Ok, so I dont develop too much, have an old CPA,
but came across a jobo atl2000 for 400 euro with a
multitank 6. This seems to be a supermachine,
making developing very easy and less time consuming.
Is it? Should I buy the thing? Is it true it also 'washes'
your film? Happy to hear comments!!
I have just bought an ATL 1500 and, having tested it for leaks, pumping and heating, am looking forwards to processing some E6 film tonight/tomorrow.
When you buy your machine, are you aware that you need to provide a tempered water supply for rinse water? If not, then you may still have some extra expense to come.
You can either buy a dedicated water heater or use your domestic hot tap, but either way, you will need to have some sort of thermostatic mixing valve that can hold the water at the correct temperature ±1°C for E6, less critical for B&W.
OTOH, you can do what I have done, which is to buy a Novatronic submersible heater and a 12v caravan water pump and use a 5 gallon bucket for your water supply.
The latter option tends to be cheaper and easier to setup, especially if you have to "convert" the kitchen, as I have to
That is a very good price if the machine is in good working condition. Because Jobo no longer is producing ATL's parts eventually may be hard to get. The machine does not wash film. It does rinse it. For E6 & C41 you are advised by Jobo "not" to stabilize film in the tank or on the reels.
You will need a tempered water supply if doing E6 or C41, the machine has two solenoids that supply the machine water, so you will need two lines with incoming water Jobo supplied two grey hoses with NPT threads make sure you get them if you are here in the US.....you will need a set of the brass 3/4" to NPT plumbing fittings
for the spigot if you are in the US.
It should be a great machine, does large prints, large film and no problems with the Expert drums. If I was selling the machine in Excellent condition it would be listed at 4,000 USD.
Originally Posted by stehei
Sounds like a good buy/investment to me, but if you truly "don't develope too much" as you say, it would prove to be overkill and possibly make your chemistry cost/roll more expensive. I don't develope much also - day before yesterday I did 6 sheets of C-41 in an expert drum - and the CPA is perfect for me. If you can't use it (or resell it), it's never a good buy.
Thomas
thanks for the info,
I've decided against buying the monster,
just too big, and my cpa should be fine
too,
thanks and regards
stefan
Right. The downside of ATL's (or indeed any fully automatic processor) is that the processes only stabilize to reasonable quality if you have quite considerable throughput - a run each day is the absolute minimum, for pro grade results, you'd better make it three or more, with a test strip each morning. Otherwise, you'll have to clean and prepare for storage after each use, which needs a lot more effort (and chemistry loss) than on the CPE/CPA/CPP type semi-automatic processors.
Sevo
?????
Having just done my first run on the ATL 1500, that I mentioned earlier, last night, I got as near perfect results as I would expect from a pro lab. Since the chemistry is used as one-shot, there is no need to worry about chemistry degradation, unless the concentrates are kept for too long. There is no chemistry loss and the only cleaning required is to run either one or three cleaning cycles (which only use plain water) depending on whether you are using the same process next time or not.
Signed, one very happy ATL 1500 user
Jeeze, I'm using a cpp2 with expert drum for c41- didn't know you weren't supposed to stabilize in the drum.. that's kind of a bummer
Hi Joanna, can I ask did you run B&W or colour for your first batch? Also where did you source your pump, etc in the UK? I've had an ATL 1000 sitting idle for a while but I always reach for the Combiplan when I've got B&W films to develop. I'd like to at least give the Jobo a try soon though so any help/advice you can give would be worthwhile.
David Whistance
Hi David. I processed some E6; I haven't yet used it for B&W.
I bought the Novatronic heater from Nova Darkroom and the Whale pump from a local caravan supplier.
My reason for buying the ATL 1500 was primarily to be able to do E6 processing but, since it uses roughly a quarter of the chemistry of a Combiplan, so I am looking to use it for B&W as well.
The only problem I have to overcome with B&W is the fact that the ATL will only process at 24° and that means having to work out a decent dev time for Acros in DD-X.
Apart from that, it's a lot easier than having to watch the clock, agitate the Combiplan and make sure that you don't pick up the wrong jug of chemistry.
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