Tray processing success!

[mandoman7]

Several precautions;
1.you might want to check your developer temperature at the end of processing. Hands can warm a solution, and ambient temp can lower or raise it. Many use a larger tray with a water bath to moderate the temp. This variable can really make your development times unreliable I learned after years of ignoring it.
2.Secondly, scratching is a big problem with wet negatives as the film corners are sharp and the emulsion is soft. I ended up using flat bottom trays with the emulsion down, others have different methods. The emulsion down or up choice is something you hear different opinions on.
3.One thing to remember is that developer sloshes over the sides of film when you put a sheet down face up in the tray, and this can give you stronger development on the edges as versus the interior portion of the neg. I found that placing the film in the developer face down gave a complete exposure to the developer all at once. The trays can scratch with emulsion down, so I got some flat bottom trays for this process.

Good luck

[Pfiltz]

Been reading the tray development process. This thread and the other one.

Glad I saw this. I've just moved up to 4x5, and hope to process some b/w in trays.. Actually watched a youtube on it today matter of fact.

Appreciate all the tips given here.

[welly]

Personally its my method of prefrence, although startig up i didnt have a timer, was afraid i may burn the neg with my iPhone. So i had to count dvery second individually.. Was not fu at all!

I've just ordered a Paterson Triple Timer. I think this should sort any timing issues out. My timing was a little rough as I had to set the timer going, get the sheet out of the film holder and then drop it in the developer. I guess it shows that you can be a little flexible with black and white and it's not necessarily a completely precise art! Although I dare say the more precise the better.

[welly]

Several precautions;
1.you might want to check your developer temperature at the end of processing. Hands can warm a solution, and ambient temp can lower or raise it. Many use a larger tray with a water bath to moderate the temp. This variable can really make your development times unreliable I learned after years of ignoring it.
2.Secondly, scratching is a big problem with wet negatives as the film corners are sharp and the emulsion is soft. I ended up using flat bottom trays with the emulsion down, others have different methods. The emulsion down or up choice is something you hear different opinions on.
3.One thing to remember is that developer sloshes over the sides of film when you put a sheet down face up in the tray, and this can give you stronger development on the edges as versus the interior portion of the neg. I found that placing the film in the developer face down gave a complete exposure to the developer all at once. The trays can scratch with emulsion down, so I got some flat bottom trays for this process.

Good luck

Thanks for your advice John! I shall definitely keep all this in mind when I put my next few sheets through. I was agitating by flipping the sheet over every 30 seconds or so and sloshing the tray a little. Despite how my scan looks, it actually came out fairly even I think. Anyway, it was a first go. Next time will be better! I've got the Paterson trays which have a mostly flat bottom but with wells that I assume are there to stop the sheet from sticking to the bottom.