If you had to start new...

[Scott Knowles]

The local custom lab that processes b&w and transparency films has announced they're not processing b&w and will stop transparency film later this year when they move. That leaves two choice, 2 Seattle labs, one-plus hour drive on a good day, and at home. The last time I processed film was about 30 years ago (35mm) and still have the equipment (daylight tank, one half E-3 kit - and still have 400+ feet of Ektachrome-X (64) film too). Anyone know a source of E-3 chemicals?

Get on with the question! Ok. If you had to start new processing b&w sheet film, what would you recommend? I don't particularly like the tray idea but I have a second, windowless bath that would work for a darkroom. I'm open to suggestions and plan a trip to Seattle (Glazer's) to get the prices on things, so a checklist would be cool. And yes, I'm researching photo.net and books too.

And yes Frank, I've taken some shots already with the Horseman to learn processing if that's the reality, realizing the advantages of that for variability of exposure, developement and testing, but it's also why I quit darkroom work 30+ years ago too.

[John Kasaian]

A Unicolor processor is what I've been using for B&W. Costs anywhere between $30-60 on ebay and can handle 4x5, 8x10, 11x14 & 12x20 formats depending on the paper drum (use the paper, not film drum for sheet film) Check out Graywolf's article via the Large Format homepage. If I had the bucks, I'd get a Jobo but really, the Unicolor does everything I need , take up less space and uses less chemicals to boot.

[MIke Sherck]

Well, tray processing certainly has the virtue of being easy and inexpensive! There is some skill involved but it isn't rocket science and practice will take care of most of the learning curve.

I've been processing in trays for... um... ten? years now. More or less. I've seen and used tubes in rollers and Jobo and never felt the urge to "upgrade" to another process. Some folks wax poetic about not having to work in the dark; just ask my wife, I've been in the dark for almost 30 years at least! Besides, my other hobby is astronomy: if I were afraid of the dark I'd know it by now. If I had to do it over, I'd do the same thing.

Trays. It's how film is processed! :)

Mike

[Ted Harris]

Scott, depends on how much film you process and much you like it. I consider processing pure drudgery but since I frequently have a lot of film to process and no B&W, no C41 and only one E6 lab nearby I do my own in a JOBO ATL 2300 which is easy and painless but not cost effective if your clients aren't paying the freight or you find oen real cheap. Other options are a less expensive, less automated Jobo unit or Phototherm or Wing Lynch (both of which often show up on the used market for ony a few pennies on the dollar. Next, I would consider the HP Marketing Combiplan, a neat daylight device (some love 'em and others hate'em). Others will have other recommendations but mine are the "I hate to process film" suggestions.

[Nick_3536]

What format? Or should that be formats?

4x5 and smaller a Jobo 2500 type tank. Volume would decide tank size. Only B&W so you could live without the processor. A unicolor motorbase will spin the 2551 or bigger. Reels to match.

If you want the processor then a smaller tank could be used.

Larger formats. Jobo 2800 type print drums. Spin them like above.

If you buy used both choices aren't that bad. New the processor is the main pain.

[Ben Hopson]

For black and white I use a JOBO CPP2 processor, the 3010 and 3005 expert series drums for 4X5 and 8X10 and the 2500 series for med format. For color transpariences I send the film out for processing. Calypso Imaging is one source that is very inexpensive and does a good job.

Good luck from down the road in Olalla,

Ben

[Ron Marshall]

I hand roll a Jobo Expert drum on the $20 Jobo roller base. The tanks are simple to load, use a small volume of chemicals, and development is consistent and easy. It is simple to hand roll. I have seen them for about $150 on ebay.

[d.s.]

scott,

I use a Unicolor Uniroller, model 352. (autoreversing). With an 8x10 paper drum which works perfect for 4x5. One to four sheets at a time. Total cost maybe 40.00 online auction. It's reliable, It does the same thing the same way every time. I like it.

dee

[Ed K.]

2 cents -

Thumbs up for the Jobo stuff, but didn't they announce that they stopped making Jobo analog completely now? There are other rotary processors, and fortunately still some stock of Jobo around. If you want Jobo, you'd best hurry up. (someone correct me if I'm wrong)

Personally, I found the Jobo roller base to be a real pain. Filling with a transmission funnel, vigorously rolling for 7-12 minutes - a royal pain in fact, but that's using the 3000 series "Expert" drums for 4x5 and 8x10. If you plan to do more than a few sheets a year with a Jobo, by all means just spend the money on some kind of motorized base. Also, if it's cold in your neck of the woods ( or hot for that matter ), the water bath with heater in the Jobo processor is a very welcome thing - you can cool with ice, or heat up. Good, consistent results are easy to get.

For color - I confess, if I had to start new, with no local labs, I'd be considering a couple of those expensive digital backs for an alternative to 4x5 and under, because the shipping costs and delays for processing E6 out of town would be tough to live with. With film and scanning costs, I'm already considering going all digital in place of 4x5. Medium format, well, my stuff is collecting more dust than images lately. It's not just the costs, it's the time both in hours spent and calendar time to completed work. 8x10 still seems worth it though.

