Recommended B&W Developers for Niitrogen Gas 4X5 Tanks

[Gord Robinson]

I am hoping someone can give me an idea of what developers are good for developing 4x5 sheet film in a Nitrogen Gas Burst set up.
Any suggestions would be a great help.
Gord

[Dugan]

The lab I worked in (1990's) used Tmax RS.
Prior to my tenure there, I think they used HC-110, but I'm not sure of the dilution.

[MultiFormat Shooter]

A lab, that I sometimes use, uses Ilford DD in their dip-and-dunk machine.

[John Layton]

Yessiree...dippin' and drinkin' - works for me! :o

[Michael R]

Basically any developer should work fine, but I guess this will come down to the size of the system and how much film you tend to process. For example if you are doing relatively low throughput and using developers one-shot, the kinds of solution volumes typically involved in gas burst/deep tanks will get pretty expensive. I think alternatively most people would prefer replenishment for this kind of thing. Replenished XTOL would be my choice for a variety of reasons but there are other options.



I am hoping someone can give me an idea of what developers are good for developing 4x5 sheet film in a Nitrogen Gas Burst set up.
Any suggestions would be a great help.
Gord

[Drew Wiley]

The local lab uses replenished Xtol in their dip and dunk machine. But I do all my own b&w processing, and don't have a bit of personal experience with Xtol, so can't comment further.

[j.e.simmons]

Pyrocat HD

[Gord Robinson]

Thanks for all the comments. I tried HC110 a couple of years ago and wasn't happy with the results plus the fact there was no source of a replenisher. I have some old D76 and D76R but it eneded up being to old and the D76 chemistry would not completely dissolve and remained cloudy. I have some old cans of DK50 and replenisher and I might that give that a go or the 5L XTOL which the Camera Store has in stock. The Gas Burst tanks that I have allow processing of 4X5 or 5X7 film but take about 4.5L of chemistry. I have a lot of film and intend to shoot as much of it as I can this year so that is why I am digging the Gas Burst tanks out. I processed 18 sheets of 4X5 yesterday 6 sheets at a time on Kodak Tanks but doing 12 sheets at a time seems like a way of saving a lot of time. I am not familiar with Pyrocat so I hadn't have that developer as an option but I will look into it.

[Drew Wiley]

I wouldn't trust any pyro formula except one-shot, and am not personally aware of any replenishable variety, at least in a consistent sense.

[j.e.simmons]

One shot is how I use Pyrocat.

[bob carnie]

We used D76 or ID11, I still use ID11 when not using PMK

[Jim Noel]

At the college we used D-23 which was replenished after each set of film. The developer was changed only at the beginning of each semester.

[Tin Can]

I have been using only Rodinol 1 shot for nearly a decade

I use 4-Up 4X5 hangers X 4, so 16 is possible

I use compressed air as Rodinol is one shot, 1/100. TF5 Fixer same air, no N2 needed for stop or TF5

Covered tanks, next winter I will be using smaller 5X7 tanks

Here is my very short gas bursting youtube

Calumet Arkay Tanks Gas Burst youtube (https://youtu.be/9DddOzSUeRc)


Thanks for all the comments. I tried HC110 a couple of years ago and wasn't happy with the results plus the fact there was no source of a replenisher. I have some old D76 and D76R but it eneded up being to old and the D76 chemistry would not completely dissolve and remained cloudy. I have some old cans of DK50 and replenisher and I might that give that a go or the 5L XTOL which the Camera Store has in stock. The Gas Burst tanks that I have allow processing of 4X5 or 5X7 film but take about 4.5L of chemistry. I have a lot of film and intend to shoot as much of it as I can this year so that is why I am digging the Gas Burst tanks out. I processed 18 sheets of 4X5 yesterday 6 sheets at a time on Kodak Tanks but doing 12 sheets at a time seems like a way of saving a lot of time. I am not familiar with Pyrocat so I hadn't have that developer as an option but I will look into it.