How?

[Mark]

Im sure this questions been thrown around alot here, but i guess i'll have to be the one who asks it again. Im moving up from Medium Formats to Large, my newer work needs to be BIG! But i have no idea how to develop large format, im self thaught but i havent even seen large format film yet, so any advice would be helpful.

[Mike Davis]

Im sure this questions been thrown around alot here, but i guess i'll have to be the one who asks it again. Im moving up from Medium Formats to Large, my newer work needs to be BIG! But i have no idea how to develop large format, im self thaught but i havent even seen large format film yet, so any advice would be helpful.

If you click on the "LF Home Page" button you will find some really good advice. For 4x5 I use Eugene Singer's alternate dip and dunk method with combiplan tanks (3 of them). However, if I only have a sheet or two, I use three pyrex meatloaf dishes and carefully shuffle the film. This uses less than 500ml of chemistry as opposed to a little more than a liter.

Steve Simmons has some more good developing advice in the free articles section of View Camera Magazine.

If your talking larger than 4x5, your choices are somewhat simpler. Unless you want to use really big tanks (>1 gallon each) you will either tray or tube develop.

I have some J&C Tubes and they are no longer in business. But the View Camera Store still sells their BTZS tubes, and Bruce Wehman has an article on his website about making your own tubes. FWIW the J&C tubes were welding rod tubes.

You also have choices in tray development. You can either shuffle the film in the tray, use brush development with a soft brush, or use rocking agitation. Rereading "California and the West," Charis Wilson talks of Ansel Adams automated tray rockers. The implication is that these were used for film. Maybe someone knows for sure.

Assuming that you want to stick to time and temperature development (not easy for me in an unairconditioned darkroom in the subtropical heat of Central Virginia), try any of the above methods. The cheapest for 4x5 is using the glass meatloaf trays and the shuffle method (I learned about the meatloaf trays from a professor who has used this method exclusively for almost 40 years).

Finally, try to get one of the Large Format books. These would include Steve Simmons' book (which I own multiple copies of and keep giving away).Jim Stone's book or even simply Adams' "The Camera, The Negative and The Print (3 books)." Your local library may have any of these.

Good luck,

Mike Davis

[Kevin Crisp]

It is pretty simple. Many books teach a leafing technique where you shuffle through the film in a tray, doing 6 or more at a time. I've tried it and I scratch film that way. Not always, but often enough. So I use a tray, I glue a divider the the tray (something that does not block the flow but keeps the sheets from hitting each other during agitation, like one of those little plastic gizmos in a delivered pizza box) and I do two at a time. The film goes in face up. It works well for me, I've not had a problem even once in 15 years doing it this way. It obviously takes longer than doing 6 at a time, but when I get organized and the film progresses down the line I can develop a lot of film in an evening. Watch capacities so you don't wear out your developer. For agitation technique for all films I just used the Kodak recommendation for tray developing TMAX since it is simple and it works. You can use tanks, of course, but there are many threads about people struggling for even development that way since the hangers affect the flow. There are other types of tanks out there that do not use hangers and of course for more money Jobos etc. Frankly developing the film is about the easiest part of LF.

[Ron Marshall]

There is lots of useful info on the front page of this site. Also here is a link to Paul Butzi's site where he has a good discussion of development of b/w sheet film:

http://www.butzi.net/articles/filmdevelop.htm

There are basically three methods: tray, rotary, tank. Each have their pros and cons. Tray requires complete darkness. Tanks start at about $50, rotary processors, (Jobo Expert drums) can be had for about $150 used. Tanks and rotary must be loaded in the dark, a $50 film changing tent, then the chemicals are added and drained with the lights on.

I use rotary but all of the methods are good.

[Pat Kearns]

Also on the Homepage is an article on using a Unicolor print drum and rotary base. Those as well as Beseler tanks and rotary bases can be found on Ebay at relatively low prices.

[Brian Ellis]

Are you talking about color or black and white?

[Gary L. Quay]

Beware dust, Mark. It leads to the Dark Side.

--gary