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Thread: Quick Question Tray Processing

  1. #1
    Foamer
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    Quick Question Tray Processing

    I have several sheets of 5x7 FP4 I want to process and have been waiting on the SP810 I ordered. I know I can tray process these and do have all the stuff. I've had no trouble processing 5x7 plates. B&W film must be done in the dark, not safe light. Does the entire process have to be done in the dark? I thought I read that only the developing does. I'm not sure how I could easily shift sheets around in the dark, so here's my plan: (in dark) take sheet from holder and drop into develop tray. Process normally (have Gralab 300 glow in dark timer.) Take sheet out and drop it into stop bath, 30 seconds. Now, turn on low watt red safe light & place sheet into fixer. Fix normally (5 minutes) in fix tray. Remove from fix and place in wash tray. Will this work? Can I get away with b&w film using low power red light AFTER develop & stop bath? This would make things a helluva a lot easier for me.


    Kent in SD
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  2. #2
    David Schaller
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    Re: Quick Question Tray Processing

    I wait a few minutes with the film in the fixer to be sure. Why take a chance? After that I turn on the lights.

  3. #3
    Maris Rusis's Avatar
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    Re: Quick Question Tray Processing

    Yes! A developed film in a full strength acid stop bath for 30 seconds will not be harmed by exposure to moderate light. Any trace of carried over developer is completely inactivated in an acid environment. The "printing out" effect if any is so small that I have never been able to see it or measure it. I occasionally demonstrate sheet film development to students and enthusiasts and after explaining how expensive the film is and the price of mistakes I do a dev+stop sequence and turn the room lights on before the fix. They get a fright but I don't because I know there is no harm.
    A fully developed but not fixed negative looks quite different from a fixed one. It's a look worth becoming familiar with if development by inspection is going to be attempted.
    Photography:first utterance. Sir John Herschel, 14 March 1839 at the Royal Society. "...Photography or the application of the Chemical rays of light to the purpose of pictorial representation,..".

  4. #4
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    Re: Quick Question Tray Processing

    I've been using a few ounces of white vinegar in distilled water for stop. How much vinegar makes it "full strength?"


    Kent in SD
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  5. #5

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    Re: Quick Question Tray Processing

    Vinegar is around 5% acetic acid and stop bathe should be 1 to 2%, so use about 1 ounce vinegar plus 3 ounces water, scaled to the volume you need.

  6. #6
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    Re: Quick Question Tray Processing

    Quote Originally Posted by Larry Gebhardt View Post
    Vinegar is around 5% acetic acid and stop bathe should be 1 to 2%, so use about 1 ounce vinegar plus 3 ounces water, scaled to the volume you need.

    Thanks!


    Kent in SD
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  7. #7

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    Re: Quick Question Tray Processing

    Are you going to develop the sheets one at a time? If not, you start by dropping them all into a tray with only water so that they don't stick together in the developer. Then transfer them one by one into developer, shuffle process, and move them one by one into stop bath and shuffle. Then you can move them into the fixer together, and shuffle them in the fixer. While I trust Maris's answer, I have never turned the light on until after the negatives are fixed. If you can handle them in the developer and move to stop bath in the dark, I would think the final move to the fixer in the dark wouldn't be a problem.

  8. #8

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    Re: Quick Question Tray Processing

    I unload the film from the holder and put directly each sheet individually into a tray with RO water at approx the same temp as the developer in the next tray to the right. I completely immerse each sheet. By doing so, the films don't stick to each other when I pick them up and put them in the developer, all at once, and then start the timer and agitate. (There are so many ways to agitate, and some workers really get agitated about it.) Interestingly, when I turn on the lights after development, the RO water tray is an inky purple-blue.

    I handle the films much the way Fred Picker wrote. My max number of films is 6 per session--more, and I screw up the agitation because the films are slippery and require some "shepherding" in the developer to keep them aligned with notch code in the upper right, the same way they went into and came out of the holder. Stop time is very approx. 10s will do just as well as 30s. Just long enough to rotate all the films once. Then to the fixer. I wash approx per Ilford instructions for rapid wash. 5 agitations in RO H2) and dump, then 10 agitations and dump, then finally 20 agitations and dump.

    My stuff isn't so good or so important that some museum is going to have fits caring for my negatives.

    This works for me.
    Peter Collins

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  9. #9
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    Re: Quick Question Tray Processing

    I was going to begin by just doing one sheet at a time. I've pretty well got it down processing the 5x7 plates under safe light, and am pretty sure I can do one sheet at a time now too.


    Kent in SD
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  10. #10

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    Re: Quick Question Tray Processing

    Quote Originally Posted by Peter Collins View Post
    I unload the film from the holder and put directly each sheet individually into a tray with RO water at approx the same temp as the developer in the next tray to the right. I completely immerse each sheet. By doing so, the films don't stick to each other when I pick them up and put them in the developer, all at once, and then start the timer and agitate. (There are so many ways to agitate, and some workers really get agitated about it.) Interestingly, when I turn on the lights after development, the RO water tray is an inky purple-blue.

    I handle the films much the way Fred Picker wrote. My max number of films is 6 per session--more, and I screw up the agitation because the films are slippery and require some "shepherding" in the developer to keep them aligned with notch code in the upper right, the same way they went into and came out of the holder. Stop time is very approx. 10s will do just as well as 30s. Just long enough to rotate all the films once. Then to the fixer. I wash approx per Ilford instructions for rapid wash. 5 agitations in RO H2) and dump, then 10 agitations and dump, then finally 20 agitations and dump.

    My stuff isn't so good or so important that some museum is going to have fits caring for my negatives.

    This works for me.
    I never use approximately the same temperatures. I stay within one degree for all solutions.

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