[LargeFormat] sheet film developing

[rstein]

Dear Rei,

     I have used the following at various times:

1.     Yankee-Doran bakelite tank
2.    HP Combiplan tank
3.    3 plastic Decor tubs from the grocery store
4.    A garbage bin
5.     BTZS tubes

    The Yankee tank is well-built, historical, and holds 12 sheets of film.
But I found it impossible by any practical means to get adequate agitation
to get even film development. And it is aessentailly an unsealed ank - no
inversion.

    The HP Combiplan is slow to fill but if you have it prepared with the
developer in it and just plop the loaded rack into it and snap on the top,
you can continue on as if it were a standard ank. It takes 30 seconds to
empty so leave that time in your calculations. It can leak sometimes, so
watch it with colour materials.

    The 3 plastic tubs are 2 litre size and were selected to fit the HP
Combiplan rack. I have them suspended in a Jobo TBE2 tempering box. Using
rubber gloves and a modicum of caution I can process C41 without involving
my fingertips. 2 litres is a lot of chemistry out of a 5 litre kit, however,
and the system is still open at the top. And it is all dark in the darkroom.

    The garbage bin was really just a desperate measure when I was attacked
by mylar-based aero film and had to defend myself. I still have the scars
but as I have gotten older I find it harder to attract the attention of
young ladies in bars with offers to show them. I blame this on the apathy of
youth.

    The Btzs tubes are fun when I want to do 1 or 2 sheets fast. Fill the
cups, load the films, shake, roll,drop it into a jug of fixer when the dev
time is done, and then extract the sheet when it is fixed. The fact that the
anti-halation dye on the back of some films is hard to remove when the fixer
does not get round the back is a pain - you will end up soaking the sheets
in more fixer to clean things up. I think someone at Kodak won a bet with
that dye coating - who could keep the darkroom workers after school longest.

    Now - I HAVE ordered  Jobo sheet film reels and a loader and will try
that alternative for the colour work. A full report will follow whenever it
is trialed. I daresay it will work.

     Uncle Dick