developing LF negatives, what do you need?

[oftheherd]

Originally Posted by Pico

That was Eugene Smith. Smith was injured in WWII, and whether or not that contributed to the rest of his problems, including alcoholism and meth abuse, we do not know. In all, he was pretty much a wreck before the beating.

LOL, just got back into this thread, looking for something. You are of course quite correct. As gns said, it must have been the pyro.

[benlees]

If you have a Paterson daylight tank the taco method works well. I do two at a time with 250ml of developer. I found through experimentation that less developer works better than more, provided you have the appropriate amount for completion. Constant agitation is a must to get even development.

[buzzardkid]

Originally Posted by benlees

If you have a Paterson daylight tank the taco method works well. I do two at a time with 250ml of developer. I found through experimentation that less developer works better than more, provided you have the appropriate amount for completion. Constant agitation is a must to get even development.

Pls elaborate.

Do you invert with 250ml of developer, or roll the tank on the table? Seems so little fluid

And, how does constant agitation influence developing time?

[benlees]

I don't invert, I just pretend I am a human jobo. While checking out RFF I slowly rotate it with a slight up/down motion.

I think you could probably do it with less fluid but I'm chicken. I use HC 110h- so I use 4ml of concentrate. That is pretty close to the minimum, I think.

I use Tmax 400 and I found shaving off about 10% time, from massive development chart, produces good results. I am still working on it, though. I don't use Tmax in 35mm or 120 so I had to experiment. At 20c I go about 7:30 exposing at 200.

I had a Paterson already and didn't want more stuff. It works really well.

[PKR]

Originally Posted by Pico

That was Eugene Smith. Smith was injured in WWII, and whether or not that contributed to the rest of his problems, including alcoholism and meth abuse, we do not know. In all, he was pretty much a wreck before the beating.

A pal and I met Gene in the 70s. I don't think it was Meth. though you are correct about his problem. He was really nice to a couple of young photographers. I think he died a couple of years later. He was in pretty bad shape.. a lot of physical pain. It was hard to watch him move. I have nothing but good things to say about Gene Smith. p.

[venchka]

I have an abundance of choices.
Jobo Expert 3010
Jobo 2553+2509 reel
Jobo 2840 drum if I ever want to go larger than 4x5
8x10 Unidrum
All spin on motor bases, Uniroller or Beseler
The Jobo Expert 3010 is my #1 choice.
A Harrison changing tent turns my light leaking apartment into a 24/7 darkroom.
Life is good.

[buzzardkid]

Well, I might be in business soon. Oftheherd has donated me some sheet film holders (complete with septums, GREATLY appreciated!) for my 9x12 Welta Watson (chippy told that is what that camera of mine is called, thanks!) and the 9x12 Fomapan film from macodirect.de is in the mail.

Don't know yet when I will have some time to shoot something meaningful soon, I want my first LF sheet film shots to mean something rather than just be test shots in the backyard.

[oftheherd]

Originally Posted by buzzardkid

Well, I might be in business soon. Oftheherd has donated me some sheet film holders (complete with septums, GREATLY appreciated!) for my 9x12 Welta Watson (chippy told that is what that camera of mine is called, thanks!) and the 9x12 Fomapan film from macodirect.de is in the mail.

Don't know yet when I will have some time to shoot something meaningful soon, I want my first LF sheet film shots to mean something rather than just be test shots in the backyard.

Hey, backyards aren't bad either. I often do that to test things like lens coverage and so forth. However you do it, you are going to love those negatives. I just hope those film holders work well and don't have any leaks.

[andreios]

Friends,
I am thinking about starting with 4x5 format, at first very simply with pinholes. I learned about the "taco" method yesterday and as I was unable to fall asleep in the night this question jumped to my mind - how about drying?
So please, could you share your drying technique if using "taco"method or tray developing? Is there any reasonable way how to dry 4x5 negatives without those metal hangers?
Thanks!

[leighmarrin]

Johan, for your 9x12cm negatives, you might consider the Jobo 2509 reel and mating tank. In addition to 4x5", it also adjusts for 9x12cm and 6x9cm sheet film. I use mine with 1500cc of fluid and agitate by inverting with two hands. (It's heavy...) Jobo does not recomend hand-inversion, but my results are good: I try to keep developing times ten minutes or longer.

As Jobo is supposed to be going bankrupt, now is the time to find Jobo gear.

[picker77]

Originally Posted by shadowfox

For me, the easiest and the most foolproof way is by using the Unicolor print drums. This is the website that explained how to do it.

I've used it to develop 4x5 and 5x7 without any problems. In a pinch, you don't have to even use the machine roller, some guys just roll the drum by hand.

Ditto, except I use Jobo drums instead, on a Beseler roller. Roller processing makes it ridiculously easy to consistently get good negatives with B&W--it's fast and not messy, uses minimal amounts of chemicals, and except for transferring the film onto reels in a dark tent you do everything with the lights on. Tempratures and times are not super critical for B&W, at least with Ilford films and developers. After doing this for a year or so, I realize my initial apprehension about the difficulty of doing my own B&W developing was totally unfounded. I soon branched out into MF and LF enlargers and tray development of my own prints, and am now doing 11x14's with no problems (other than an occasional operator screw-up, lol). Might even try some 16x20's one of these days.

I still send out E6 and C41, not willing to fuss with the temperature control and extra processing steps required for color processing at home. Fine by me, since I prefer to shoot mostly in B&W anyway.

Don't be scared off by the experts, just go do it. You'll be surprised how easy it is to get started, and every session you'll get better and better at it.

[MartinP]

In the last six months there is someone in the UK making inserts for the three-reel size of Paterson tank to take 4x5 sheets. That can be googled or found via Apug. I recall they are available from the guy via Eb*y.

