Originally Posted by
photoevangelist
I was doing 4 sheets (one at a time) in 8x10 trays (with glass on the bottom) in 1500 ml + 30ml of chemistry. (Actually I started with three, but then pushed it to 5 sheets, because I was going through Rodinal too quickly). I have no densitometer, unfortunately, but I started to visually notice contrast fall off at 5 sheets. So, I usually just developed 4 sheets in 1500 developer. I would usually double up exposures, so I'd do one negative from two holders, then since I had copy exposures for insurance, I'd develop them as the 3rd and 4th sheet.
When I switched to tanks and hangars, I just doubled this logic since my tanks are 1 gallon each. 1500 x 2 is only 3000 ml (800ml short of the 3.8 liter = 1 gallon), so I just added an extra 15ml. My processing must have been more vigorous in the tanks and hangars because the contrast went up. I went from contact printing with a 1 and 1.5 filter (tray development) to a 0, 0.5, and sometimes 1 filter.
No science to justify it, just trial and error.
I think I actually did up to 10 sheets once in 3.8 chemistry.
I only have 8 hangars, so I have to dry the hangars to reuse them. That's why I ended up just doing multiples of 8.
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