Lately most of the time I am only having to process single sheets of LF & ULF film. Have been doing it in trays but lot to set up and clean up and room has to be black. I have a JOBO which is great for processing multiple sheets at once but is stored outside the darkroom and a lot to go through setting up and taking down for processing single sheets of film.
At a local tag sale came across a Unicolor "Uniroller" (motorized drum rotator) FS. Price was more than right, and then I remembered having 8x10 and 11x14 Cibachrome drums which I haven't used 20+ years when I was printing on Cibachrome paper.
Also remember reading in several places that processing LF and ULF film in the JOBO 2000 series drums sometimes produces uneven development on the edges of the film with certain developers (don't remember which developers but I think they were Pyros) which is why I use JOBO 3000 series drums. Wondered if this would also happen with the Cibachrome drums....
So then flashed a sheet of WP film and a sheet of 11x14" film from across the darkroom. Loaded them into the drums and processed each for 20 minutes in Rodinal 1:50. Figured that if there was any uneven processing from uneven agitation it would show up. When film dried measured the densities all around the sheets of film and both films were essentially processed equally everywhere, even the edges on all 4 sides. Note that I can only confirm this with Rodinal as the developer. Also have used Diafine with no uneven development.
Have been using these method for months. Only problem encountered was the drum rolling off center and falling off the Uniroller. Easily prevented by placing full gallon bottles of chemistry slightly away from each ends of the drum. Best thing is that I can process the films unattended with lights on because lately have been shooting film for Salt prints so processing times of 20-30 minutes common. Tried processing 2 sheets of WP film side by side in my 11x14 Cibachrome drum... didn't work out, the sheets overlapped during development and films were ruined.
comments welcome...
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