Developer Needed For Jobo 3005?

[thomasfallon]

I have purchased a Jobo 3005 which develops 5 sheets of 8x10. This is the manual roller version. I believe the tank only needs 270 ml of chemistry, but I think that will exceed the capacity of the developer. I am planning to process Ilford Delta 100. I want to do one shot. I prefer not to store any stock solution since it might not be used for a while. So a priority is buying either a powder developer in envelopes to make only 1 liter or a liquid concentrate developer that will store well for a long time undiluted. I am interested in staying basic for now. Just normal development. And I am going to start with five negatives of a blank sky to test this out and check for any problems.

I did some searching on D76 and opinions seemed to be that each sheet of 8x10 needed 100 ml straight or 200 ml 1:1. Question one, does that sound correct? Question 2, is there a better basic general purpose developer for me to start with? Thanks in advance.

[Ari]

1. Yes, it's a very good starting point.
2. D-76 is great, as is HC-110; others will probably chime in with a favourite all-purpose developer, but it's hard to go wrong with either of those.

I mix 640 mL of developer solution 1:63 HC-110 (dil. H) for a 2553 tank, to process 12 sheets of 4x5; so I'm using 10mL of HC-110 per 12 sheets of film.

[vinny]

5 negative$?
Read up here on problems people have had using jobo drums and avoid making those mistakes. Get a Beseler base. Try one sheet unless you have an unlimited budget.

[Sal Santamaura]

I have purchased a Jobo 3005 which develops 5 sheets of 8x10. This is the manual roller version...

There is no "manual roller version" of the 3005. You can manually roll it, but will need something like a flexible-necked funnel to get liquids in and out while it's horizontal, which is how the cap requires that be done.

...I believe the tank only needs 270 ml of chemistry...

Jobo specifies a minimum of 330 ml, but that is cutting things very close simply on the basis of coverage, especially if your drum is not perfectly level. I typically won't use less than 600ml of working solution in a 3005, even on a well-leveled CPP-2 running at the correct speed for film (approximately 45 rpm).

I am planning to process Ilford Delta 100. I want to do one shot...And I am going to start with five negatives of a blank sky to test this out and check for any problems...

This is not clear to me. Are you planning to process one 8x10 negative at a time or five?

...I did some searching on D76 and opinions seemed to be that each sheet of 8x10 needed 100 ml straight or 200 ml 1:1...does that sound correct?...

No, it's decidedly incorrect. For confident ability to properly process 80 square inches of film, Kodak specifies that 250 ml of D-76 stock solution is required. Diluted 1+1, that equals 500ml of working solution.

...is there a better basic general purpose developer for me to start with?...

There is a general purpose developer that does only require 100 ml of stock solution to develop 80 square inches of film. That developer is XTOL. Whereas with D-76 you'd need 1,250 ml of stock to confidently process five 8x10 sheets (which exceeds the 1,000 ml maximum that rotation motors on Jobo manual processors can handle but will work if you're manually rolling your drum), full strength XTOL can do the job with only 500 ml. It also affords you an opportunity to dilute the stock 1+1 and still need to rotate only 1,000 ml of working solution.

Currently, using a CPP-2 with 3005s, high ambient temperatures -- both air and "cold" water -- have lead me to dilute XTOL 1+3 so developing times are not unmanageably short. Even so, I can process five 5x7 sheets, three 6-1/2 x 8-1/2 sheets or two 8x10 sheets of film without exhausting the developer. Although XTOL is only available in 5-liter packages, it's relatively inexpensive and keeps perfectly (at least six months) when mixed with distilled water, then stored in completely full glass bottles. After mixing, I put the stock into twenty 250 ml bottles. Each of them represents one 3005 "batch" as described above, so there is never any XTOL stock exposed to air in storage. I recommend you give it a try.

[thomasfallon]

Vinny

Was there supposed to be a link? Thanks.

[thomasfallon]

Sal

I meant five sheets at a time using a one shot developer. No point in buying the Jobo tank unless it will do five sheets. One at a time is too slow. I was planning to use a manual roller base that is a Jobo product. Would a Beseler roller be better? Thanks.

[thomasfallon]

Ari

Was also considering HC110 for storage reasons. Thanks.

[Sal Santamaura]

...I was planning to use a manual roller base that is a Jobo product. Would a Beseler roller be better?...

The Jobo manual roller base is fine; using it is even aerobic exercise.

I've no experience with Beseler motorized bases, but the Unicolor equivalents reverse before a 3005 drum makes one complete revolution. Modification of Unirollers is necessary to make them usable. I'd start with the Jobo 1509

http://www.freestylephoto.biz/1509-J...anks-and-Drums

and a funnel like this one

http://www.oreillyauto.com/site/c/de...0027&ppt=C0166.

[thomasfallon]

The Jobo manual roller base is fine; using it is even aerobic exercise.

I was planning to put it on the floor and agitate it with my feet, like rolling logs. I'll be sure to post a video.

Some people are telling me to pour chemistry in with the tank horizontal and some with it vertical. Which is better? Been researching your Xtol suggestion.

[Sal Santamaura]

..Some people are telling me to pour chemistry in with the tank horizontal and some with it vertical. Which is better?...

Not a question of better. The cap is designed to admit chemistry when Expert drums are horizontal on a processor. That's why they only come with cogs. If you try to put liquid in when it's vertical, most will flow out of /over the cap and not go in. It's got to be close to horizontal, tilted no more than a Jobo lift does on a processor when emptying the drum, let's say roughly 35 degrees. That angle's just an estimate from memory; I haven't set up my processor to measure it.