I was excited with the idea of developing 4 sheets of 5x7 in the 20th Century Camera's QL57 reel that holds four sheets for developing inside a Paterson tank.



I went out weekend after weekend shooting 5x7 only to be disappointed with the results after developing them in this reel. Not all sheets, but one or two out of a batch of 4 would get a white band of undeveloped film emulsion that runs lengthwise and right behind the center arm that supports and prevents the film against slipping out. Worse yet, I would get very uneven development anytime I would have a large clear or sky area. See the scans below for examples. Please pardon the vignetting in some pictures from extreme lens movement.

I always loaded 4 sheets of Arista EDU Ultra (Foma) 100 film in this reel with the emulsion side facing towards the center column. I followed standard swizzle stick agitation at room temp (20 C/ 70 F). I have tried switching developer (Rodinal vs HC-110), agitation type (slow vs vigorous), switched to fresh stop bath and fixer, but nothing could solve my issues.

I also have 20th Century Camera's QL45 that lets you develop 6 sheets of 4x5 using a Paterson tank. I am extremely happy with how my film development comes out using this reel for 4x5 film. Loading the sheet films is very convenient in both reels, although the QL45 is easier because of the film size and orientation. Both have the center arms to anchor the film, but note that the 4x5 sheet loads with the short side (4") in the spiral while the 5x7 loads with the long side (7") in the spiral. I am inclined to think that the stiffness or flexibility of the center arm affects differently during development.

I do want to mention that Jeff Perry from 20th Century camera has been tremendous in extending his support and help during pre-sales as well as throughout my challenges with the results for 4-5 weeks. He was courteous enough to review my results, offer helpful suggestions to tweak development recipes and offer advice in resolving my issues. At the end when nothing seemed to be helping, he was most graceful in offering a full refund for the 5x7 reel that I decided to return to him.

At the end I want to mention that this is my experience only. I really wanted this reel to work for me since the loading was simple and getting 4 sheets of 5x7 developed in one shot was important to me. The QL57 reel is a fine design and might work very well for others. It just didn't produce results that would make me happy.