Best easy to use tank for developing 4x5 sheets

[Cupcake]

Hi ,i have a Jobo 2521 tank and i have hard time loading the film shits in to the reel and wanted to know if there is other alternative tanks that are easy to use and load the film in it.

[vdonovan]

There are many discussions on this topic. I've used several different developing solutions for 4x5. I find the SP-445 by far the easiest to load and use, and gives excellent results.
https://shop.stearmanpress.com/products/sp-445-compact-4x5-film-processing-system

[Randy]

i have hard time loading the film shits...I have gotten frustrated many times while loading film - but it's never the films fault - so please refrain from the derogatory name calling :)

[Serge S]

I use Jobo 3010 tank, expensive but works great!

[locutus]

Everyone is different, personally i find my MOD54 to be super easy to load.

[esearing]

SP 445 for up to 4 sheets (My favorite). The FR or Patterson square tanks hold up to 12 sheets but can not be inverted and are a bit messy. Or look into BTZS tubes or DIY tubes for one sheet at a time. Then there are sheet hangers which will work with any appropriately sized container in the dark, sometimes you can find a tank that held the hangers covered. Tray processing stacked or slosher tray insert in the dark too.

[Alan9940]

The SP-445 is a nice tank that's relatively inexpensive and works great; although you're limited to 4 sheets. Don't know if the B&W King tank is still available, but it holds 10 sheets (IIRC) and works like any smaller format tank using twirling or inversion.

[ben_hutcherson]

I'm a happy user of the SP-445.

As said, it's easy to load and it can be inverted or otherwise agitated like a roll film tank. It's comparable in price to the Patterson tank, which I bought and returned because I found it a nightmare to load.

[Rich14]

I use Paterson Super System 4 tanks which normally take two 35mm or 120 reels. I use the "taco method" in which one folds a sheet of 4x5 into a tube along the short axis, emulsion in, and secures it with an elastic band, leaving the two edges almost touching. It them resembles a taco shell. Google "taco method" for a multitude of sites explaining the process. Four 4x5 sheets will fit in a tank which takes 800 ml of solution to completely cover. The tanks are available new for about $30 or come up on eBay for $10-15.

One is advised to use a rubber band or an elastic band intended for securing hair into a pony tail, or other such bands. I was never successful with using bands, as they always left a line of undissolved film backing anti-halation or other coating. I was never able to subsequently wash the "stain" off the back of the film with extended fixing or washing or any other treatment. Also, rubber bands frequently work their way off the film in the tank resulting in films overlapping with disastrous results.

I then found a thread that described using a sleeve made out of nylon window screen material. The author claimed that his film came out completely free of rubber band marks and evenly processed. So I went to Home Depot, got a roll of screening material, dug our seldom-used sewing machine out of the closet and whipped up a batch of 16 sleeves. Took me about 20 minutes. The material was very easy to sew using ordinary white sewing thread.

I've been using them ever since. They work great. No undissolved film backing. The film develops absolutely evenly. I load the film into the sleeves in the dark. The sleeves very nicely control the folded film. Four loaded sleeves perfectly fit in the tanks. Once the inner funnel is snapped in place, the tank is light-proof and fool-proof. The tank can be loaded and drained of 800ml in a few seconds. Fastest filling/emptying tank I've ever used. Washing is very thorough as water enters through the center to the bottom of the tank and flows out the top around the periphery. Everything is done with lights on. Nothing ever works loose. I process and wash to completion before slipping the film from the sleeves for drying.

http://orig11.deviantart.net/86a5/f/2017/160/1/1/sleeves_by_rich14-dbc3mnr.jpg

[Pete Oakley]

Patterson Orbital trays with the electric motor are Gods gift!

[Cupcake]

Thanks everyone for input,very helpful answers !

[Rayt]

I use the MOD54 and after lots of practice and error finally got the hang of it and am now able to load 6 sheets without problems. Just when things are going well the SP-445 comes out and I couldn't help it and bought two. I also have the Paterson Orbital but I use that for 5x7 and 8x10 but I can imagine 4 sheets of 4x5 would be insanely easy.

[Charlie Strack]

Jobo used to make a loading device for these reels, and I found it easy to use. I think it is discontinued. See: http://www.catlabs.info/product/jobo-2508-4x5-sheet-film-loader-for-2509-reels

You might find one used, and it will help quite a bit if you don't already have one. If you have one, it's a matter of making sure the reel is in position such that you fill the reel in order that subsequent sheets are subsequent clicks of the loader. You need to apply slight downward pressure on the reel while turning it during loading.

I use the Jobo with inversion agitation, with an empty reel above the loaded one, in a dual-reel tank. Otherwise it's too heavy for inversion for me.

