I'm thinking of using a slosher to develop 6 sheets of film in an 11x14 tray. Questions to users:
Better to use a flat bottomed tray or ribbed?
How much liquid in an 11x14 tray?
Put the slosher into the developer (or pre-soak) tray, then enter the film?
Does the film stay under chemicals while not being agitated?
And when you go to wash, what is the best way to wash?
Sorry if it's too many questions. Thanks for your help!
I use ribbed but I don't think it really matters. I suppose ribbed will use a bit more developerOriginally Posted by brian steinberger
I use 1200 cc
I put the slosher in a pre-soak then move the whole thing with the film to the developer. I have also put the film in when it was dry. If you put the film in once it is already in the developer it will be difficult to keep the developing time the same for all six negatives.
Yes
I move the whole tray from the developer to stop to fixer then to water. For the final was I put the negatives into a 5x7 tray with distilled water and LFN. I suppose there is no reason you couldn't use the slosher for this final step also though.
Better to use a flat bottomed tray or ribbed?
I agree. I don't think it matters. I use both and see no difference.
How much liquid in an 11x14 tray?
I believe it is overkill, but I use 2L of developer. I use a water stop bath, so I really fill up the "stop" tray. I make sure that it there is plenty of fixer too. I use a 2 bath developer that allows me to reuse both baths. The developer is economical and also lasts a long time.
Put the slosher into the developer (or pre-soak) tray, then enter the film?
I also put the film in the slosher first, then move it to the developer. Since I use a 2 bath, I don't pre-soak.
Does the film stay under chemicals while not being agitated?
Yes. I have never had a problem with this.
And when you go to wash, what is the best way to wash?
I rinse the film for a minute after fixing, using the stop tray with fresh water. Then I transfer the negatives to my film washer.
I do 4-5x7 negs in Patterson 12 x16 trays. My process is much like what Ben said. I presoak for 2 min in water. The negs stay in the slosher right through to final wash and photo-flo treatment. I use 1500 cc of chems per tray as my trays are a bit bigger than 11x14. Since I made my slosher , I plan on making a second one so I can can just set the first 4 negs in water , then process the next set of up to 4. I find the less handling the better the chance of no scratches (which is why I switched from tray/schuffle process).
"Better to use a flat bottomed tray or ribbed?" Irrelevant. The key thing is to know how much liquid you must have in your tray so that the negatives in the slosher are covered by liquid while processing. My trays have very small ribs - because that's what was on sale at the flea market when I bought them.
"How much liquid in an 11x14 tray?" I use 800ml of HC-110 developer freshly mixed from stock solution. That amount is about the minimum for my trays and slosher, and it is a convenient amount for me to mix - your mileage may vary. The remainder of the steps each involve one liter of liquid.
"Put the slosher into the developer (or pre-soak) tray, then enter the film?" I load my slosher, and then transfer it to a presoak tray for a minute or two in water that is at the same temperature as the developer.
"Does the film stay under chemicals while not being agitated?" Yes. Obviously, I can't see what is happening in the dark, but during the wash steps, it is very obvious that the process of agitation forces liquid to flow all around and over the negatives.
"And when you go to wash, what is the best way to wash?" I wash negatives in the slosher by moving them through a series of soaking trays. After fix, I move the slosher to a rinse tray while I empty and rinse out the developer, stop and fix trays. Then I move the slosher to a tray of hypoclear and agitate continuously for about a minute. After than, the slosher goes through a series of plain water trays, with a little agitation each time it goes into a tray, and then it simply sits quietly for 5 minutes or so while I clean up the darkroom, transfer my field notes to my permanent negative record log, and take care of other housekeeping. After five or six water trays, the slosher goes into a tray of photoflo (in RO filtered water) where I agitate for a few seconds, and then hange the negatives on clips to dry.
"Sorry if it's too many questions. Thanks for your help!" You're welcome.
Last edited by Louie Powell; 2-Oct-2006 at 18:10.
Can someone post a photo of a slosher? I think i know what this is but i'm not sure.
vinny
I'm not exactly sure what it is either... perhaps, if some kind soul wouldn't mind, can you please explain what a "slosher" is all about?
Thanks in advance.
Cheers
Life in the fast lane!
A slosher (aka slosher tray, slosher cradle) is simply a device to hold film while going through the development process. The tray is lifted slightly at intervals to create agitation. Since open trays are used, this is a darkroom process. The benefits are minimal film handling and no scratches. The tray holds the film from start to finish. The down side is you are limited to the film capacity of the slosher and perhaps the need for more chems due to larger trays than if you just did the neg scuffle. For me, the lack of scratches makes up for the added time for larger volumes. For 4x5 a slosher can hold 6 negs. For 5x7 I built my own 4 neg holder, but you can buy a 6 neg holder. For 8X10 I think you can buy a 4 neg holder.
If you're nervous about the slosher, play in the light with water (or real chemistry) and a few sheets of cast off film to see what happens. I found it helped reassure me about the floating film question and agitation technique. Put the film in emulsion side up, BTW, or it can stick to the slosher when you stick it in the liquid the first time (it did with the lucite slosher I have, anyway).
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