BTZS vs JOBO

[Jiri Vasina]

They reason you may not have seen it mentioned is because of its price, which is one of my requirements. That it be affordable--(way) below $500 US.

How much does one of those cost? New? Used?

Thanks.

The Jobo 28xx line tanks is much cheaper than the Jobo 3xxx line, much more affordable... Kirk has already linked some items, I think with patience you could have one of the 2830 tanks in the US$ 50-100 range...

Edit:----

I have also had the CombiPlan tank, but it was much more messy, always had leaks (fluid seeping outside, not light inside... ) and as I am developing in our bathroom, my wife was complaining a lot about the small dark spots...

For 3x4" I have a stainless steel tank dip and dunk, based on which I would not recommend a dip tank...

[Jeff Bannow]

I have deep tanks (plastic) and hangers (steel, and neither are for sale) that I started with before I got the Jobo and they work ok but have their own limitations. They require 1/2 gallon of solution making one shot developer impractically expensive and inconvenient, and they make temperature control difficult. Sure you can rig up a water bath but it must be big and it takes a while to stabilize a 1/2 gallon tank. You can't make it too deep (which would be more effective) without making the tank too boyant. I suppose you could affix it to the bottom somehow.

Depends a lot on the tank. The tank system I have can do 5-6 sheets in 1 liter of developer, and have a built in water jacket system for temp control.

Oh, and mine are for sale.

[Roger Cole]

Well ok, that's very different. Mine, the only such type I'm familiar with, take 1/2 gallon, hold six hangers, and are made of plastic, rig your own waterbath.

When you say yours have a built in water jacket, do you mean a place for the water or also a temperature controller? Just curious as I've not heard of such a system made commercially.

[Jeff Bannow]

Well ok, that's very different. Mine, the only such type I'm familiar with, take 1/2 gallon, hold six hangers, and are made of plastic, rig your own waterbath.

When you say yours have a built in water jacket, do you mean a place for the water or also a temperature controller? Just curious as I've not heard of such a system made commercially.

Here's a photo:



There are 5 compartments which will each hold 5-6 hangers. All of these fit inside at steel tank that has space for water. You can also insert the heater / probe to keep the water at a specified temp.

[Andrew O'Neill]

Andrew, I don't know if you read some of my requirements, but that the system be more conservative in its use of developer was one of them (I use too much when I use the tanks). How much developer do you use with the tubes? How many 4x5 sheets can you do at once? How many 8x10? Thanks.

For 4x5, you only need 60ml "total" solution. 8x10, 250ml. I always dilution the developer so as you can see, very little stock developer is required.

[DKirk]

One other thing you could try if you come across three or four of them is to use the combi plan tanks as a minature replacement for dip and dunk deep tanks. Or If you go the combiplan route is to stand process in rodinal 1:50 - 1:100. Still figuring out what's best for me - JOBO hands down winner for E6 and C41, jury is out on B&W. Quite interested in trying the XTOL+Rodinal combination (mainly 'cos I have both devs to hand. . . ) or the Rodinal+ascorbate+borax mixtures.

[frotog]

One other thing you could try if you come across three or four of them is to use the combi plan tanks as a minature replacement for dip and dunk deep tanks.

This is the way I like to do it to. Having a separate tank for each bath enables fast, easy movements from one bath to the other. In my experience a lot of processing problems occur due to slow chemistry exchange times - especially with staining developers.

I'm glad people here get great results with the btzs tubes as it's no doubt a good, cheap alternative to the jobo if you're looking to get into rotary processing. And as long as you can keep all six tubes rotating then I suppose you'll end up with even development. But I found it tedius and difficult to monitor the degree of agitation just using one let alone six. And, as I mentioned in an earlier post, unless you have an extra set of hands, each time you pull a tube to unscrew the lid and submerge in stop the remaining tubes with developer are floating in your water bath without any agitation (and, unless you have the tube filled up entirely with chemistry, partially in and partially out of the developer). For my process, this clumsy inter-arrival of sheets is unacceptable. See this link if you haven't watched it already...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMXQO5ATgiY Notice what's happening to the other tubes as Fred removes the first tube from the waterbath and proceeds to submerge it into the stop bath. No thanks.