Has anyone tried or have opinions on the Poilot PL810 sheet film reel and P2550 tank?

[Tim V]

Hi all, just wondering if anyone has experience with or an opinion on the Poilot PL810 8x10sheet film processing reel with P2550 Multitank5 dev tank combo, which can be bought on eBay:

LINK

It looks like a direct knockoff of the CatLabs reel and Jobo tank. I found another link on this forum to a discussion around a product that sounds the same as this, but the listing has expired and the product thumbnail looks different, so I'm not sure:

LINK TO THREAD

I'm fine to buy the Cat Labs version–and support the original product–but I've read other reviews of the CL81 scratching negatives which scares me, so I assume that might be the same for this product. Haven't even looked into the price difference yet for the tank, reel and roller base, but think this version looks attractive enough on that front.

My problem at the moment is that I'm tray processing 8x10" negatives one at a time in PMK and things are taking me ages. I know I could practice doing multiple sheets at a time, but to be honest I'm not confident in that as every time I've attempted it on practice sheets I've made a hash of it. In a perfect world I'd but a Jobo expert 3005 drum and roller base, but that's out of my league for the time being, so exploring other daylight tank options that can do a minimum of 3 sheets at a time and obviously not scratch the film. It's important to me that I go with an ultra-reliable option and that it works flawlessly with pyro developers; I'm happy to change to Pyrocat-HD or something similar if PMK is not suited to roller processing.

Any thoughts?

Thanks,

Tim

[Michael E]

I have bought the 8x10" and 5x7" reels and used them in my JOBO drum. They seem well made, but I have not used them enough to judge them competently. One thing I have noticed: I was hoping to use them with double-sided x-ray film, but the reel leaves marks on the outer side of the film (not a problem with single-sided film, of course).

[Josh C]

This looks like a cheaper copy of the catlabs one, interested to see if others have used it and if its worth it

[Tim V]

Yet another version, anyone tried?

https://realfilmreel.bigcartel.com/p...up-to-4-sheets

[Christopher Nisperos]

I tried the realfilmreel 4x5 reel just yesterday (NOTE: Therefore, this has nothing necessarily to do with the operation of their 8x10 reel).

In fact, I want to further preface my comments with a disclaimer in FAVOR of the manufacturer because I certainly don't want my sole and first experience with their product to end up torpedoing this small (tiny) manufacturer! So please remember this and take my comments, below, with a big grain of salt

OK, here goes:
It was a real bear to load [the 4x5 reel]. I had to finally jury-rig a loading-ramp-jig-thang and —even with that— I could only load 5 of the 6 slots .. and of those, two films were stuck together once I opened the tank.

Again (third effort to not hurt this company), this was my first time using the reel . plus, their website clearly says, "It takes a little practice to load this reel". However, I'm not a beginner at this and I can usually tweek the loading of many types of reels and frames, so it's pretty unusual for me to have this level of trouble.. I therefore think it would be wise of realfilmreel to at least create —and offer CHEAPLY— a loading aid, at least for their 4x5 reel.

Fourth disclaimer in their favor: Don't let this prevent you from trying their products...Perhaps the 5x7 and 8x10 reels are easier to load (they can't be more difficult than the 4x5!) and it could well be that I'm simply lame at it! )

Here's a link to their website as of today's date (Feb. 13, 2020): https://realfilmreel.bigcartel.com/products

Long Live Film!

Christopher

[Christopher Nisperos]

Yet another version, anyone tried?

https://realfilmreel.bigcartel.com/p...up-to-4-sheets

(Tim, I wrote this at post#23 and couldn't seem to delete it. Mr. Moderator, could you please delete that duplicate post?)

I tried the realfilmreel 4x5 reel just yesterday (NOTE: Therefore, this has nothing necessarily to do with the operation of their 8x10 reel).

In fact, I want to further preface my comments with a disclaimer in FAVOR of the manufacturer because I certainly don't want my sole and first experience with their product to end up torpedoing this small (tiny) manufacturer! So please remember this and take my comments, below, with a big grain of salt

OK, here goes:
It was a real bear to load [the 4x5 reel]. I had to finally jury-rig a loading-ramp-jig-thang and —even with that— I could only load 5 of the 6 slots .. and of those, two films were stuck together once I opened the tank.

Again (third effort to not hurt this company), this was my first time using the reel . plus, their website clearly says, "It takes a little practice to load this reel". However, I'm not a beginner at this and I can usually tweek the loading of many types of reels and frames, so it's pretty unusual for me to have this level of trouble.. I therefore think it would be wise of realfilmreel to at least create —and offer CHEAPLY— a loading aid, at least for their 4x5 reel.

Fourth disclaimer in their favor: Don't let this prevent you from trying their products...Perhaps the 5x7 and 8x10 reels are easier to load (they certainly can't be more difficult than the 4x5!) and it could well be that I'm simply lame at it! )

Here's a link to their website as of today's date (Feb. 13, 2020): https://realfilmreel.bigcartel.com/products

Long Live Film!

Christopher

[Charles S]

I ordered one. Should arrive on Monday and I'll test and report back next week

[Tim V]

Great, thanks! Looking forward to hearing what it's like.

What type of process will you be using it for?

I ordered one. Should arrive on Monday and I'll test and report back next week

[Charles S]

Since last week I use one bath on Foma 100, in a Jobo 2830 on a Durst Comot for continuous agitation. I have 5 film holders so I often end up with 10 sheets to develop. The internal spool thingie allows me to go from 2 to 4 sheets a cycle, so it is more efficient.

The obvious questions are:

1) What happens when the tank rotates, will the thingie rotate as well
2) Is there enough spacing between the sheets to get the anti-halation layer off. Currently I do 3 pre-wash baths of a minute each, with 4 sheets, Do I need to double it
3) I currently use 100ml chems for 2 sheets, will it be enough for 4, or do I need to double the quantity ?
4) Is there enough spacing to get the chems spread enough so that they work as per the documented times or do I need to extend
5) Do I need to inverse rotation direction periodically or can I just keep it moving in one direction as I do currently
6) The monobath solution is for 8 minutes irrespective of the film. Can I mix films in the tank ?
7) Does it work for 8x10 prints as well ?

That's what i can think of for the moment. Will let you know what happens

[Charles S]

So as promised, I am reporting back after putting the first batch of 4 sheets through.

The main outtakes are as follows (blinding obvious stuff, I suppose):

1) I found putting the sheets on the spool difficult. This may improve with practice of course, so I would recommend to anyone doing it for the first time to first do some practice runs

2) The spool does not fit in the Durst 2830 tank if you want the chemicals cups attached to the lid. You will need a longer tank. Luckily I have one and was even able to locate it in the dark

3) The tank with the spool needs a lot more chemicals to cover all the sheets, compared to the 2 sheets on opposite sides of the tank that I used previously. I doubled the quantity to 200ml, but it was not enough, all 4 sheets were only partly developed, with the emulsion still on all the sheets for half of the surface.

4) It needs a lot more pre-wash to get the halation layer off with 4 sheets than with 2 (duh), so 5 cycles of 250ml water for a couple of minutes, so the net time gain is debatable.

All-in all, I have the spool, so I will give it another attempt after doing more practice runs and measuring how much liquid I need in the tank, but I don't think it is a slam-dunk improvement over what i was doing before,

That's all for now :-(