BTZS for black and white and Color by Beseler print drum and motor base for color.
BTZS for black and white and Color by Beseler print drum and motor base for color.
Once I got my feet off the ground using 4x5 SS hangers and SS Tanks, I used trays. Film from 4x5 to 11x14. One at a time. Worked for me...low volume and all that. I now use the Jobo Expert Drums...you'll find used ones at half that price...eventually. But I'll use a tray still for special cases. Have fun!
"Landscapes exist in the material world yet soar in the realms of the spirit..." Tsung Ping, 5th Century China
100% of the time, a dimple-bottomed stainless oversized tray (nominal 11X14), sitting in a larger water bath tray, total darkness, 3 to 6 sheets at a time, depending. I once used film drums, but no more.
Tray is preference, sometimes i use the Jobo.Never could stand the Combiplan for film of any size.
Either trays or a Unicolor print drum, depending on the darkness mojo in my guest bathroom/dark room.
The Unicolor is easy to load in the dark with the rest of the process done on the kitchen counter top.
For developing film in trays I have a wood plank that spans the sink in the guest bathroom to give me room for the trays. I use the same plank (and trays) for developing prints as well for film.
When the Unicolor gives up the ghost, it'll be trays 100% of the time.
"I would feel more optimistic about a bright future for man if he spent less time proving that he can outwit Nature and more time tasting her sweetness and respecting her seniority"---EB White
Trays are good for 1 - 5 sheets at a time. Tubes are 1 at a time. Tanks can do 13 at a time, and I preload the racks with hangers, so I can process 26 within an hour. I have been using 3.5 gallon tanks for years. You can put up to 13 hangers in at one time. You need several of these tanks, at a minimum 3. When I started 8x10 about 25 years ago that's what I had. I would fill them with water in the middle, fixer to the left, developer to the right. I start in the middle for 60s constant agitation, as as presoak (otherwise bubbles can stick to the film, block the developer). The I would set me timer for dev time and lift all the racks to the right tank. Every mininute I'd lift all hangers straight up, and tilt one way, dunk and lift/tilt the other way. I do it in 10s. Too fast and you risk overdevelopment near the rack's drainage holes. Too slow and you might not be fully recoating the sheet with dev, blotchy. When I am done with dev I lift the whole rack, drain for 10 seconds and put the whole thing back in that middle tank, as a stop. Sure it is tinted now with the dye from the anti-halation coating, but all you really need is to rinse off excess developer before going to the fix. Then I agitate in the fix much like in dev, constant for the first minute, then every 30 seconds. After 2-3 minutes it is safe to turn a light on. You could then dump the dev back into storage bottles and clean the stop tank at the same time, and set one to rinse, the other for hypoclear. Most films are fully fixed when the tint is gone, 6-10 minutes. The HC is 2 minutes continuous agitation, the rinse is 15 - 30 minutes, depending on flow.
Keep temps all about the same, 68F. After a while I bought dedicated tanks for each step, Prewet, dev, stop, fix, rinse, HC, wash. I also bought racks to hold the hangers as a single unit. Not necessary, but convenient.
For 1-2 sheets, I use an 11x14 Unicolor Drum, 300 ml of developer with 10 ml of HC-110 and 290 water (Dil B). For up to 6 sheets, I use 1 gal tanks and hangers, again, HC-110B. Never had any luck with trays, always scratched film.
L
If you don't mind sharing, how do you agitate with the hangers? I've tried just about every technique I've read about and never been totally successful. The closet I came to success was lift/tilt left, lift/tilt right. However, if I'm not real smooth (and real slow) when dropping the hanger back into the developer, I'll get slight surge marks from the developer "spurting" up through the holes in the bottom trough (8x10). Didn't have this issue with 4-up 4x5 because the drain holes are on the sides. Also, I've seen a slight density change along random edges of the film.
Any tips, tricks, insight you'd care to share would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
Alan
I have been developing in pyrogallo by inspection. I stopped using a light meter a few years ago and I think my "hit-rate" of getting properly exposed and developed negatives has actually improved.
The surge marks are because you are dropping them in too fast, or aggressive developer.
Going up is less of a problem, any developer going through is partially depleted. Go up in about 5 seconds, come down a little slower, about 6-7 seconds, once for left tilt once for right tilt. After the second dunk I pick the whole group up about 3/8" and DROP it back down, just to make sure there aren't any bubbles hanging on.
I use straight D76, Ilford HP5 for 9 minutes@ 68F. If you have a hotter dev, anything close to or under 6 minutes you are more likely to have this problem. You might want to try a weaker blend, allow it to go full development. If you really weaken the dev it can be almost like water bath method, though you might pick up fog. Life's a trade off.
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