Do you bleach before or after development
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After. Usually right after fixing and washing while it's still wet.
I was considering using hangers. my understanding is that using a red safety light I should be able to see what im doing instead of being in complete darkness of tray developing? I've read that tray development was not recommended.
Not sure I will attempt bleaching process until later. One step at a time.
Excellent point shooting multiple sheets, didnt think of that.
I more than likely will be waiting for things to warm up here as the cold temps are well...cold. been -20 to -37C the last month or so, and even colder with the wind. So I think I will be waiting until spring or at least doing some indoor shots (window lit mostly), as I cant stand not being able to take photos. I even started to try my hand at 8x10 paper negs to chase away the winter blues (or is that grays).
Thanks for your reply. You're giving me great information/recommendations which is why I came here in the first place.
Derek
I just developed 10 sheets in trays. Definitely no problem there. Personally I actually had fogging issues with my safelight for the first time ever but I think that's due to the red filter pulling away a bit from the front and having a sliver of yellowish light slipping through. Anyway, I don't use tanks or hangers for 8x10 so I can't comment on that.
That is pretty cold...good luck!
https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8615/...6237ebd6_c.jpgCertosa di Ferrara - 1 by Filippo Natali, on Flickr
5x7" Matte albumen print (Zoe Zimmerman recipe, gold toned) on Fabriano Artistico paper from a Kodak T-Mat negative developed in Pyrocat-HD (EI 80, dilution 1+1+100, 9' in tray with continous gentle agitation)
I'm finally getting closer to a normally printable neg. I had to go to tray development for the double sided after giving up on the Jobo. I couldn't get to a point with the Jobo where the back side would be developed evenly and even with the tray have to swap sides several times during development. I ended up at an EI of 64 to get full shadow detail and have been fighting the rapid contrast build up to stop it when the highlight details are there without blowing them out. Finally I resorted to a variation of Jim Galli's ortho-litho developer that pairs dilute Rodinal (1:200) with some restrainers (kind of like POTA) and used one of the Randy's mentioned superbright LEDs to check it. Not used to developing by inspection I let it go slightly too long and as a result it printed on grade 1 1/2. I just need to drop that time a couple of minutes to bring the contrast down a bit. With the single sided in the Jobo I am using dilute PMK (1:2:200) and I pulled the last test too soon and had to print on grade 4. I just need to add a few minutes to that one to bring the contrast up. If I were scanning the negs I could play games but I'm not.
I develop by inspection under a LED red safelight. In trays. I use a water bath rinse. I prefer to develop at 65 degrees, rather than the 68 usually reccomended for pan films. I use Rodinal at 1 - 100. The water bath rinse allows the developer to work the shadows a little more, if you don't agitate the rinse. This is one of the oldest techniques in photography. My grand father started doing it this way in 1894, taught it to me in the 1940's, and I've used it ever since for ortho films, like X-ray film. I've tried other methods from time to time, but this is the easiest way to get good results. No mumbo-jumbo about trying to figure out development times, like you have to with pan films. Just use a light meter to get into the ballpark, remember to add one more stop of light per hour before and after 10.00 AM and 3.00 PM, and you will be very close to there.
There is another way to hold the high lights while helping the shadows. After you have developed by inspection ( when you think it's done, pull it out of the tray and look through the back side at the safelight, when you start to see shadow detail from the back, it's done) put it in a water bath for 2 -3 minutes without agitation. This will stop development in the highlights, while letting the developer work longer on the shadows.
got some snow yesterday here in North Georgia, decided to get out the pinhole camera, shot on 8x10 xray film
https://farm9.staticflickr.com/8628/...48d1a7eb42.jpgsnow by goldenimageworks65, on Flickr