BTZS Tubes in daylight

[Fermat]

Hi all,
I am evaluating the BTZS tubes to be used to develop 4x5".
As far as I know the film is still very sensitive to light along the whole process.
The instructions for the tubes state that you can unscrew the tap at the end of the development and immerse the tube in the stop. At the end you remove the film from the tube and put in the fixer.

Anyone has some experience with this system?
No issue with lights moving from development to stop and then to fixer?

Thanks


Mario

[Payral]

Give it a try, it's very easy to know.

[cuypers1807]

I use a very dim light to move the tubes to the stop and have had no problems.

[Fermat]

It means you do not know or are you encouraging to try?

Mario

[Oren Grad]

In his book "Beyond the Zone System", Phil Davis says it as follows (emphasis added):

"About 5 seconds before each time expires, remove a tube from the water bath, and holding it over the sink drain or the waste container, quickly remove the cap, dump the developer, and plunge the tube into the acid stop bath tray. Roll it for a few seconds with one hand, using the other to continue agitating the remaining tubes in the water bath. If this operation is carried out in dim light and completed within a few seconds, there is virtually no danger of fogging the films." (In the third edition which I have, this is on page 79, figure 6-9j.)

Yes, I have actually done this successfully, both in Phil's darkroom during a visit and in my own.

[Richard Wasserman]

In his book "Beyond the Zone System", Phil Davis says it as follows (emphasis added):

"About 5 seconds before each time expires, remove a tube from the water bath, and holding it over the sink drain or the waste container, quickly remove the cap, dump the developer, and plunge the tube into the acid stop bath tray. Roll it for a few seconds with one hand, using the other to continue agitating the remaining tubes in the water bath. If this operation is carried out in dim light and completed within a few seconds, there is virtually no danger of fogging the films." (In the third edition which I have, this is on page 79, figure 6-9j.)

Yes, I have actually done this successfully, both in Phil's darkroom during a visit and in my own.


Works just fine. It's a bit scary at first, but I have never had a problem.

[Kiwi7475]

I can confirm. Dim light and expeditious operation = no issues.

Disclaimer: I’ve only tried with up to iso 125 film, not 400 or higher though.

And get everything ready. Don’t open it and realize “oh shoot I didn’t mix the fixer”. Not that that’s ever happened to me ;-)

[Michael R]

Developer/development has a mild desensitizing effect, which means you should be ok moving quickly from developer to stop bath in dim, indirect light. This will depend on the film, the amount of light etc. Generally, people who use tubes in this way don't seem to have/report, or notice fogging issues. If it were me, I would do it in the dark, but that's just me.

Once development has been stopped and developer neutralized in the stop bath, the risk of fogging is significantly lower (unless you use an alkaline fixer) but I would still keep the lights dim (or off).


Hi all,
I am evaluating the BTZS tubes to be used to develop 4x5".
As far as I know the film is still very sensitive to light along the whole process.
The instructions for the tubes state that you can unscrew the tap at the end of the development and immerse the tube in the stop. At the end you remove the film from the tube and put in the fixer.

Anyone has some experience with this system?
No issue with lights moving from development to stop and then to fixer?

Thanks


Mario

[Richard Wasserman]

I transfer the film to metal hangers for fixing and washing in the same dim light. it's always been fine. I'm using FP4

[Oren Grad]

I've since moved on to a Jobo, but during my early LF days when I was using BTZS tubes, I just ran the whole process through fixing under my safelight - not because of the spectral filtering, which didn't help for panchromatic film, but simply because it was a ready-made source of controlled, consistent dim light.

[Alan9940]

I've only ever used the 8x10 tubes and, like others, I've always moved to stop and fix in dim light without any issues. In the fix, I'll roll the tube back-n-forth for about a minute, then removing the film to complete the fixing in the tray. I've done this with 100 - 400 speed film.

[jim_jm]

I've never had any problems with this step. I remove the cap keeping the open end pointed downward away from the one dim safelight that is on, then place in the stop bath tray still keeping the open end away from the safelight.
I usually remove the sheet to place it in the fixer tray, or to insert it in film hangers & tank if fixing more than a few sheets at a time. I turn on the regular safelights after it's been in the fixer for a few minutes.
TMax100, 400, Tri-X, Ilford Delta and HP5 have all been processed this way without any issues.

[Fermat]

Thanks everyone to share the experience. Very helpful.
I think I will get the set of tubes.
Ciao

Mario

[CreationBear]

Very useful discussion, gents--may I assume that most of you still use a film changing tent of some sort for getting the tubes mated with the section holding the developer? FWIW, I've got a Harrison standard sized tent, so I suspect that processing more than one 8x10 tube at a time might be a little cluttered.

[Roger Thoms]

Very useful discussion, gents--may I assume that most of you still use a film changing tent of some sort for getting the tubes mated with the section holding the developer? FWIW, I've got a Harrison standard sized tent, so I suspect that processing more than one 8x10 tube at a time might be a little cluttered.

I suppose you could do it in a tent but I certainly wouldn’t want to. What I did was put a small table approximately 20 inches square in a closet with a sheet of black out fabric covering the door. This is where I load the tubes and transfer the caps with developer. This is also where I load and unload film holders. My point being that while I have a film changing tent I use my blacked out closet most of the time and save the tent for when I’m in the field.

Roger

[CreationBear]

I suppose you could do it in a tent but I certainly wouldn’t want to.

Thanks, that sounds like a nice solution--I wasn't considering the utility of having a light-tight space that wasn't a full-fledged darkroom.

[Bill Burk]

It took about 10 minutes to get the image density built-up by normal developing... how much additional do you think happens in a few seconds? Not enough to measure.

Alkaline fixer is the bugbear... because development continues a bit longer in the fix.

If you use acid fix, then the fog exposure gets almost no time to develop to silver.