Technique for Nikor 4x5 Developing Tank

**Fungus** · 1-Sep-2023, 15:15

I scored a like-new Nikor 4x5 SS developing tank on eBay.

Any hints and tips for using it to develop 4x5 film?

**Tin Can** · 1-Sep-2023, 16:03

Check film height

It is a fiddle to adjust

Practice in daylight

**Mark Sampson** · 1-Sep-2023, 16:17

It came with a stainless clip to go around the spirals. If this is missing you can use a rubber band.
Have scrap film around to practice loading the reel. Practice, first in the light, then in the dark, before committing exposed images. Practice!
Dilute developers and longer process times will help with unevenness.
Be careful not to drop the reel. Bent=useless.
Shoot extras of important photos and don't develop them all at once.

I used one from 2013-18, when I lacked darkroom access, and it completely frustrated me. Despite my most careful practice, I lost too many images. Oddly, it worked better with 3-1/4"x41/4" film than 4x5.
When I built a darkroom, I returned to tray processing and have never looked back. (That method has its own issues, but I know how to deal with those).

No doubt other photographers have used these tanks with success, and I'd be glad to hear from them.

**Fungus** · 1-Sep-2023, 21:29

Originally Posted by Mark Sampson

It came with a stainless clip to go around the spirals. If this is missing you can use a rubber band.
Have scrap film around to practice loading the reel. Practice, first in the light, then in the dark, before committing exposed images. Practice!
Dilute developers and longer process times will help with unevenness.
Be careful not to drop the reel. Bent=useless.
Shoot extras of important photos and don't develop them all at once.

I used one from 2013-18, when I lacked darkroom access, and it completely frustrated me. Despite my most careful practice, I lost too many images. Oddly, it worked better with 3-1/4"x41/4" film than 4x5.
When I built a darkroom, I returned to tray processing and have never looked back. (That method has its own issues, but I know how to deal with those).

No doubt other photographers have used these tanks with success, and I'd be glad to hear from them.

What was the cause of your lost images? Unevenness? Improper loading?

**popdoc** · 1-Sep-2023, 22:14

Practice, practice, practice after you fiddle, fiddle, fiddle…

The slightest untoward pressure during handling can push the adjustable spiral out of alignment. Then it’s a PITA while loading in the dark to process “for real”.

A gentle regular up and down wiggle while pushing the film into the reel when loading can help improve the ease of loading and reduce the feeling that you
may be hung up before it’s fully inserted.

Make sure you load the film facing the inside of the spiral so that the emulsion touches nothing!

Be prepared to re-fix the sheet film to clear where it may have inadvertently come to rest against one of the internal guides.

If you can get ahold of the cheap night vision goggles, that would be a home run to improve your results and reproducibility…

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

**LabRat** · 2-Sep-2023, 00:13

I had gotten one, but didn't have the chance to use it yet... But I had asked an experienced local user for some tips on how to use it (like agitation, loading etc)... He said the trick with them was to do everything very gently...

Like for agitation, to fill it fast with a full graduate, rap it hard a number of times, but agitation is a VERY slow gradual inversion where you start in one hand side of you, and you as slow as possible large arc it in front of you gradually invert it, then reverse it back to the other hand starting position very slowly with no sudden movements a few times a minute... You are depending on gravity to gently displace the by-products back into the solution, not movement that can create trails on film...

A loading tip was to place reel sideways it a shallow Tupperware bin barely bigger than the reel that completely restricts the reel from rolling around, place reel inside, with the top slot straight up to load first sheet... Then slightly rotate reel to the next slot, load and so on... Maybe don't try to fill every slot, but leave some empty in case you missed a slot... Then feel around outside to make sure all films have been fully inserted before placing band around reel...

There are factory instructions floating around here in archives or online, but I have seen other methods, but most importantly, VERY gentle long arc inversions, it's not a cocktail shaker!!!

Steve K

**Alan9940** · 2-Sep-2023, 07:22

I have never used the Nikkor tank, but I do use a very similar style in the B&W King 4x5 tank. My biggest issue when first using it was a slight density increase from the band around the center. Trying different agitation techniques resolved this issue. Living in the desert, one thing I really appreciate about stainless steel tanks is the ease of temperature control.

**Duolab123** · 2-Sep-2023, 07:52

Very tricky. I use IR goggles to load Jobo 2509n reels. For me impossible without goggles.

**j enea** · 2-Sep-2023, 09:11

I have one and stopped using it as I was getting very frustrated with the never ending liquid leaks. maybe 25% of the time I did not leak and then it was magic. went back to my 20th century reel in my patersen tank