[David Schaller]

Jobo used to make a loading device for these reels, and I found it easy to use. I think it is discontinued. See: http://www.catlabs.info/product/jobo-2508-4x5-sheet-film-loader-for-2509-reels

You might find one used, and it will help quite a bit if you don't already have one. If you have one, it's a matter of making sure the reel is in position such that you fill the reel in order that subsequent sheets are subsequent clicks of the loader. You need to apply slight downward pressure on the reel while turning it during loading.

I use the Jobo with inversion agitation, with an empty reel above the loaded one, in a dual-reel tank. Otherwise it's too heavy for inversion for me.
I also just do the Jobo with inversion. The guide to load the reels makes it pretty easy, so if you don't have one, I think it's worth finding. As with everything, a little practice is necessary.

[Peter Collins]

Another very happy SP-445 user.

[redrockcoulee]

Patterson Orbital trays with the electric motor are Gods gift!

Do you not find too much agitation with it? I was given one and have only used it for 5x7 and whole plate xray film manually agitating it.

[Pete Oakley]

redrockcoulee, I use mine for 4x5,5x7 and 8x10 and I've never had a problem. I use mainly Foma film. I have about 4 or 5 trays so I can pre load quite a lot of 4x5. It's a great system.
Pete

[tgtaylor]

Hi ,i have a Jobo 2521 tank and i have hard time loading the film shits in to the reel...

http://www.largeformatphotography.info/forum/showthread.php?124536-How-to-Load-the-Jobo-2509N-Reel&highlight=loading+Jobo+2521

Practice in the light and then in the dark (close your eyes) with a trash negative and you will quickly get the idea. Once you have it down loading the reel is straight forwarded. The 2521 is very useful for processing up to 6 sheets of B&W (I mostly use it when I have more than 10 sheets to develop),and C-41 - which require a greater volume of chemistry. If you use photo-flo, start with a new reel and apply the photo-flo off the reel (I use a plastic file box). Over time the photo-flo will build-up on one the reel ridges and leave a section of low density on the negative if processing by the hand inversion method. If that happens switch to machine rotation and the problem will disappear.

Thomas

[tgtaylor]

A quick addendum to the above post:

One of the reasons that a sheet will slip out of its slot is that if it not inserted perfectly straight an edge can catch on one side of the reel and cause the sheet to pop out of place. You can prevent this by grasping both sides of the reel with 2 fingers at the point where you can feel the edge of the film keeping the sheet on track.

Thomas

[Tim Meisburger]

redrockcoulee, I use mine for 4x5,5x7 and 8x10 and I've never had a problem. I use mainly Foma film. I have about 4 or 5 trays so I can pre load quite a lot of 4x5. It's a great system.
Pete

I also use this system, with the motor drive. I have an SP-445, but it takes more chemical and more watching, as it requires manual agitation. With continous agitation you must reduce developing times (Freestyle recommends 15% for Foma). If you overfill an orbital you can get uneven development from swirl caused by developer hitting the fins on the top of the try, and some people avoid that by cutting off the fins. Ilford films need more developer than Shanghai (I don't know why), but you still are only talking about 200ml for four sheets.

[Kirk Gittings]

BTZS tubes here. After years of developing 4x5 negs in trays, I tried these and never looked back. Super even development, capability of different times in the same batch, daylight developing, easy-foolproof loading, minimal chemistry. etc.

[Kleiny41]

Hi Rich,
I admit in advance that I make many errors. I first bought aluminum window screen (didn't thoroughly read this post) and the didn't test the sleeves because the metal edges were clearly going to scratch the film. I re-read your post and ordered a roll of nylon window screen. The screen I got has little tension, and the test sheets I developed did have some screen impression left on the negatives. Would you happen to have any idea what brand of screen you purchased from Home Depot?

[cp_photo]

I am another happy SP445 user. Having never developed film before, I found it easy to load and use. Now that I have the process down I am using it regularly.
That said I have also checked out the "B&W King" stainless tanks (4x5 and 5x7) and they look like a good option too.

[ericantonio]

I was lucky enough to try a bunch of different things cause I've processed for a living. I've done them in hangers and basket for a while and smaller runs in trays. Then we got a new-fangled machine called a Jobo. I thought they were great, we had to change times a little bit cause they spun around constant so agitation was all the time. Then later on in life, I had to have darkroom with no room for a processor and I've tried btzs tubes, nikor tank, and the square Yankee thing.

Hands down, for me, for doing consistent, and this is going to be different for you and how you work and what your comfort level is as well as the size of your workspace, for me is doing 4x5's trays. That's just me. I think it's super easy, less equipment, just a lot of less stuff.

But you may find yourself pretty good at one or more of the other products. You'll have to try it out.

EDIT:
Since you title was "best to use tank", I think the best I have used is the Jobo. Next after that was BTZS tubes, but I overfilled them more than the cap amount cause I'm paranoid. Heck you only have 1 shot at a good neg, not need to skimp on a few oz of developer. Then after that, I think I like the Yankee. I've only used the Nikor once or twice.

