I do believe Scott has discovered the British version!
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I do believe Scott has discovered the British version!
reviving an ancient thread here....
i've got two of these FR daylight tanks. haven't had much use for them, as i rarely develop enough sheets to justify the almost 2 liters worth of developer it requires. i did a project a couple of days ago where i taught a kindergarten class how to make pinhole cameras (with me doing most of the work, them being five year olds and all). it was easiest and cheapest to use TXP 4x5 and also cut down to 2x3 for the holders i have, and the oatmeal container sizes they provided.
anyway, after two sessions with this tank, and i concur: i'm getting uneven development around the edges. seems like flow marks or something, as there's a darker line about where the retaining edge would be.
but surely people must have successfully used these in the past? what are we doing wrong?
i'm wondering if this would be a good tank for using a two-bath developer. i often use two-bath developers, especially on roll film. however i only make up a liter of the two solutions at a time, so i haven't been able to try it.
anyone successfully use one of these?
meanwhile i'll stick to the taco style of development for other things. it's too much trouble to get a room completely dark for tray dev, so i have yet to try it.
It's perhaps helpful to remember that when the FR daylight tanks came out, the only alternatives were deep tanks with stainless hangers and tray processing. At that time, there were also numerous photo products being marketed to the amateur crowd, many of which were just gizmos of questionable value.
I tried a number of different agitation techniques with my FR tank, but could never get rid of the "surge marks" at the edges. They might be OK for stand development, but I wouldn't recommend them for any technique requiring agitation. The HP CombiPlan tank, which wasn't available back then, seems to do a much better job.
Try Equiox Photographic under darkroom
I've got an FR tank and just accept that the edges are going to be more developed than the center, and compensate by dodging the print later. That seems to work fine, and I'm less likely to get negative scratches than I do when I do tray processing. Perhaps you should tray develop and use the FR for fixing and washing.
the original poster (back in 2005) was the one looking for the manual. i've just hijacked a dead thread to share my recent Fr experiences, and to see if anyone has tried stand or two-bath development with it.
the appeal to me is that it's adjustable, so it can do 2x3 sheet film as well, which i shoot a reasonable amount of.
anyone know about the yankee cut film tank, as listed here. is it any better?
I read this thread because I have the Yankee version of these tanks and I switched about 1.5 years ago to using a Jobo tank and 4x5 reel as an inversion tank. But recently, I had a batch of film that I wanted to process in Diafine and it was more than the Jobo tank can hold so I drug out the Yankee and did 12 sheets in that in Diafine. It worked great since the development is not time dependent and there were no problems with streaks on the film.
So I thought, well that worked so well that I'm going to try it again for a batch of film I had waiting to develop in Microdol-X. I loaded all 10 sheets in the Yankee tank and, after doing timing to determine exaclty how long it took to fill and empty the tank, developed them... big mistake... swirl marks about 1/2 inch in from the guides that hold the sheets apart.
So I'm going to stick with it for batch development in Diafine (I use Diafine for my work on x-ray film, so it gets a fair workout...) but I'm going to avoid using it for regular developers. Although I have thought of getting 2 more from the auction site and using them in the darkroom, 1 each for develop, wash & fix in total darkness and transferring the film holder from tank to tank. I would do agitation by lifting the film holder slightly & dropping it back again. Has anyone tried that?
interesting and good to know. i have less than the liter required to develop even 2x3 sheets in the Fr tank, so i will have to wait until i've depleted the current batch of TD-200 before i can test. i'll make up 2 liters next time. i might be tempted to cut sheets in half just to see if i get flow marks.
another xray film user, eh? i've done some test shots only with it, but i've still got a few sheets of my 'free sample' 8x10 pack left. i was getting a speed of about ASA 50 from mine, which was pretty cool. developed in dektol, but i don't mind tray dev under safelight. it's the darkness that scares me. ;)
ASA 50 in dektol sounds about right for x-ray film... I'm shooting ASA 100 and developing in Diafine...