4x5 tube processing help

[Kburg928]

Hey everyone,

I'm getting back into film, I have a killer digital darkroom but I've been kicking around the idea of processing my own B&W film and I'm looking at the jobo and btzs tubes but being new to this I'm not sure what I'm really looking at. I have a small darkroom (free standing closet) that I use to load and remove film from the holders but I don't have enough room for a full blown darkroom. I understand how the btzs tubes work but I'm clueless on the jobo tanks. Can these be used without a motor base and if so how? If the jobo can be used without the motor base how are these things filled? This is all new to me so any help will be great.

thanks everyone,

Keith

[williamtheis]

having tried all kinds of things (BTZS, jobo, hangers, Nikkors, even the "bobulator" which was a flat piece of plexiglass with hoops to go over the 4 corners of the film), I keep coming back to regular old tray processing for 8x10, doing the shuffle every 30 seconds or so by an odd number (doing 4 sheets, I shuffle 5 times to put different sheet on top each time). For the Jobo, I do *NOT* use the motor base since I want compensation in my development (highlights exhaust the still developer, shadows do not... but the developer must not be agitated). Instead following David Vestal's observation long ago, I half fill the Jobo (standard, not the "expert") and put my film on the lower reel, leaving the upper reel empty. Agitation consists of 3 gentle inversions and a tap to dislodge bubbles then let it sit for a minute. Highly uniform since it fully approximates the hangers' "dip and dunk" agitation...

the only development I haven't tried is "gas burst"... so I got full sets of 8x10 and 4x5 BTZS tubes for sale if you want to give that a go

[Brian Ellis]

If you don't have a motor base then you roll the Jobo tank by hand, at least that's how I remember doing it in the brief time when I used one.

The problem I've always had with the Jobo tanks is the fact that all sheets loaded in them have to be processed for the same amount of time. So if, for example, you have three sheets to process for less than normal time, two for normal time, and one for more than normal, you have to make three separate processing runs. With the tubes you do one run. Otherwise they work about the same. The advantage of a Jobo tank is that it's easier to process up to 10 sheets (maybe more, the one I briefly used accepted 10 sheets of 4x5 film) whereas the norm with the tubes is 6 sheets though it would be possible to do more.

Either method will work fine. I seldom came back from a photo outing with sheets of film that all needed to be developed for the same amount of time. So for me the tubes were better. For someone who typically processes a large number of sheets at once, the Jobo tank might be better.

Tray development is fine if you like standing in the dark for 10 - 15 minutes while you shuffle film and inhale chemical fumes. I never liked it very much though I used that system with 8x10 film until I could obtain some 8x10 BTZS tubes.

[ic-racer]

Jobo does make a daylight inversion (hand agitation) tank for 4x5 film processing. When used as an inversion tank (as opposed to rotary) the solution volume seems high, but that should not be an issue because the actual amount of concentrated developer needed for one-shot processing is the same irrespective of rotary or inversion total volume. Likewise if re-using develpoer ,the number of sheets processed would also be the same for rotary or inversion.

[tgtaylor]

The Jobo tank for 4x5 is the 2500 with 2509N reel. It will hold 6 sheets and you will need to use 1485mL of solution for hand inversion as opposed to 485mL for rotary processing. The 3010 Expert Drum, on the other hand, requires a minuimun of 210mL of solution but that's for rotation. You can't do hand inversion with it.

[Pawlowski6132]

Don't forget to consider Unicolor.

[jeroldharter]

Jobo makes a simple roller base that can sit in a shallow water bath for manual rolling. The tube lies horizontally and when the step is finished you just dump the tube upside down to drain and then pour the next solution into the opening. So you can do the processing in your closet with the lights on (after loading the drum) with a darkroom tray for the drum and roller base, a few beakers of solutions for the processing steps; and a dump bucket.

I prefer BTZS tubes but for that you would need the water bath tray for the tubes and additional trays for stop and fix. So you might not have enough counter space in there.

[kev curry]

I look forward to developing film with the tubes, tray processing was a pain!

Heres a good intro to BTZS tubes...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMXQO5ATgiY

[robert j fallis]

have a look here I've used them for years ,there easy to load in a dark bag, use the black pipe as it needs to be light proof[PDF]
PVC Tube Based Development Tank System for 4x5 or Paper Processing ...
File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - Quick View
PVC Tube Based Development Tank System for 4x5 or Paper Processing .... I've just completed making tubes for 8x10. I use the BTZS tubes for 4x5 but at $70 ...
www.photosmith.ca/.../PVC%20Tube%20Based%20Development%20Tank%20System%20...
this came of google <making development tubes>

bob

-

[robert j fallis]

that link doesn't seem to work this may[PDF]
PVC Tube Based Development Tank System for 4x5 or Paper Processing ...
File Format: PDF/Adobe Acrobat - Quick View
PVC Tube Based Development Tank System for 4x5 or Paper Processing .... I've just completed making tubes for 8x10. I use the BTZS tubes for 4x5 but at $70 ...
www.photosmith.ca/.../PVC%20Tube%20Based%20Development%20Tank%20System%20... -

[robert j fallis]

links do not work you'll have to google it sorry

bob

[Kburg928]

Thanks for the input everyone...

[jon.oman]

http://www.photosmith.ca/Library/PVC%20Tube%20Based%20Development%20Tank%20System%20for%204x5%20or%20Paper%20Processing%2001.pdf