[Bruce Watson]

BTZS tubes here. After years of developing 4x5 negs in trays, I tried these and never looked back. Super even development, capability of different times in the same batch, daylight developing, easy-foolproof loading, minimal chemistry. etc.

I tried and ignobly failed at BTZS tubes. I tried all kinds of things but was never able to maintain consistency from batch to batch. Some negs would be stellar, some the uneven development you could see across the room while the negs were hanging to dry.

I finally gave up and went Jobo. Thousands of perfectly developed sheets with a 3010 tank. Talk about perfectly even skies. Worked beyond perfectly well for me.

But really, one should use whatever works. If one can establish a comfortable and reliable workflow, one can quit worrying about that and put more effort into the art. And for me at least that's what it's all about, and that's what I did.

[Kinografx]

I'm gonna throw in for the taco too- I use black hair bands and fit 4 sheets in a stainless tank made for 2-120 reels (or 4 35mm reels) but halfway through the fix i pull each sheet and roll the band a skootch either direction,then once again during the wash, and I've never had a problem with marks. I would love to try the sp445 but i think it wouldnt work with stand developing in hc-110 (too little syrup in dil/G for 4 sheets)

[Kirk Gittings]

I can't imagine how you could get uneven development with BTZS tubes. To me they are pretty foolproof. I wonder if you ever saw Fred's demo video? It's on youtube these days. Did you differ much from his MO? I do differ from it but not because of uneven development.

I tried and ignobly failed at BTZS tubes. I tried all kinds of things but was never able to maintain consistency from batch to batch. Some negs would be stellar, some the uneven development you could see across the room while the negs were hanging to dry.

I finally gave up and went Jobo. Thousands of perfectly developed sheets with a 3010 tank. Talk about perfectly even skies. Worked beyond perfectly well for me.

But really, one should use whatever works. If one can establish a comfortable and reliable workflow, one can quit worrying about that and put more effort into the art. And for me at least that's what it's all about, and that's what I did.

Easier to just increase the concentration. Overfilling the caps can cause other problems.

Next after that was BTZS tubes, but I overfilled them more than the cap amount cause I'm paranoid. Heck you only have 1 shot at a good neg, not need to skimp on a few oz of developer.

[Bruce Watson]

I can't imagine how you could get uneven development with BTZS tubes. To me they are pretty foolproof.

I wish I had saved some of my failures. They would have made you laugh for sure. Some fools (like me) are ingenious. But really, I'm just a klutz. But the answer might well be that I just never had anyone show me "how it was done" even though I did actually read the instructions. So who is this "Fred"?

Doesn't matter, we all have to find what works for us. For me that was a Jobo CPP2 and a 3010 tank.

[1erCru]

The SP 445 is great. Haven't had many processing mistakes and all of them weren't related to the tank. As far as it being the best , I couldt say as it is my first tank and I scan, so outright consistency and perfection isn't something I'm sensitive to.

[AtlantaTerry]

I use a Combi-Plan for small batches of 4x5" film and for larger batches, I use Kodak #4A stainless steel racks in plastic tubs that I (finally) found at a Dollar Tree store. Both work well for me.

[SMBooth]

I still like the simple Unicolor drum which takes 4 sheets

[Armin Seeholzer]

Combiplan is for me the easiest!

[Martin Aislabie]

I'm a happy MOD54 user - really easy to use and use it in daylight without problems.

I used to use a Combiplan which gave great results but I needed a dark darkroom to use it and got fed up with film processing through untill the small hours of the night.

Martin

[Leigh]

I use the "taco method" in which one folds a sheet of 4x5 into a tube along the short axis, emulsion in, and secures it with an elastic band, leaving the two edges almost touching.So how do you clear the anti-halation coating from the back of the film under the rubber band?

- Leigh

[Duolab123]

I use toy IR googles. Has IR LED illumination built in.DOESN'T HURT COLOR OR BLACK AND WHITE FILM. I have Every Jobo Expert drum 3005, 3006, 3010. I also have the 2509n reels. The reels are impossible for me to load without the goggles.
I've been using these goggles for about 4 years now. I love them. Takes A BIT OF GETTING USED TO THE GOOGLES. I bungee strap them to my head, you can see perfectly but very narrow angle of view, shallow depth of field, focusing is no problem, and because only one camera in goggles, no stereo vision, i.e. no depth perception.
Having said that I can load a 2509n reel in 3 to 4 minutes, ZERO failure rate. I like washing the film on the reel. Still the Expert tanks are a Godsend if you have the resources.
My goggles are SpyNet night vision goggles made by Jakks Pacific. Cost is 50 to 60 USD.
Best Regards Mike