A $99.95 Jobo alternative or CineSTill spends too much time in the kitchen?

[ghostcount]

Won't agitate for you but would you pay $100 to free up table space for tempering your chemicals?

https://cinestillfilm.com/collections/laboratory-supplies/products/tcs-temperature-control-system-tcs-1000-immersion-circulator-thermostat-for-mixing-chemistry-and-precision-film-processing-at-home


https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0339/5113/products/TCS-1000_1024x1024.jpg?v=1537739660

[Tin Can]

Yes, but I didn't see the voltage/amps required.

[Jason Greenberg Motamedi]

Looks like a modified Sous Vide heater (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07FM38YLV/ref=sspa_dk_detail_3?psc=1&pd_rd_i=B07FM38YLV&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_p=f52e26da-1287-4616-824b-efc564ff75a4&pf_rd_r=R17WATQ8GQZW33QK9XZF&pd_rd_wg=ytOU2&pf_rd_s=desktop-dp-sims&pf_rd_t=40701&pd_rd_w=qBlsz&pf_rd_i=desktop-dp-sims&pd_rd_r=d2260bd5-c332-11e8-a797-fb4807d2b29c)...

[AuditorOne]

Looks like a modified Sous Vide heater (https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07FM38YLV/ref=sspa_dk_detail_3?psc=1&pd_rd_i=B07FM38YLV&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_p=f52e26da-1287-4616-824b-efc564ff75a4&pf_rd_r=R17WATQ8GQZW33QK9XZF&pd_rd_wg=ytOU2&pf_rd_s=desktop-dp-sims&pf_rd_t=40701&pd_rd_w=qBlsz&pf_rd_i=desktop-dp-sims&pd_rd_r=d2260bd5-c332-11e8-a797-fb4807d2b29c)...

It is, with a few modifications to make it more suitable for film developing. I have been tempted to try it out but I don't think it is available for sale yet.

EDIT - My mistake, I guess they are just back ordered until later in October.

[Fred L]

how is this modified for film use ? all it needs to do is heat and maintain temp...

[adelorenzo]

how is this modified for film use ? all it needs to do is heat and maintain temp...

Click on the original link you can read the claimed advantages over a regular kitchen appliance.

[Fred L]

ah thanks. wonder f people are buying these things or not ? I've used Devtec heaters before but they don't go low, which is fine for me.

[ic-racer]

Price is not bad considering some other alternatives. I have the traditional Jobo TBE-2 Tempering bath that holds 12 extra bottles for my CPP-2 processor. They were expensive then and now. Looks like the going ebay price is about $500. BTW the TBE-2 has no motor; convection only.

Of course, even for B&W, heating is the way to go. If you ask my highly biased opinion as a Jobo user since the 1980s "Cooling to 68F" has been on its way out the door since T-max developer was introduced in the early 1980s. Things go in cycles, maybe affordable solid-state cooling will be a thing in a few years and "68F" may come back in style.

For example are any young photographers today really running a continuous stream of 68F tap water while processing B&W like I did in the basement sink and in the college darkroom in all through the 1970s?

[Marky]

For example are any young photographers today really running a continuous stream of 68F tap water while processing B&W like I did in the basement sink and in the college darkroom in all through the 1970s?

Jobo has a procedure to process film at lower than room temperature - Just add a few blocks of ice into the bath and set temp to 20C, if the bath is too cold it will heat to 20C. It's recommended in Jobo CPA instruction manual, but people have to read them!

[MAubrey]

For example are any young photographers today really running a continuous stream of 68F tap water while processing B&W like I did in the basement sink and in the college darkroom in all through the 1970s?
Nah. I do it at 20C!

[ic-racer]

Jobo has a procedure to process film at lower than room temperature - Just add a few blocks of ice into the bath and set temp to 20C, if the bath is too cold it will heat to 20C. It's recommended in Jobo CPA instruction manual, but people have to read them!

You shouldn't put free ice in the bath, it has to go in the bottles. I have done it many times but it does not work so well to go below 68F with that system. You need a constant supply of ice, depending on how many processing runs.

[ic-racer]

Nah. I do it at 20C!


Is that colder or hotter than 68F?

[EdSawyer]

A photo-therm Model 14 bath is better than anything mentioned so far, and at ~$100 used is a far better value. Does circulation and tempering.

[brighamr]

it dose say that it has a motor to circulate upto 20L of chemistry
seems pretty good to me
might use it in my jobo which seems pretty casual regarding maintaining temperatures ...

[Tin Can]

A photo-therm Model 14 bath is better than anything mentioned so far, and at ~$100 used is a far better value. Does circulation and tempering.

Checking eBay they seem a little rare.

I'm game for a new widget.

[MAubrey]

Is that colder or hotter than 68F?

The same.

Just a little joke.

[Tin Can]

The same.

Just a little joke.

Actually almost the same, but not. Maniacs need to consider the coarser metric is less accurate in the human range. (https://www.zmescience.com/other/fahrenheit-vs-celsius-did-the-u-s-get-it-right-after-all/)

[LabRat]

Actually almost the same, but not. Maniacs need to consider the coarser metric is less accurate in the human range. (https://www.zmescience.com/other/fahrenheit-vs-celsius-did-the-u-s-get-it-right-after-all/)

Crazy or not, even 1 deg F is fairly easily detected with experience with chem baths... I handle a lot of chems and spent years doing so, and after measuring temp, I got the feel for them at the range of use...