For B&W, nothing ever seems to beat doing it yourself, so maybe the closing of the lab is good in that sense.

PS - Ted - I too hate to process film these days. It seems like all the prestige of being a laundry machine operator, and possibly less pay per hour to do it. If one values one's own time at over a couple bucks an hour, the lab is a great deal.

[Oren Grad]

If you can afford it, a Jobo. I've been using a CPA-2 with 3000-series Expert drums for almost ten years now, and I'm really happy with it.

[Brian Ellis]

I used trays to process 8x10 for quite a while. I didn't mind standing in the dark but I did mind standing in the dark inhaling chemical fumes as I shuffled the film. The two choices IMHO are Jobo or BTZS tubes. I prefer the tubes because they cost less and I can do N, plus, and minus times in the same run. You do everything in daylight once the tubes are loaded. I've used a mechanized Jobo system in workshops and it was very nice. It had an advantage over the tubes in that 10 sheets could be processed in the same run. That's probably possible with tubes but I've always processed six sheets per run because that's the number of tubes I own and that's the number that will fit in the BTZS water jacket tray. OTOH, with Jobo you have to do separate runs for each development time. So if you have five N sheets and 1 plus sheet that's two runs. Jobo also cost much more than the tubes and took up more space. But if I had a high volume I'd definitely consider Jobo, otherwise I'd use the BTZS tubes (or make your own, which isn't difficult to do). You can buy six tubes, 12 caps, and a water jacket tray for about $120 from www.theviewcamerastore.com.

[Brian Ellis]

I forgot to mention that another nice thing about the tubes is the small chemical volume of 2 ounces per tube. I use D76 1:1 so I only need six ounces of stock solution to process six sheets.

[Scott Knowles]

Thanks everyone. Lots to digest and look for at Glazer's and elsewhere. I still have a few sheets to go before I have to do something.

[walter23]

I'm using the unidrum system, which you can find on ebay from time to time. It's very convenient (looks much better than the BTZS tubes), I find the drum very easy to load, I use about 150ml developer (and the same volume fixer) to get 4 sheets done (in batches of two - I reuse the chemistry once), and my results are consistent and very good. I did tray development for awhile in my bathroom and this is MUCH MUCH better. I got my set on ebay for about $65 which is a bit steep I understand, but it's already paid for itself in developing ($5.99 per sheet at a local lab for B&W, and I've done about 50 sheets since getting it).

I'm not a darkroom master, but I find the agitation from the unidrum rotator machine works out just fine - I just load the film, presoak with water for about 30 seconds (with the rotation on), dump the water, throw in my developer, run for the Ilford recommended intermittent agitation time of 11 minutes (while washing & hanging my previous batch of negatives), stop for about 10 seconds (I don't even know if stop bath is necessary for film development - is it?), then fix for 3 or 4 minutes, and out pop perfect negatives ready for washing in a tray. You can rinse in the drum if you want, but I usually start a new batch while the previous ones are washing.

Here's info:
http://www.largeformatphotography.info/unicolor/

Note that you need the 8x10 PRINT drum for 4x5 sheet film, because it's got these nice little ridges inside it that lets you load the film sheets properly, and keeps the backs from being jammed against the outside of the drum (so your chemistry can soak both sides). The film drums are for 35mm or 120 spools.

Mine leaks (liquid, not light) so I have to set a small tray beside it while its rolling, but it's not enough to cause me any problems. Maybe 5 or 10 millileters of developer & fixer loss for every batch I do. I've heard this is common, because they often come with fairly worn out gaskets.

You can fit more negatives into one of those rectangular tanks, but of course you also use more chemistry, and run the risk of ruining more negatives if you're processing in big batches and something goes wrong. The unicolor method is small, very cheap (unlike jobos and stuff), and hands-free agitation is nice and very consistent.

I guess the only downside is that it takes me a whole evening (7pm till 11pm) to go through any moderate-sized batch of negatives.


The local custom lab that processes b&w and transparency films has announced they're not processing b&w and will stop transparency film later this year when they move. That leaves two choice, 2 Seattle labs, one-plus hour drive on a good day, and at home. The last time I processed film was about 30 years ago (35mm) and still have the equipment (daylight tank, one half E-3 kit - and still have 400+ feet of Ektachrome-X (64) film too). Anyone know a source of E-3 chemicals?

Get on with the question! Ok. If you had to start new processing b&w sheet film, what would you recommend? I don't particularly like the tray idea but I have a second, windowless bath that would work for a darkroom. I'm open to suggestions and plan a trip to Seattle (Glazer's) to get the prices on things, so a checklist would be cool. And yes, I'm researching photo.net and books too.

And yes Frank, I've taken some shots already with the Horseman to learn processing if that's the reality, realizing the advantages of that for variability of exposure, developement and testing, but it's also why I quit darkroom work 30+ years ago too.