Alternative technique in tray processing

[John Welton]

I completed my first attempt at tray processing this weekend (Crown graphic Ekta r 152, 4x5 Delta 100, Sprint (~D76) in 8x10 trays, 72 deg, time 7min 30sec, 8 ne gatives, tray was abt 1/2 full with chemicals). I followed AA's recommendations from "The Negative" but found a two problems:

- I tried my best to keep the negatives together in the 8x10 trays and turned ar ound one of the negatives to keep track of my agitation(all were emulsion side u p in the trays) but the negatives kept moving about the tray and got out of sequ ence. I did one complete rotation every minute after two initial complete rotati ons.

- I wound up with several scratches.

question: As an alternative, can I use a single 5x7 tray and pour dev, stop, fix , etc. into and out of the tray instead of separate trays? Also, can I agitate a s I do with my prints by swirling the tray instead of moving the the bottom neg to the top? I found my initial set of D100 rather contrasty so I believe I was a gitating too aggressively.

Thanks - It feels great to be developing my own negatives now. Just looking to f ine tune my technique.

[Alec Jones]

Don't try to learn with so many negs. Just start w/2, then 3, etc. No, you can't get the same results with a "swirl". Practice.

[Carl Weese]

First, don't try so many negs to begin with. Try four to start. Next, place a stick in the sink at the back of the row of trays so they tilt forward--gravity will 'herd' the sheets to the front of the tray and make them easier to control. Keep the stack in line with one hand while you pull and move the bottom sheet with the other hand. Next, despite AA's advice, process with the films face *down*. Much more even development and no worse for scratching. Most important of all, sacrifice some unexposed film and practice in full room light until the whole operation feels natural. Then go ahead and process real negs.--- Carl

[William Leviit]

All of the above are good suggestions! In addition, get use to the fact that your hands will be in the soup more often than not. If you're sensitive to the chemicals, try using non-latex surgical gloves. After suscessfully staining my fingers brown by using a split D-23 developer with bare hands, I went to using the gloves and I find no perceptible loss in sensitivity. And knowing that my hands are protected allows me more "freedom" to keep my hands in the developer in order to maintain control over the stack of negatives.

[Doug Paramore]

John: The previous posters gave good advice on practicing with fewer negs and waste a few unexposed negs for proctice. As for the contrasty negs, I don't see where your methods lead to excessive contrast. I would suggest you back off the time or temperature. It may be easiest to back off the time. Try a couple of negs with a 20 percent reduction in time. You will have to do some testing to establish the best time-agitation-temperature for your own working methods. Be aware that your hands in the developer will raise the temperature of the solution. Either dip your hands in cold water before putting them in the solution or consider putting the tray in a larger tray of tempered water. You can also start a degree or two colder and average out the temperature during the development cycle. As for scratches, that is a fact of life with tray development if you do more than a couple of negs at a time.

[M.]

Yeah! And despite the problems with your initial run --DIDN'T IT FEEL GREAT?

[John Welton]

Thanks for the quick responses. Yes, it was GREAT doing my first run despite the overall minor flaws in my technique. Now I can keep my costs down and have more fun.

Any other comments on using a 5x7 vs 8x10 tray? I'll probably stick to Sprint(D76) for now but thinking about Rodinal and PMK Pyro in the future. Thinking about minimum amt of developer needed per tray.

j

[Blake]

you can John, I use 4 5x trays in two 11x14 tempering tubs.... I don't think I'd like draining and pouring into 1 in total darkness. I've found myself slowing waaaay down to developing singles one by one... you may find you do this too as you get things down and your ratio improves.... I've found it to be far more consistent for me. It's slow going but this side of buying a jobo or a print drum and automating the most parts.... this is what I'm reduced to.

good luck

[N Dhananjay]

If you want to process in trays (rather than other methods like rotary processing), consider making yourself a slosher. The easiest thing in the world to make - pick up a sheet of acrylic and cut it to about 9x11 or so. Place a 4x5 sheet and drill holes around the sheet and then put in screws or dowels in the holes. Now place the sheets to be developed into the space (so that the dowels hold the sheet in place as you rock the tray) and lower the whole acrylic sheet with the sheets into an 11x14 tray of developer (make sure there is enough developer in the tray to cover the sheets well) - agitate by rocking the tray. I find I can process about 4 negs at a time in trays and there is no need to risk scratching the negs etc. Cost of making this is less than 10 bucks. Good luck. DJ

[David A. Goldfarb]

I'll concur with all the above suggestions (though face-up works for me). Start with fewer negs at a time and lower developer temperature and, you will get more even results.

Are you getting scratches from the bottom of the tray or from the corner of the bottom negative striking the emulsion of the top negative when you rotate it to the top? If the former, you might try a different style of tray or just be extra careful that the film doesn't adhere to the bottom. If the latter (and if I can explain this in a clear way), try to insert the sheets with a kind of sweeping motion from the front edge of the tray to the back so it glides under the liquid with the center becoming immersed before the edge closest to you. If you try to slip it under edge first, you are more likely to damage the emulsion of the top negative.