8x10 film dev - what do you use as a process?

[Joshua Dunn]

Jobo. Makes your processing simple and consistent.

-Joshua

[esearing]

for 5x12 I use a 5 reel stainless tank with 1800ML of developer so use pyro-m because I can use at 1:1:100 dilution. If I am feeling brave I will put two sheets in the tank - taco method. Agitation is merely inverting the tank a few times at my standard intervals. Also works well with semi stand or EMA techniques but you do have to watch for bromide drag and agitate a bit more frequently. I have been contemplating a custom 8x20 Stearman tank/tray but its not in the budget currently.

[jnantz]

I develop everything in an open tray . used to use hangers and tanks but ran into random issues and it eventually became easier just to use open trays than hunt down the rattle under the hood with a stethoscope ... never looked back except for from time to time using FR tanks to stand soak for 30 mins wash and fix ... I remember back in the go-go naughts people used to "brush develop" in an open tray with a brush to agitate their film it seemed to work for them maybe because they developed individual sheets. I don't do 1 at a time ..

[Nat.Images]

Good morning,

Please, does anyone know the Durst Codrum 304 tank, for developing (8x10) 2 sheet , how to use, I have searched everywhere on the Internet and have not found any instruction manual.
Many thanks .
Nat

[WombatVarnish]

I would agree with jnantz (above) that trays are the way to go. You undoubtedly already have them, so that solves the problem of locating hangers and tanks, etc, ad infinitum.
I use Paterson 12x16 trays because they have recessed channels in the bottom that make it easy to get under and pick up the film. (Flat bottom trays are a nightmare in the dark.) They can still be had from B&H for a relative song if you need any. One tray for pre-soak, then developer, water stop, Kodak fixer, short rinse, Heico Permawash, then a 5 minute wash in either a print washer or a tray with moving water with rotating agitation, then Photoflo, then hang.
The biggest thing I have run into over the years is my hands heating the developer during agitation, so I keep a Kodak hard rubber tank with ice water in it which I keep my hands in between agitation cycles.
You have to be careful when doing 8 or 10 sheets at a time to very exaggeratedly lay the film flat on the liquid and then press it down in the center into the solution gently, then take the next sheet off the bottom of the stack and do the same movement again. If you don't do that overly careful laying down of the film, you'll inevitably gouge the emulsion of the sheet below with the film corner of the one you're holding.
In a stack of 8 sheets, put only one with the notches in the top right corner and start with that sheet, leaving the other sheets with the notches pointed the other way. That way you'll always know where you started from. With 8 sheets, start agitating at the top of the minute and you'll have about 30 seconds of rest time to ice your hands down before you have to do it again. I recommend a black Gralab timer because the hands and markers glow in the dark.
Make sure you have enough developer in the tray to effectively act on the square footage of number of sheets of film you are developing. An 8x10 sheet is 80 square inches, so if you are doing 8 sheets at a time you need enough developer volume for 160 square inches of film. HC-110 used to have a chart for that calculation, but if they've changed it, you can find it in the appendix of Ansel's [I]The Negative[I] probably. He has everything else in there, including dilutions for HC-110 you can play with and development times for each. He shot Tri-X at 160 and used more dilute developer. There is a lot of N-1 and N-2 development with this method.
You'll freak out the first time you do this (OH GOD I'M TOUCHING THE EMULSION!!!!) but after a few times it becomes second nature. Inevitably you will have the emulsion of one sheet wanting to stick to the back of another. This is a major heart stopper. Just slip your hand between them and gently flap it up and down, and that will usually loosen the sticky gradually. The water pre-soak is there to prevent that from happening, so don't exclude it.
Keep your fingernails short and good luck!

[Tin Can]

wall of words

i ignore

bye

[Vaughan]

wall of words

i ignore

bye

Often when you write
the words make a pattern that
is a haiku, almost.

[Tin Can]

I have very poor eye sight

Right now I am seeing groseye

I do the best I can as long as I can

my staircase double space help me

I hane know I will go blind sicnce child

Pease be with you

[dave_whatever]

I've been using a Paterson Orbital. Works fine, although some people report being able to use as little developer as 150ml for me this lead to underdeveloped centre on the negs. So I've upped it to 250ml and it's all good. No reason for me to try to Stearman, although it does look good it uses twice the chemistry as the Orbital.

I have a Jobo CPE2 for 5x4", and a tank big enough to do 8x10" which I would try except I've never really gotten to the bottom of if there's actually a reliable reel for 8x10". There's a lot of options around now, chinese ones and various 3D printed ones, but having tried the original Catlabs 8x10 reel that scratched the film which rather put me off bothering with this route. One thing you can say about the Orbital is you do get nice scratch-free negs.

[Steven Ferson]

You're right that they look very similar almost identical, but I have both and I have used both, and I can't remember why, but the Ilford drum didn't work as well as the Durst, so I avoid using it.
Unfortunately I don't have access at the moment.
Anyway, this is like the type, model that I use which is plain and not the one with text all over it.

Marty,
Because the sp810 is out of stock in Eu webshops, i am having a look at the durst codrum. I still have a couple of questions to sort out…

The tank seems to be excentric to the bottom plate. Rolling on a table surface will have a different flow in the tank than rolling on a roller base? Or am i missing something in it’s design?

Is the tank suitable for table top rolling or should i make/buy a roller base? I can imagine that this affects the quantity of chemicals that are needed? How much are you using? I read somewhere that the cup takes 90 ml. 90 ml rodinal seems very little to me for a 8x10 sheet at normal dilution. A 135 film takes about 300 ml in a paterson tank. The sp810 takes 500ml.

Thanks sharing your workflow!
Steven