• Welcome to Photrio!
    Registration is fast and free. Join today to unlock search, see fewer ads, and access all forum features.
    Click here to sign up

1/2 the chemicals!

johnielvis

Member
Allowing Ads
Joined
May 21, 2010
Messages
966
Format
Medium Format
I've started roller processing my roll film in the stainless steel tanks. It takes 1/2 the chemistry since I only need to fill up the tanks 1/2 way. It's worked PERFECTLY since the first time. What I do I use a PLASTIC cap tank and put it in a disused cibachrome drum (smooth inside) and on the roller base. I fill it up half way and use the SAME dev times! I was amazed that the experiment worked. I've been doing this for a month now with no problems. Stainless caps you don't want to even try--not only because of the leaking problems but also because the plastic cap provides a ridge to keep the tank from rolling in the cibachrome drum. Most drums will pull in or push out, so you have to put the tank on one side or the other so when it rolls, you it "sucks in" the tank and it rides on the plastic cap ridge against the edge of the cibachrome drum. See pic. I now use 16 oz to develop 2-120 rolls in the 32 oz tank. AND my hands are now free!

note--the tank/tube can't be centered--it has to be offset to keep the tank balanced up there--that's a 32 oz tank with 2 120 reels in it.
 

Attachments

  • 100_1334.jpg
    352.6 KB · Views: 244
  • 100_1335.jpg
    309.3 KB · Views: 246
1/2 the chemicals twice the fun! I'm not sure if I can handle the clanking
 
Here is a similar, if slightly less "drippy" approach.
 

Attachments

  • develop.jpg
    612.1 KB · Views: 252
I've tried something similar in the past, rolling the tank on my bench, because the roller base is too wide for a normal tank. Yours is the link that I was missing.

Great ! Thank you !
 
I have been using that technique successfully for the fix part of the development process. The 30 second stop bath was to short to be worth the bother. For the developer part of the cycle I wanted more control over the amount of agitation, so use of the drum did not seem applicable to my case.
 
MattKing said:
Here is a similar, if slightly less "drippy" approach.
Click to expand...

Haha I just use a metal coffee can for the outside one. Yours probably looks better because mine look rusty by now.

I do have to say, yes it works great especially for fixing!
 
HEY---that "full containment" one is perfect for when you ABSOLUTELY cannot spill---PLUS---you can put water in there--have awater bath for tempering---now THAT's the cadillac way to do it.
 
johnielvis said:
HEY---that "full containment" one is perfect for when you ABSOLUTELY cannot spill---PLUS---you can put water in there--have awater bath for tempering---now THAT's the cadillac way to do it.
Click to expand...

Sorry - as a water bath, it will be an abject failure - it will leak heat!

It is great for room temperature though - and I always prefer to work at room temperature (with necessary time adjustments) rather than to adjust temperature to a standard time.
 
I use the same roller, but I find a Patterson Universal tank allows a ss 2 reel tank to comfortably sit inside at a nice angle. I use 150 ml of whatever I need. I find only 1 reel at a time works well. Be sure to have the film wound in the direction to "scoop" the chems as it turns only on one direction. I also find the leader of a 35 mm film should be wound on the inside of the reel.


I have been using this for about 5 years, and like Matt, prefer to adjust time rather than temp.
 
I have never gotten more consistent than when I started using the drum. The results cannot get better without consistency. Besides, I used XTol replenished with the drum...
 
Ian Grant said:
If you want to save developer use Xtol replenished then it's more like 1/10th of the chemistry usage and the results are better

Ian
Click to expand...

Yep.
 
Trask said:
What about constant agitation building grain in the image?
Click to expand...

My experience is that there is very little change as far as grain, not saying it doesn't change any, just that it's not a significant change from what I have seen.
 
The constant agitation reduces edge effects there's more aerial oxidation of the developer and as a consequence roller processing isn't ideal with all developers.

Ian
 
fotch said:
Ian, which ones would be ideal or which one to avoid? TY
Click to expand...

PMK is one to avoid as it tends to streak and give patchy results, the best would be those that give little or no edge effects like ID-11/D76. Rotary processing is not ideal for highly dilute developers, there maybe insufficient developing agents present in the volume of developer - that would include D76/ID-11 at 1+3, Rodinal 1+100 etc.

It's not so much ideal though rather that rotary processing can have a slightly different effect on edge effects which will impact on apparent sharpness in final images. Some people try to increase these edge effects with minimal agitation.

Ian
 
How do you carry out stand or semi-stand development if the process relies on constant agitation to cover the film with solution?

RR
 
Regular Rod said:
How do you carry out stand or semi-stand development if the process relies on constant agitation to cover the film with solution?

RR
Click to expand...

You don't.
 
markbarendt said:
My experience is that there is very little change as far as grain, not saying it doesn't change any, just that it's not a significant change from what I have seen.
Click to expand...

grain is a film characteristic, which can be influenced but not dramatically changed by development.
 
The Agfa daylight loading tanks used constant agitation.

If you have a long Patterson plastic tank capable on invertion and a large enough basin or sink you can float them half full of 'water' and spin by hand for better tempering or reduced solution usage. You can spin them in either sense and keep them sensibly level.

When you empty tank you have a ready supply of tempered water for any wash stage.

Not noticed any bad effects yet.

A 5x 35 mm tank on side only needs 750 mls which allows 1 l packaged kits to be used they still float good with the whole litre of stock... though they are less stable.

I've not tried 3x tanks.

This was used with cibachrome processing in special tubes.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Menu
Log in
Register