Photographer's Formulary 8x10 slosher tray?

[Jordan]

Photographer's Formulary 8x10 slosher tray? Anyone have any experience with one of these 8x10 trays? Are slosher trays recommended for normal agitation processing? Thanks in advance.

Jordan

[David Karp]

I often use a home-made slosher for normal tray development of 4x5 film. I like it a lot. Have never seen the Formulary version in person.

[Gem Singer]

Jordan,

I looked at the Photoformulary 8X10 slosher. Didn't purchase it because it holds four 8X10 negatives and requires 16x20 trays for developer, stop bath, and fixer.

Three 16X20 trays take up a large amount of space and require three, or four liters of solution in order to cover the slosher effectively.

If you have the space and don't mind using that much chemistry to process four sheets of film, the Photoformulary slosher is well built and a nice way to prevent scratching negatives when tray developing.

[Jordan]

In regards to even development in smooth skies...... How does a slosher tray do? I've got enough room for 16x20 trays so that shouldn't be a problem.

[Heroique]

Here’s what the slosher trays look like for 4x5 and 8x10 sheets.

Plus here’s a helpful thread with more information about them, including alternatives.

[Richard Wasserman]

I use a slosher type tray for 4x5 and get very even well developed negatives.

[BetterSense]

I bought 4 white plastic basket-like containers at Hobby Lobby. After adding some more holes with a drill and a step-bit, they work just like individual sloshers. I suppose they could be zip-tied together to make a 4-sheet slosher but having the indivdual baskets comes in handy for +- developing.

[jb7]

I made one, 4 8x10's in a 20x16 tray-

Perspex sheet, with stainless screws to separate the sheets-



It's a tight fit,
even a half inch extra all around would make things a lot easier-

It uses a minimum of 2.5 litres of solution, and the base needs to be level,
to ensure coverage- 3l would be a more comfortable volume-

I tried ID 11 first, but a low dilution requires a continuous agitation,
and there were problems with reflections of the waves of developer off the walls of the tray-
particularly visible in sky areas, to answer a previous question-

After switching to HC110, and intermittent agitation, the negs became far more even-
though I've got to admit, I haven't processed very much recently,
as the darkroom space has been taken over by something else...

[Jordan]

I need to know whether slosher trays are prone to surge marks? Jb7 mentioned a reflection coming off the walls of the tray with his. Are these recommended more as a solution to scratches or were they meant to be used more so as a means for stand development?

[Jordan]

OK, so this really for me is like an alternative to the Jobo 3005. The jobo 3005 has been unreliable in terms of giving me the even development I am looking for in smooth skies. Trays are an ok alternative, but really prefer not to shuffle the negatives and the occasional scratches. I really thought the slosher seemed like a great alternative. Remember I am thinking to use a slosher tray with 8x10 film. Also the slosher can hold 4 negatives which better than I can comfortably tray process. I know I should probably just try this out for myself, but I would prefer to save a little and money, but really picking your brains as to whether you guys think a slosher tray is my best alternative. I will be using hc110 diluted 1:90, giving me around 8 minutes of development time. So any last suggestions, encouragement, or discouragement is appreciated.