Anyone use the B&W King 5x7 (or 4x5) developing reel & tank (Nikor-like)?

[Alan9940]

John L - I'm in the Phoenix area. One thing I definitely don't miss about Vermont is those minus temps I see in Montpelier in the weather app. I worked in Burlington for 5 years and I'll never forget coming out of work at about 5PM and it was -65 including wind chill! Coldest I ever felt. The gas in the fuel line of my car FROZE and it wouldn't start!! We see 105 - 110 degrees out here on a regular basis during the summer months, but I either stay in the A/C and/or jump in the pool and I'm fairly comfortable. During the winter months in VT, when it was -20 to -40 we just couldn't stay warm! Don't miss that even a little bit!!

[AAP]

That was my experience with the 5x7 B&W King tank. Tape makes a lot of sense, instead of tape I just did not invert the tank, the spinner makes stationary processing easy and results in no leakage. The few times I did invert it I used a few sheets of paper towel over the top. Because of the size of 5x7 film and the volume of fluid I would avoid inversion as it might dislodge the sheets of film in the reel.

I agree with Bob here. I just don't invert. Of course I develop only with PMK Pyro, so I love a nice gentle couple spins every 15 seconds versus inversions. I've had zero issues and absolutely predictable results.

[bw-king]

Liu (bw-king) - Just placed my order for a 4x5 tank. Looking forward to seeing how it performs.

Dear Alan
I have been in the January 17, the 4 x5 developing tank delivery China post.If all goes well, you can be in ten days or so can receive B&W KING.
Under the bright light, to use scrap film, for installation and removal of practice several times.It should be easy to control.
I hope you will like it.More hope you experience with feedback.
thank you

[Alan9940]

Just received my B&W King 4x5 tank. It was packed well for shipment and the unit itself seems of high quality. I practiced loading a couple sheets of film into the reel, in the dark, and it loads easily. I found that if you hold the film on each edge as you feed it into the reel it goes smoother than pushing from the short side with one hand. I've never developed LF film using any kind of spiral rotation method so I'm very interested to see if I have any development issues. Based on various posts throughout this thread, I'm not expecting any problems.

[pierre506]

Just received my B&W King 4x5 tank. It was packed well for shipment and the unit itself seems of high quality. I practiced loading a couple sheets of film into the reel, in the dark, and it loads easily. I found that if you hold the film on each edge as you feed it into the reel it goes smoother than pushing from the short side with one hand. I've never developed LF film using any kind of spiral rotation method so I'm very interested to see if I have any development issues. Based on various posts throughout this thread, I'm not expecting any problems.

Good news and hoping to see the developing results soon~

[Alan9940]

Hello All,

Just ran my first few sheets using the B&W King 4x5 tank...to speak honestly, I'm not very encouraged!

The film was FP4+ exposed at EI100 developed in Clayton F76+ at 68F 1:9 dilution. I developed for 5 1/2 mins (per Clayton and MDC recommendations) and used spiral agitation for the first 20 secs, followed by 5 secs every 30 secs thereafter. All "spin cycles" were done turning the lid for x secs in a clockwise direction followed by counter-clockwise for x secs; for example, on the 5 sec cycle I spun it about 2.5 secs one direction, then 2.5 secs the other.

The attached is a Zone VI exposure of a white card (mount board) in sunlight under a cloudless sky. I realize this is somewhat of an extreme stress test of any developing system, but looking at the attached you'll see quite uneven development. I've performed this same test over the years with differing development systems so I know what to look for and what to expect. In addition to the overall uneven density, you should see increased density running along the middle of the negative which, to my mind, shows increased agitation around the central spiral channels leading to increased development in this area. Not good!

Any ideas? Maybe I was spinning the reel too aggressively? I'm really hoping current users of this tank and/or BW King can provide some insight.

Thank you.

[Sal Santamaura]

That's about what I expected the results to look like.

...Any ideas?...

Yes, obtain a Jobo 3006 drum and, if you can't also pick up a processor, spin it by hand on a roller base. In four decades of trying various approaches to processing 4x5 sheet film at home, that's the only method I've found which provides extremely even results.

[Alan9940]

That's about what I expected the results to look like.

Yes, obtain a Jobo 3006 drum and, if you can't also pick up a processor, spin it by hand on a roller base. In four decades of trying various approaches to processing 4x5 sheet film at home, that's the only method I've found which provides extremely even results.

Hello Sal,

Yep, already own a CPP-2 and a 3006 drum. Why did I buy the B&W King tank? I was hoping it would enable me to pursue some optional development techniques such a minimal and/or semi-stand agitation using Pyrocat-HD. I didn't start there because I wanted to see what "normal development" using familiar developers and processes (other than the "spin agitation"...never done that before) would yield.

Thanks!

[Sal Santamaura]

...Why did I buy the B&W King tank? I was hoping it would enable me to pursue some optional development techniques such a minimal and/or semi-stand agitation using Pyrocat-HD...

I think if you search here you'll find threads discussing use of Jobo Expert drums for those techniques with that developer.

[John Layton]

Alan - a couple of questions: Did you pre-soak prior to development? Have you tried the tank with Pyrocat?

Perhaps the 5.5 min was a bit short for this tank...especially if with no presoak?

Would a (gentle) dip/dunk/spin scenario work better...especially in combo with a presoak and longer development time?

Just thinking out loud. This tank seems too compelling in terms of the potentially great logistics/economy/control it could offer to simply dismiss out of hand based on your specific test.