Washing film in Jobo Expert drums?

[Oren Grad]

This is tangential to discussion of the CL81, but just to be clear: standard procedure for Jobo Expert drums is to complete the wash in the drum, as the final processing step. This is per Jobo instructions, and has been my own practice for the more than 15 years that I have been using a CPA-2. Not only does it wash the film, but it rinses the Lift and the drum as well. The only step that need occur after the film is removed is a final dunk in a wetting agent, which is easily done in a tray.

[Sal Santamaura]

This is tangential to discussion of the CL81, but just to be clear: standard procedure for Jobo Expert drums is to complete the wash in the drum, as the final processing step. This is per Jobo instructions, and has been my own practice for the more than 15 years that I have been using a CPA-2. Not only does it wash the film, but it rinses the Lift and the drum as well. The only step that need occur after the film is removed is a final dunk in a wetting agent, which is easily done in a tray.Jobo processor instructions read as follows:


"...The final rinse of a process should have at least the first three cycles of rinsing done with the JOBO Lift, even if you are planning to finish the rinse off the processor. This action rinses the JOBO Lift and leaves it prepared for the next process run..."

After those three water rinses in an Expert drum on a CPP2, I remove my film and place it in an Inglis film washer to complete the process. Jobo's procedure is primarily intended to rinse out the Lift. It might remove fixer from film to so-called "commercial" standards, but, in my opinion, shouldn't be relied on if extremely long negative life is a goal.

The only way one can be sure that a particular film washing regime meets one's needs is to perform a residual hypo test at the end. I suggest taking that approach if water is in short supply or, if it's abundant, making ample use of a dedicated film washer to ensure thorough washing.

[Oren Grad]

I've made this a separate thread because it really is its own topic.

My wash cycle for sheet film in Jobo Expert drums is actually six changes of water over a total of 12 minutes, after a non-hardening rapid fixer. FWIW, my earliest negatives processed using this procedure are now approaching 20 years old and are still in pristine condition. A residual hypo test like the commonly-used HT-2 can certainly be helpful if there are any doubts about basic adequacy of the wash, though I'm not sure it's sensitive enough if one is determined to verify near-zero residual thiosulfate.

[Bruce Watson]

This is tangential to discussion of the CL81, but just to be clear: standard procedure for Jobo Expert drums is to complete the wash in the drum, as the final processing step. This is per Jobo instructions, and has been my own practice for the more than 15 years that I have been using a CPA-2. Not only does it wash the film, but it rinses the Lift and the drum as well. The only step that need occur after the film is removed is a final dunk in a wetting agent, which is easily done in a tray.

Yes. When I use my Jobo, I always wash in the drum. I actually took the unusual step of testing my film for residual hypo to see how it was doing. I found four water changes, 1, 1, 2, and 4 minutes, was all that was needed to clear all the hypo off the film. This is similar to the Ilford wash method.

Interestingly, with TMY-2, it takes a fifth wash, for 8 minutes, to get most of the remaining purple dye. This has nothing to do with residual hypo, this is strictly Kodak's sensitizing dye. You'd think after development, stop, fixing, and all that washing, you'd finally get that dye out. But it's very persistent.

[Erik Larsen]

I wash in the drum as well. Seems like a lot of wasted water using a film washer.

[cluttered]

Same here; washing in the expert drum. I then move the negatives into a Combi Plan to do the wetting agent (Photo Flo), although maybe I should get rid of the Combi Plan entirely and just float the negs in trays with wetting agent.

[Peter De Smidt]

I wash the film in the drum as well. Since I use a developer with sulfite in it, I use the spent developer as a washing aid after fixing, a trick I learned from Ryuji Suzuki.

[Duolab123]

I rinse first 3 times using a jobo lift with the 2500 series drum, to rinse the lift then I pop out the reels and put them in the washer. Doesn't use that much water, I've got mixing valves so temp is not a problem. I'm such a dinosaur I still use hypo clear ��. I just get bored standing there for an extra 5 minutes and I've seen a lot of folks wash on hangers. I'm sure 10 x 30 second rinses are more than adequate.
One thing I will say for the hypo clear is it really helps get the darn purple out, Peace!

[Duolab123]

I rinse first 3 times using a jobo lift with the 2500 series drum, to rinse the lift then I pop out the reels and put them in the washer. Doesn't use that much water, I've got mixing valves so temp is not a problem. I'm such a dinosaur I still use hypo clear ��. I just get bored standing there for an extra 5 minutes and I've seen a lot of folks wash on hangers. I'm sure 10 x 30 second rinses are more than adequate.
One thing I will say for the hypo clear is it really helps get the darn purple out, Peace!

I should say that I only wash for 5 minutes following the hypo clear, and when I wash on the lift after hypo clear I do 10 30 second rinses

[AuditorOne]

A small pinch of Sodium Sulfite in one of your wash cycles takes the dye right off TMY400 and TMX100. No need to rinse for hours to get rid of it. I do 1, 1, 2 and 4 minutes rinse on my Jobo tanks. Seems to work quite well. I add a pinch of sodium sulfite to the first rinse to clear the dye.

[Lachlan 717]

I have the six 1ltr bottles filled and up to temp once fixing is done. I run 12 rinses (i.e. 500ml from each bottle x 2*). The first few are pretty quick. Maybe 30 seconds. This is to take as much as the residual chemical out as soon as possible. I then slow the rinse times down to about a minute each.

Once out of the drum, I hand the negs up and use an atomising spray to cover the negs with a Photoflood solution.

*1ltr cycles for ULF sheets.

[Duolab123]

I have the six 1ltr bottles filled and up to temp once fixing is done. I run 12 rinses (i.e. 500ml from each bottle x 2*). The first few are pretty quick. Maybe 30 seconds. This is to take as much as the residual chemical out as soon as possible. I then slow the rinse times down to about a minute each.

Once out of the drum, I hand the negs up and use an atomising spray to cover the negs with a Photoflood solution.

*1ltr cycles for ULF sheets.

Sounds about as perfect a wash sequence as possible. My film washer has a syphon that dumps and refills, but I'm sure I use 10 times the water you are using.

[bob carnie]

I wash off Jobo so I can keep on processing , I usually try to do minimum 3 runs at a time .

[Vaughn]

I wash out of the drum (after a couple of rinses in the drum) - I take out the negs and put them in hangers. 1) so that I can get the next set of sheets processing, and 2) so I can see the negatives faster!

[richardman]

Am I the only person who runs a couple rinse cycles on the Jobo, and then just put the drums under the faucet for 5+ minutes?

[Vaughn]

Yes. ;)
One needs to be careful how much water pressure one squirts into the drum -- too much can dislodge the negative(s) and they can scratch themselves.