what 4x5 daylight developing tank (or similar) options are available now, March 2013?

[unixrevolution]

I know you have big batches in mind and that you don't want a discontinued solution...I also know they're harder to find than hen's teeth, but if you come across a Paterson Orbital Processing Tray, buy it.

I use it to develop my 4x5 and 8x10, up to 4 sheets of 4x5 at a time. Uses very few chemicals and it works in daylight!

[Leonard Evens]

If you're not wedded to a tank you might look at the BTZS tubes. www.viewcamerastore.com You load the film in the dark, then turn on the lights the rest of the time. They use a maximum of 2 ounces of developer per sheet and take up very little space.

The tubes look like a really neat system, and they certainly give you the maximum flexibility. They seem well worth the cost.

I do my developing in a small condo bathroom, and I find that I can develop up to four sheets of film in a Beseler drum on a roller base. It is a little tricky learning to place the film in the drum, but you learn how to do it fairly quickly. I use 4 oz of solution for each session.

Of course if I had to develop six sheets, each for a different time, it would take a lot longer, but I almost never have to do anything like that.

Beseler drums or similar Uniroller drums, along with roller bases, can usually be found at moderate cost on ebay. The roller base makes things easier, but you can, if necessary roll the drum by hand in a water bath in a tray.

[DannL]

Here are some images of the Chromega drums (11x14/17 and 8x10) and their parts. Each drum has three plastic rods which can be moved to various slots for different size papers/films etc. The plastic wings are used as separators. Both drums will turn on a Unicolor Uniroller, or they may be rolled by hand on a flat surface such as a truck-bed or table. These drums do not require gaskets.

Attachment 91720Attachment 91721Attachment 91722

[Ari]

Jobo Expert drums or the 2500-series tanks and reels.
Film always comes out perfectly.

[EdSawyer]

I have a nikor 4x5 tank I'd part with for $250. Comes complete with the stainless band.

[cps]

A pair of MOD 54's and a pair of Patterson tanks will do exactly what you are looking to do quickly and easily. I have this set up, and it is super easy. It takes a little practice to load the MOD 54 correctly, but it goes quickly once you have a little practice. Some people note that films with a floppy base get loose and roll around the tank. I use primarily Ilford and Arista (Foma) films and have never had this issue even though I do standard inversion development. The only time I've had bad results is when I didn't follow instructions and loaded film with the emulsion facing the wrong way (out rather than in). Otherwise, I've had nice even skies etc.

With two tanks (6 sheets per tank), it is pretty easy to set up a (short) line and get a lot of sheets done quickly. While load 1 is washing, load 2 is being processed. While load 2 is being washed, load three is being loaded and processed, etc. The MOD and tanks are easy to dry out and re-load. I also like that this integrates very neatly with my MF workflow.

Morgan O'Donovan, who is MOD, just announced his Mk 27 version, which is a nice improvement over the Mk15 I bought several years ago, so I signed up for a couple of them. He's offering a nice upgrade option. Another advantage of this set up is that it is based on new gear you can get now, rather than on a 20 year old item you have to buy on Ebay and hope the parts don't go south.

The other daylight tank option I'm not sure has been mentioned is the HP Combiplan T, which similarly can do six sheets at a time in daylight. It is discontinued, I think, but you can still find legacy parts at B&H.

Chris

[Bob Salomon]

"The other daylight tank option I'm not sure has been mentioned is the HP Combiplan T, which similarly can do six sheets at a time in daylight. It is discontinued, I think, but you can still find legacy parts at B&H."

To be specific, all parts for the CombiPlan are in stock except for the tank body, which is sold out and can not be remade as we would have to make new molds and the tooling costs are simply too high.

We have more of some parts then others and as parts run out of stock they also will not be remade. We have brought all of the inventory of parts over to the USA from the factory in Garmisch where we were making the tanks.

If you are doing black and white the CombiPlan can do 12 sheets at one time if you do them back to back. Some people cut a piece of fiberglass window screen to size as a spacer between the back to back sheets but this isn't really necessary if you pre-soak the film before loading. You can not do color back to back.

[Light Guru]

Morgan O'Donovan, who is MOD, just announced his Mk 27 version, which is a nice improvement over the Mk15 I bought several years ago, so I signed up for a couple of them. He's offering a nice upgrade option.

What is this upgrade option. I don't see anything about upgrades on the website. The price looks to be about the same as before.

[cps]

What is this upgrade option. I don't see anything about upgrades on the website. The price looks to be about the same as before.

I don't recall the specifics on pricing, or if there are limitations that might apply, but he is giving a price break on the new version for folks who bought earlier versions. If you have an earlier version, you might send him an email.

Chris

[paulr]

Jobo Expert drums or the 2500-series tanks and reels.
Film always comes out perfectly.

I used the 2500 series, agitated on an old reversing motor base. Love it, but I did have to tweak my developer formulation to get perfectly streak-free results on TMX. I believe the expert drums have a better flow pattern so you don't have to worry about any of this. Drawback is that the expert drum can only do 10 4x5 sheets at a time vs. 12 for the 2500.