An alternative for four sheets of 9x12cm or 4x5" in a small tray, without the sheets damaging each other, would be a slosher. Details can be googled, but basically the film is held over a rigid piece of plastic which you then move in and out of the trays in a similar way to paper (except in darkness obviously). Sloshers are very simple to make at home, with a bit of the polycarb used as a glazing material and a few plastic nuts and bolts. I'll be trying out 10x8 pinholes in the spring and developing like this.

[Roger Hicks]

The easiest way I've found is described in http://www.rogerandfrances.com/subsc...20orbital.html, and I'm lazy but care about quality.

Cheers,

R.

[MISH]

depending on your budget the best system for 4x5, 5x7, or 8x10 is the Jobo CPP2 processor with a lift and one of their Expert drums. Depending on the drum you can process six or ten 4x5 sheets at a time, chemistry temps are controlled and since you never have to touch the chemistry it is ideal for something dangerous as pyro (i still wear gloves and am very cautious). It takes very little chemistry... I use 350ml of Xtol mixed 1:1 (the Kodak website shows processing times for Xtol used in a rotary processor)http://www.kodak.com/global/en/profe.../j109/j109.pdf highly recommended by John Sexton, Howard Bond and many other fine photograhers. Jobo has quit making this wonderful system and while used darkroom equipment is so very cheap right now the price of this stuff seems to keep going up
I think that I would have given up shooting large format if I did not love processing film with my Jobo so much

[Vince Lupo]

A roller and a motor base is the easiest way to process black and white 4x5 or 8x10. Here's a really good example: http://www.flickr.com/photos/raulm/4703441207/

Find yourself a Simma Roller and a motor base, and you'll wonder why you've been getting your fingers wet shuffling sheets of film in a tray!

[Nokton48]

I use the Unicolor Print Drum and Uniroller. Just developed four sheets of 9x12cm and 4x5" together, in one run. When I Pyro develop the film, I do the post-staining process in a tray, I have gotten marks from the ribs during staining.

The Unidrum works just fine for me, I'm getting nice clean negs.

[graywolf]

Actually, the Combiplan, and the Yankee Agitank both work rather well, once you understand that it takes dilute developer and gentle agitation. Dilute so the fill and empty time is a smaller portion of the developing time. Gentle because you are not making a James Bond martini.

[sepiareverb]

If you're going to be sending C-41 in to a lab an empty film box is the simplest way. They'll send the film back to you in the box.

[Matus]

I used to develop 4x5 BW film in trays, but often got scratches. As I tend to develop all my film for the same time, I went with a drum developing.

So - here is what I do and what I use:

- Jobo 2520 tank with 2509n insert which holds 6 sheets
- I use it with 500ml chmistry (actually less can be used, but in my case it would mean too little developer per sheet - Pyrocat HD 1:1:100)
- While developing & fixing I roll the drum on the manual Jobo rolling base or just on the table. But it would be time up to automate this part.
- for washing I have the Jobo hose that is attached to the water outlet (about 10 minutes) and to the drum.
- I prepare photo-flo in a separate tray (500 ml). After about 60 seconds in the drum I pour the photo-flo back to the tray.
- before drying I carefully dip every neg. in the photo flo - just to get rid of bubbles.
- once all is finished I use a small film hangers that hold the negative on one corner (they do punch a little hole in the negative - like a needle)

I considered the "pro" tanks, but I do not see the advantage of those for my simple approach. They are pricey and as all Jobo stuff - out of production recently.

[buzzardkid]

For a brief while I considered selling my Welta Watson kit, to find another purchase. Glad I didn't. This thread is a great incentive to use LF for me.

Still not in started with LF, but still planning to. Work is swamping me and currently family health issues keep me from even contributing to the Shoot Those Lyrics Project . Haven't shot a meaningful shot in weeks, not even from the Leicas.

I'll better my life asap (whenever that may be).

[bigeye]

It's the least expensive of my cameras and takes the finest quality pictures.

I was using the unicolor drum method, which worked well. For greater simplicity, I was looking at a Combi-Plan, but found a London photographer who produces a handy rack/holder for the 3 reel Paterson tank. It works well. He sells them on Ebay.

I don't have an enlarger right now (looking), so my darkroom is a Paterson tank, changing bag, chems and Epson V700.

Jobo 3000-series are the gold standard, and Morgan's rack does take a step more than the 3006 and 3010 (load the rack into the tank), but used jobos cost 2X times as much as my wonderful lens and camera.

- Charlie

[graywolf]

Presuming you do not have a darkroom. What you need besides the chemicals is a daylight developing tank, a changing bag, and a thermometer. The trick with most of the sheet film daylight tanks is not to over agitate.

[Frontman]

I use a Jobo 2500 series tank which I found used on eBay for $40. The tank included a reel which can hold 6 sheets of 4x5 film. With this tank I can also develop MF and 35mm film. It's surprising small for how much it can do, it never leaks, and it's easy to pour out the chemicals smoothly, without making a mess.

Jobo tanks are designed for rotary processing, but work perfectly well for inversion processing of you fill the tanks up fully.

[Mablo]

A new-to-me 4x5 monorail is standing on its tripod next to me. I emptied a friend's freezer from sheet film, b&w and chromes. The film stash arrives next week. So next is developing. Well, actually next is loading the holders and taking a shot but I hope I've got that part covered. The orbital tank at Roger&Frances site looks very promising. I must keep an eye on those. In the meanwhile I think I'll try the taco method.

[Ken Smith]

Question. If a reel, like a Patterson, was wide enough - would 4 X 5 negs work in one?