I will soon strated developing 8x10 negatives. Although I have a Jobo tank, I would like to start tray developing. I am a bit confused how many trays I will need for "mass" developing of 20-30 negatives in one session. Note that I am planning to have a Paterson washer so I will nee suggestions only for the pre-washing, developing, stopping and fixing. Plus I would like to know the size of the trys and the liquid content I shall use.
The typical method involves shuffling 6-8 sheets in each solution. The exact number you would use depends on how smoothly and quickly you shuffle through the negatives. You typically want about a 45 second cycle to provide a good agitation-rest cycle. 4 trays (for pre-soak, developer, stop and fix) is typical. It is usually a good idea to use trays one size larger than the negative - so for 8x10 film, you would use an 11x14 tray - although I would say this is crucial mostly in the developer. Cheers, DJ
To answer your question, 1 tray for each bath (presoak, dev, stop, fix, ect) I would use 11x14 or 12x16, about 2.5-3 liters of solution per tray.
There is a learning curve for tray development, and it would be foolish to expect 20-30 acceptable negs out of a session without working out some bugs in the process.
You make take to it easily. I finally got sick of scratched negs and uneven development, preferring tanks and hangers for larger runs of film.
On the View Camera site in the Free Articles section there is a play by play description of how I develop sheet film.
I do 6-8 sheets at a time.
steve simmons
www.viewcamera.com
I think your desire to process 20-30 sheets at one time in a tray is entirely optimistic, and unrealistic, if you want scratch free negatives.
Start with 4-6 sheets. You will thank yourself when you finish.
Many thanks to all of you. You are so fast that you have not even let me finish my coffee ......
Best regards from Italy
An alternate option, if you're using a developer that's reasonably quick (D-76 stock solution, HC-110 Dilution B, or similar) is to develop a single negative at a time, and let them collect in a tray of plain water after fixing is completed (or transfer them to your washer as they come out of the fixer). With conventional grain (that is, not T-Max, Delta, etc.), and rapid fixer, you should be able to process a negative in 3-6 minutes (depending on film and temperature) in developer, 15-30 seconds in stop bath, and 3 minutes in rapid fixer; that means each negative goes from presoak (where they can stay for a longish time without harm) to washer in under ten minutes.
That would make 30 negatives about a five hour session in total darkness, though it will also virtually eliminate scratched negatives resulting from dragging emulsion over the corner of the next negative as you shuffle a stack. I found (after a suggestion that I think I read here) that it's easier to avoid scratches if you develop emulsion down, providing your tray's inner surface is smooth enough not to cause scratches; that will help a lot.
Honestly, if you're going to process as many as 30 negatives in a session (which would be very unusual for the average 8x10 shooter, I might add -- 6-12 would be a more normal day's consumption), you might want to consider hangers and deep tanks, *especially* if you'll process that many frequently enough to use replenishment and take advantage of the floating lids, leave the tanks filled, etc. Used often enough to keep everything stable, there is no method that produces better consistency than a well managed replenishment line; hangers don't scratch (unless you do the damage while loading the film into the hanger -- like most darkroom techniques, if you already get around well by feel, it won't be any big deal to learn the handling methods), and a standard deep tank will take something like two dozen hangers in a batch, allowing you to go from presoak to washer in 15 minutes (after spending an hour unloading holders and loading hangers, that is) for any batch of film up to the capacity of the tank.
If a contact print at arm's length is too small to see, you need a bigger camera. :D
Given the number of negatives you're talking about, you need to consider your "session." Aside from the fact that 4-6 8x10 negatives at a time may well be your "scratch free" limit, you may have to replace chemicals inbetween batches. Check your developer both for oxidation rate and the number of square inches you can develop per liter. For example, I use PMK, and it oxidizes quickly in an open tray, I wouldn't trust it to do a second batch of negatives, as opposed to fresh developer in the tray. Most pyro developers are also so dilute that you would quickly exceed the square inches per liter limits. I suspect that with tray processing and your volume of negatives, you will end up doing multiple 15-20 minute sessions in the dark, with "replenishing breaks" inbetween sessions.
If the tray looks exactly like a tank and has a nitrogen burst setup, you'll be fine.Originally Posted by merlo.luca1961@libero.it
Otherwise just go with the Jobo drum and be very happy!
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