Paring down the trays. Yankee vs Satter-Omegas. Which gets voted off the island?

[John Kasaian]

I've got a lot of developing trays I certainly don't need. In my effort to cut down on stuff I'm going to go through all of them today and measure them so I'll end up with a set of each in the optimum sizes for film & prints---the rest must go---I need to be ruthless!
Very few of my trays I purchased new, most came from other dark rooms being dismantled were either gifted or came in boxes of misc. darkroom stuff (which is how I ended up with three very nice stainless 5x7 trays!) I can recognize some trays as being more desire able than others---Kodak Duraflex and Cescolites, for example, but other sets I really don't know much about (other than they either leak or they don't) and therein lies my question. I have two sets of trays in the same size, one set is Satter-Omega, three heavy white resilient plastics with a texture that's hard to describe---it isn't "slick" like, say the Kodak Duraflexes. The other set of trays are, I think Yankee and multi colored (yellow, white, red & black) made from a hard (possibly brittle?) plastic. The Yankees have flat bottoms while the Satter Omegas have a raised Omega "O" on the bottom. The Yankees I expect would be easier to keep clean being slick plastic, but probably also easier to break if dropped. The Satter Omegas would likely bounce if dropped, but I don't know if the texture of the plastic is an advantage or not. I haven't used either set in a long time but the size does fill a potential role in my darkroom opera if I fire up the enlarger, so I'd like to keep at least one of these sets in my inventory.
So which set to keep?
I could sure use some advice.!
(edited---Yankee not Durans!)

[FrankS]

I reuse unused processing trays to hold camera gear small bits that have accumulated.

[Richard Wasserman]

I am not familiar with these 2 brands, although I dislike colored trays for aesthetic reasons—I have no problem remembering which tray has developer and which one fix. How about trying both sets out to see which YOU prefer?

[mdarnton]

I preferred Yankee trays when I had a darkroom. I liked the different colors (so I could use them for the same chems every session). Prints didn't stick to the bottom. The sharply defined sides slosh less. I never broke one. They stack compactly. They're impossible to clean except with chemical cleaners, which never bothered me. Because the bottom ribs run to the ends, it's easy to get the tongs under (I like bamboo tongs the best--the rubber tips don't scratch anything.) The one place they fall short, and I think the others you describe have the same problem, is that you can't flip them over and use the bottom when you need a smooth wet place, but for developing, I don't like the flat bottom ones. I'd keep four 11x14 Yankees and four of the biggest Kokak or Cesco (hoping here for 20x24 :-) if I were chucking things. And a big restaurant bus tray.

[John Kasaian]

I am not familiar with these 2 brands, although I dislike colored trays for aesthetic reasons—I have no problem remembering which tray has developer and which one fix. How about trying both sets out to see which YOU prefer?
Good advice!
I'm home with whatever crud is going around and using my vertical time sorting through the photo stuff.
I'm out of chemicals until I can get to the store, so no dark room work at least for awhile.
Both sets of trays will work well enough IIRC, I just don't need to keep and store so many redundant sets of trays (I already found a home for one set and it's g-o-n-e)
Right now it's Yankee vs. Satter Omega. If someone can sway me on which set to keep, that would be fine, if not I'll just take my prescription and power-nap some more.
FrankS's suggestion for storage is a good one, but these trays are too large for that.

[John Kasaian]

I preferred Yankee trays when I had a darkroom. I liked the different colors (so I could use them for the same chems every session). Prints didn't stick to the bottom. The sharply defined sides slosh less. I never broke one. They stack compactly. They're impossible to clean except with chemical cleaners, which never bothered me. Because the bottom ribs run to the ends, it's easy to get the tongs under (I like bamboo tongs the best--the rubber tips don't scratch anything.) The one place they fall short, and I think the others you describe have the same problem, is that you can't flip them over and use the bottom when you need a smooth wet place, but for developing, I don't like the flat bottom ones. I'd keep four 11x14 Yankees and four of the biggest Kokak or Cesco (hoping here for 20x24 :-) if I were chucking things. And a big restaurant bus tray.

Thanks!

[Steve Goldstein]

Does one type of tray flex more than the other? Depending on your darkroom setup, trays that flex could be your enemy as you're much more likely to have spills when you move them or pour chems back into bottles. If you have the luxury of working in a sink this is a non-issue, but in my sinkless no-running-water darkroom it's a big consideration. I sold off a bunch of Yankee 11x14 plastic trays some time back for this very reason. It was too bad, I did like the colors as Michael mentioned, but the occasional small floods got old.

[Drew Wiley]

Gosh.... Can't use them in the garden or greenhouse or something like that? I thought one could never have too many trays. I've got a whole stack or huge 316
stainless ones sitting on a loft that came with some horse trade long ago. Make porch steps out of them. Temporary swimming pools or bird baths to get around
drought regulations there ??

[cowanw]

Non flex over flex; flat bottom over raised: whichever nests better with the rest of your set.

[John Kasaian]

Gosh.... Can't use them in the garden or greenhouse or something like that? I thought one could never have too many trays. I've got a whole stack or huge 316
stainless ones sitting on a loft that came with some horse trade long ago. Make porch steps out of them. Temporary swimming pools or bird baths to get around
drought regulations there ??
I thought they'd be better off serving another photographer, albeit a tray challenged one.

[John Kasaian]

I've gotten most of my developing trays sorted anyway. I'm down to 6 sets of trays & calling it good:
For 16x20 prints and Banquet camera film & contacts---20x24 Premiers
For 8x10 sheet film---Kodak Duraflex, slightly larger than 11x14. These have a flat bottom and are that ultra-spiffy Kodak Yellow.
For contact prints & enlargements---Cesco "dimples", 11x14.
For 5x7 sheet film---8x10 of unknown ancestory, dysentery green in color,they came that way new when I bought 'em in 1970.
For contact prints---8x10 Pattersons
For everything 4x5---a set of heavy 5x7 stainless steel.
The rest have either gone to a good home or will be on their way shortly.

[John Kasaian]

One set of trays embarked on a 2nd career as paint trays in an art teacher's class room.