patent on that:

"Large format film processing using moderate volume liquid with combination laminar and turbulent flow agitation using electrochemical Actin-Myosin ATPase motor system."

[Scott Walker]

Seems so simple I am going to give it a try.

Ok, so I tried it.....

Wow! What an excellent stress free way of developing film, I can't believe I have been going about this the hard way for so many years.

I have always shuffled a stack of up to 6 sheets of film and as it has been pointed out technique is critical. if you lose focus in the first two minutes when shuffling you might as well just turn the lights on. I have had excellent results shuffling but there is still the odd occasion when the results are not perfect. One other downfall of shuffling is that if you have 5 negs that require normal development and 1 that requires +1 development you have to do it in 2 batches because searching through the stack to find 1 or 2 sheets that need to stay in the developer longer is not easy.

Yesterday afternoon I developed 4 batches of 4 sheets using 4 trays of developer and I still can't get over how easy it was. Agitation was virtually identical for all the film and the results were perfect. I had 1 holder with FP4 on one side and HP5 on the other. I developed the single sheet of FP4 with 3 sheets of HP5 and after 11 minutes I pulled the FP4 out of the bottom right tray and put it into the stop, at minute 12 I moved the neg from stop to fix and then at minute 13 I took the remaining 3 sheets out of the developer and put them into the stop. Could it be any easier? I also had some +1 and some -1 sheets to develop, again dead simple to develop them together. I use an audible timer that tells me when each minute is up (at each minute you hear 1 minute, 2 minutes, and so on) along with a metronome so I can agitate at precise intervals. This worked very well for shuffling and seems to be even better for the multiple tray method.

Ok enough rambling, I'm just kinda geeked about finding out about this method of tray developing my film.

[Kevin Crisp]

Homemade slosher for 4x5 and 5x7, two at a time. Never any damage or development issues. I'll trade the lack of damage for the time savings of shuffling more sheets in a tray.