Pre-soak for manual 4x5 B&W development in a Jobo tank?

**Paul Ron** · 31-Dec-2019, 05:22

i dont jobo, i use tray dev but find presoaking very necessary. my arista film has a green antihalation coating on the back that is water soluable. i like to give a 3 min presoak which gets all the coating off before i go into my dev. i normally get 6 sheets per dev batch, if i dont wash, ill only get 4 sheets.

berger 400 data sheet says a presoak is required. follow the instructions for the film manufacture recomendations.

for medium format, none of my films ever need presoaking.

**koraks** · 31-Dec-2019, 05:31

Originally Posted by Paul Ron

i dont jobo, i use tray dev but find presoaking very necessary. my arista film has a green antihalation coating on the back that is water soluable. i like to give a 3 min presoak which gets all the coating off before i go into my dev.

The antihalation dye has no influence on the development process whatsoever.

**Peter De Smidt** · 31-Dec-2019, 11:48

To add to what Koraks said, Ilford recommends against a pre-soak. See: https://www.ilfordphoto.com/amfile/f...3/product/695/ where they say on page 3 "A pre-rinse is not recommended as it can lead to uneven processing."

**Andrew O'Neill** · 31-Dec-2019, 13:18

I never pre-soak. I use Pyrocat-HD.

**Steven Ruttenberg** · 31-Dec-2019, 15:50

I use a pre-soak for b/w, hasn't hurt anything. For slide3 film and color negatives the instructions for the kits I use say to presoak at temperature as first step.

I think it is really just what you prefer. I have done it both ways and either way it works. I just prefer to pre-soak at development temps.

**John Layton** · 31-Dec-2019, 16:04

Next batch of LF FP-4 in Pyrocat? I'm not gonna presoak! First time ever!

**Vaughn** · 31-Dec-2019, 16:33

I presoak in the Expert 3006 and 3005 drums. Brings everything up to temp and gets things going while I mix the developer (Ilford PQ Universal or PyrocatHD). And I love seeing the different colors of anti-halation coatings. Kodak Copy Film is a lovely red.

I'll be tray developing some 11x14 this evening (FP4+ in PyrocatHD). I'll probably skip the presoak -- one less tray to worry about in a confined space. I wonder if I should develop the way I develop pt prints. Put the 11x14 negative in the tray, emulsion up, and pour on the developer. Does not sound fun in the dark, tho. Nah -- the images are very busy forest scenes...I'll just plop them into the developer.

**Steven Ruttenberg** · 31-Dec-2019, 20:38

Soon, I will try my hand at tray development. Getting an expert drum for my color work since you can do 10 at a time and there is really no variability in different development times.