SP-445 Just Arrived

[IanBarber]

After doing a bunch of research, I finally took the plunge and placed the order about 8 days ago and it arrived this morning.

Ive just developed a single sheet and its hanging to dry.

Questions:
I did notice that after removing the film from the holder, only one side was under the lugs. Apart from plenty of practice, any tips for ensuring the film is properly inserted into the holder.

I watched Tim's video and he put wetting agent into the tank at the end. I did read somewhere where someone said not to add Photo-Flo into the tank but do this in a separate dish.
Are there any disadvantageous of putting Photo-Flo into the tank.

[Alan9940]

Ian,

I would suspect that agitation caused the film to dislodge from the clips on one side. How did you agitate? Was it gentle or more forceful? I'm also wondering if the more "openness" of the film holders (compared to mine which are solid) might cause stronger fluid dynamics against the film. Such turbulence could cause the film to dislodge. It might also be that one shouldn't really process single sheets? Perhaps two sheets in one holder keeps them situated?

As for putting Photo-Flo in the tank. Lots of opinions on both sides of this question, but FWIW I always do the Photo-Flo step in a tray--roll or sheet film.

Good luck with your new SP-445!

[IanBarber]

To be fair, I haven't really got the hang of the agitation yet with the SP-445, there is a chance that you might be right Alan. Tomorrow I will put a dummy sheet in and do some testing with water.

From the upright position, I rotated it 90 degrees forward, then 90 degrees backwards thinking this constitutes as 1 inversion and then repeated.

[kaif]

My understanding is that most people do the wetting agent outside the tanks, because it can over time build up on the plastic spools which are used to hold 35mm or 120 film - which eventually makes the dried spools sticky and hard to load. That shouldn't be a problem with the SP-445 I don't think, since you don't have to feed the film along such a long run. Having said this, I have now got into the habit of doing wetting agent (b/w) or stabiliser (C-41) in a separate tray for all my processing. From reading what the manufacturer writes, I believe that for the SP-445, the wetting agent is meant to help to get the film out of the wet holders at the end of processing though.

[Mick Fagan]

I wouldn't put wetting agent into the tank, you can, but cleaning things after adding wetting agent is a bit of a chore.

With my own SP-445 I pull a film holder out and lay it flat in an 8x10" tray half filled with water. By doing this, the film (top sheet in this case) virtually floats out of the holder. This certainly makes life much easier in getting the film sheets out. I then transfer each sheet individually into a 5x7" tray half filled with wetting agent, where it is gently held and swished in the wetting agent for around 30-40 seconds. Been doing this wetting agent method for about 35 years, works well.

To answer your question, I too have had a sheet not clipped inside the retaining lugs on one side at the end of processing. I have not ascertained whether it was like that for the entire developing run, or whether it came adrift during processing. My guess was that it wasn't inserted correctly when I loaded the sheet, I'll probably never know the correct answer.

Mick.

[Alan9940]

Like Mick, I pull the film holder, with film, from the tank after the fix step and drop into a tray of water. The film is easily removed. As for the film not being under the clips after loading what I do is very gently use both my thumbnails to feel each clip to verify that the film is under each one.

[IanBarber]

Thanks, I will take note of some of the suggestions.

The film is dry and after the initial scan everything looks ok apart from I can see areas on the edge of the negative which align up perfectly with the retaining lugs where the film slides under the holder.

I know the image can be cropped to not show these but not quite sure it's normal to see them. This is the new modified holder, the one which is not a solid back if that makes any difference.

[Alan9940]

The film is dry and after the initial scan everything looks ok apart from I can see areas on the edge of the negative which align up perfectly with the retaining lugs where the film slides under the holder.

I, too, have seen latent marks on the edge of the film from the clips. But, not one has ever intruded into the image area. Maybe I've just been lucky...

[callmebrick]

I one of the SP-445's with solid neg holders and once in a while a sheet does slide out of a holder. I think it happens during rinsing or during an empty/fill cycle.

[Nodda Duma]

I just took the plunge on an SP-445 and have developed several sheets of slide film now in the week or so that I've owned it. The thing is great!

I agitate heavily during the processing by grabbing by the the top and quickly rotating upside down and back several times over each 15 second agitation time. I have not seen development artifacts at the tabs like what you describe, so agitation technique might be the key.