I have recently bought a Yankee cut film tank (Doran industries)to develop my 9x 12 negs. My problem is that the negs are not developed equally. I need advice fo r the right handling of the Yankee tank, especially the right agitation. What is about using a second tank to make a quick change of the film- rack? Does anyone have experience with this method?
Stefan:
There is a current thread on this very topic on the Developing & Processing forum up the list on teh Greenspun forum.
I found that getting even development in such a tank, especially with negatives with smooth sky areas, was next to impossible. One could use a couple of them in the dark and agitate by lifting the film holder in and out of the solution, I s uppose. But this negates the advantage of a daylight tank. I now use a Combi-Pla n tank, which, if one is careful can produce good results.
I bought the Yankee tank last week during a trip to L.A. and used it back in France last week end. I developped two batches ; one of 9 negs and the other of 2 negs.
The results are perfect with no visible difference with manual tray development, although I haven't enlarged the photos yet. This is obviously a very short experience from which no serious conclusion can be drawn but it is very encouraging at least. The reason why I wanted to move from tray development is that my darkroom is not absolutely dark, which does not have any impact on B&W paper but requires to wait until night darkness to develop films. The Yankee tank solves the problem !
Ilford HP5+ in ID 11 1+1. One way horizontal agitation for 10 seconds every minute.
do not use this tank. I can't stress it enough; it will not work. the person who claims to have gotten even development may not have; sometimes you need to enlarge the negatives to really tell. I encourage him to shoot an even blue sky and try those negs in the doran. I struggled with the doran for weeks trying every agitation possible, and it just will not work. I then ebayed a uniroller motor and drum for only 10 more dollars than the doran was and have never looked back.
Stefan, your idea of using a second tank would seem to make sense. I tried it many times years ago when my darkroom was a makeshift corner of my kitchen. It didn't work. The plastic rack was so flimsy, that the film would frequently fall out during the changeover to the next tank. Not the same as using metal film holders in deep tanks. Forget it! You may get lucky once, or twice, but in the long run I found it impossible to get consistent, even development using a Yankee tank.
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