One tip is that at 68 deg or 20deg C, is solutions feel truly tepid, neither hot nor cold... Even with the plastic bottles I use, if they are truly tepid feeling, they are right for black & white...

I still use a digital thermometer for final and process checking, but it always seems to work by hand also...

Place your palm or top of hand on vessel while measuring temp to get a feel for it... (If room or you is not too hot or cold...)

YMMV...

Steve K

[MAubrey]

Actually almost the same, but not. Maniacs need to consider the coarser metric is less accurate in the human range. (https://www.zmescience.com/other/fahrenheit-vs-celsius-did-the-u-s-get-it-right-after-all/)
The ability to measure as precisely with C as with F is separate from how much they same they are.

Exactly 20 is always exactly 68. The math doesn't change.

(f − 32) °F × 5°C/9°F = (f − 32)/1.8 °C = c °C

The problem of coarseness is easily solved in my experience by decimal points on a good thermometer, just as Steve notes.

Still, I'm glad that a joke got to turn into a session of, "But actually..."

[Tin Can]

Still, don't care for C

and why are EU camera mounts threaded 3/8-16

[wt9s.jay]

I ordered one the day they were announced. Here in the Arizona desert my tap water is 95f or more during the summer. So I’ve been playing mad scientist mixing refrigerated and room temp water. With this thing I’ll just pour refrigerated water into my dishpan and set it for 68. I’ve also just started doing C41 and would like to do E6 as well so it should help with those a lot too.


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[Duolab123]

I think that's pretty neat. I will wait for the rave reviews. If it will keep a water bath 38C and hold it steady would be a perfect match for a small tank. If it goes down to 20 or even 25C ,it wouldn't be hard to put a bit of ice in a plastic bag and float it in the bath for required time. My darkroom rarely gets above 22C in the summer. That is until I crank up my color processor and Ilfospeed dryer. The dryer is 1500 Watts of quartz heating elements

[wt9s.jay]

I received mine a couple days ago and broke it in by heating a water bath for processing a roll of 35mm color negative film. It worked like it was supposed to. The dishpan I was using wasn't really deep enough so I'm on the lookout for a better container.


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[Corran]

What I have wanted to know with the sous-vide and now this, is if the water has a temperature gradient in a larger water bath, between the unit and the other side of the tank. My 3-tank water bath for 4x5 dip-and-dunk processing is fairly large (each tank is 2.5L) and I am worried the first chemicals on one side will be different temperature than the last chemicals on the other. I currently use an Arkay heater/recirculator and I am fine with it, but since I've already had one die on me I am sure my current one won't last forever, so I would be interested in this for the future. It's also smaller and easier to use than the Arkay with its water lines running up from the unit, under my processing area.

[Steven Ruttenberg]

I use the kitchen appliance and it works great. I also chill my water to 68F no problem and use gallon jugs of cooled water I keep in the water bath to rinse. I am looking at getting a large volume chiller and a high end water heater/recirculator (like a high end fish tank heater) My sous-vide keeps my water bath quite even for hours and hours too.

[Steven Ruttenberg]

The only advantage I see is the ability to cool the water down to 32F.

[wt9s.jay]

What I have wanted to know with the sous-vide and now this, is if the water has a temperature gradient in a larger water bath, between the unit and the other side of the tank. My 3-tank water bath for 4x5 dip-and-dunk processing is fairly large (each tank is 2.5L) and I am worried the first chemicals on one side will be different temperature than the last chemicals on the other. I currently use an Arkay heater/recirculator and I am fine with it, but since I've already had one die on me I am sure my current one won't last forever, so I would be interested in this for the future. It's also smaller and easier to use than the Arkay with its water lines running up from the unit, under my processing area.

My bottles of chems were in the refrigerator and the water bath started at about 75f. It took a while for a thermometer in the dev bottle to read 102, but that was no surprise. The thermometer at the other side of the dishpan read a bit above 100.


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[Corran]

Thanks for the report. Do you mind telling me about how big your dishpan was? My dip-and-dunk bath is 14 x 10 inches roughly, and I keep the water level at about 4.5 or 5 inches. It probably holds around 3 or 4 gallons, between the bath water and chemistry. Truthfully, I haven't measured for a gradient myself but with the amount of water circulated by the Arkay I highly doubt there is any (and you can independently position the in/out tubes to get more even circulation). I measure the temp of the first dev / color dev and process based on that temperature, as the water in the tank settles just a little higher than the actual chemistry usually.

[Steven Ruttenberg]

I have checked my container, holds about 10 gallons I think, maybe 8. I set the sous-vide to 104.5 and my 1 gallon water bottles and chemicals all stay at 102 regardless of where in tank. It circulates the water pretty good.

[Corran]

Interesting. It's hard to tell, but the circulation in the video didn't seem that strong.

[wt9s.jay]

My dishpan is just a standard Walmart plastic type about 12x14 I guess. The problem with it is that the sides are not vertical and it needs to be a couple inches deeper so that the gizmo can clip onto the side and be vertical. I used it angled back slightly and kept the water level between the two marks. I can probably find some sort of storage container that will be a better fit.


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[Steven Ruttenberg]

Interesting. It's hard to tell, but the circulation in the video didn't seem that strong.

Mine works pretty good. Water depth is about 4-6 inches

[Steven Ruttenberg]

Probably pricey, but try this, https://www.polyscience.com/products/circulating-baths/heated-circulators/immersion-circulators/open-tanks

[AuditorOne]

Interesting gadget.

I would certainly buy one but I need to use my Jobo for a few more years to make it worth what I originally paid for it.