11x14 Film Developing

Darryl Roberts · Jul 7, 2021

Hi,

I'm close to purchasing a Chamonix 11x14, I'd like to (small) home develop. A friend said in trays they'd scratch. What options do you know of?

Thank you

koraks · Jul 7, 2021

I'd definitely go with trays. One sheet at a time; at this format, you likely don't sheet dozens of sheets on a day, so single sheet development is feasible. And they won't scratch if you're halfway careful.
If you like doing much of the work with the lights on consider using print drums on a rotary base/processor.

radiant · Jul 7, 2021

Darryl Roberts said:
I'm close to purchasing a Chamonix 11x14, I'd like to (small) home develop. A friend said in trays they'd scratch. What options do you know of?

I tried tray developing with Foma 100. I developed multiple sheet at once and got scratches on the negatives. I was pretty cautious about how I handled the films. This concluded my tray development experiment, not for me

NortheastPhotographic · Jul 7, 2021

Jobo all the way. If you can afford a CPP3, it's an incredible machine from home processing. Even if you don't want to outlay that kind of cash, you should be able with some digging, to find a CPP2/CPA2...etc... which will process 11x14. A Jobo is such a good investment for the large format photographer, and any photographer who wants to do color. Just. Do. It.

Andrew O'Neill · Jul 7, 2021

If you have a darkroom, or light tight work area, I'd go with trays. I've used 11x14 trays for 8x10. Always one sheet at a time. For 14x17 x-ray, I use 16x20, flat-bottomed trays.

Mark Crabtree · Jul 7, 2021

Trays work great; get something smooth bottomed liked Cesco and do one at a time. What is going to scratch it? If I want to do more than one at a time I use more than 1 developer tray. Two is easy, three is my limit.

howardpan · Jul 7, 2021

I like using tubes. My largest size is 8x10 but I know Jobo has a print tank that allows you to develop 2 sheets of 11x14 at a time. You can also study the BTZS tube design and make your own 11x14 tubes. The BTZS tube design is especially enlightening as it demonstrates how simple an effective design can be. You don’t need an automated roller, if you want to start with rolling yourself.

Trays work, but I never mastered how to do more than one sheet at a time. Using one tray per sheet quickly takes up too much space for my darkroom sink. For throughput reasons, I quickly moved to tubes. I use the Stark Processor since it allows me to use drums from different manufacturers.

Pioneer · Jul 7, 2021

I use trays as I have been having some streaking in the Jobo tank that I haven't resolved. Trays require some room to use but are very low tech.

I am not developing more than two negatives at a time, usually one, so scratching isn't an issue for me. Eventually I will try to resolve the uneven development in the Jobo tank but since I am only a raw beginner with 11x14 there are far more important issues for me to get my arms around than the rotary tube issue. Since the tray works that is what I use.

Mark Crabtree · Jul 7, 2021

howardpan said:
I like using tubes. My largest size is 8x10 but I know Jobo has a print tank that allows you to develop 2 sheets of 11x14 at a time. You can also study the BTZS tube design and make your own 11x14 tubes. The BTZS tube design is especially enlightening as it demonstrates how simple an effective design can be. You don’t need an automated roller, if you want to start with rolling yourself.

Trays work, but I never mastered how to do more than one sheet at a time. Using one tray per sheet quickly takes up too much space for my darkroom sink. For throughput reasons, I quickly moved to tubes. I use the Stark Processor since it allows me to use drums from different manufacturers.

I love BTZS tubes for 8x10 but this is 11x14 and most people are not running huge numbers of negatives. My homemade 4x5 and 5x7 tubes are absolutely great. My homemade 8x10 tubes are heavy and awkward so I got BTZS. I don' t know of a similar option for 11x14 and they will be bulky and need a large sink. Trays work great and are relatively inexpensive.

Vaughn · Jul 7, 2021

I have developed a ton of 11x14 in trays -- one at a time. Scratches are rare.

awty · Jul 8, 2021

None stick oven trays are good. I made my own flat bottom trays for 14x17. Dont use the plastic paper trays, they use too much chemistry and are prone to scratching.
Trays are cheap and a good starting point. Ive used tanks and tubes, now just trays and one at a time.

Darryl Roberts · Jul 8, 2021

awty said:
None stick oven trays are good. I made my own flat bottom trays for 14x17. Dont use the plastic paper trays, they use too much chemistry and are prone to scratching.
Trays are cheap and a good starting point. Ive used tanks and tubes, now just trays and one at a time.

Thank you very much.

koraks · Jul 8, 2021

awty said:
Dont use the plastic paper trays, they use too much chemistry and are prone to scratching.

Ah, it depends on the type of tray, really. I exclusively use plastic storage trays precisely because they use so little chemistry and because they don't scratch I've also had fairly good success with a non stick oven tray btw, but I prefer the storage boxes because the high walls contain any splashing.

awty · Jul 8, 2021

koraks said:
Ah, it depends on the type of tray, really. I exclusively use plastic storage trays precisely because they use so little chemistry and because they don't scratch I've also had fairly good success with a non stick oven tray btw, but I prefer the storage boxes because the high walls contain any splashing.

I meant not the Patterson style developing trays for paper with the big ribs. Other flat bottom plastic trays may be fine. I also cover the metal tray with another slightly larger metal tray in between changing trays so I can have some light on.
You must be very vigorous in your developing.

Just remember if you use double sided x ray film you need to be even more cautious, you will need to constantly agitate if there is any ribs or dimples on the bottom of the tray as they will show up on the bottom side of the film. Not a problem with normal single sided film.

koraks · Jul 9, 2021

Ah yes, the regular print development trays are not very usable, I agree. And double sided xray is extremely difficult to handle scratch free indeed, at least for me. I gave up on it some years ago.

mshchem · Jul 9, 2021

I use a 2840 Jobo drum 1 sheet at a time on a Jobo machine. I've had streaking, which I resolved by only using stock XTOL no dilution, and plenty of developer. This would be a good candidate for XTOL replenished. Start a 2 liter bottle and just replenish after each cycle. The big 3063 drum will hold 2 11x14 sheets but is immense.

As easy as trays are I'm not sure I would fiddle with tubes. The Jobo does work well for me but I use it for everything.

NortheastPhotographic · Jul 13, 2021

mshchem said:
I use a 2840 Jobo drum 1 sheet at a time on a Jobo machine. I've had streaking, which I resolved by only using stock XTOL no dilution, and plenty of developer. This would be a good candidate for XTOL replenished. Start a 2 liter bottle and just replenish after each cycle. The big 3063 drum will hold 2 11x14 sheets but is immense.

As easy as trays are I'm not sure I would fiddle with tubes. The Jobo does work well for me but I use it for everything.

Not to mention that it's easy as pie to do Xtol-R when using a Jobo. It really is ideal for rotary. Maybe others don't feel this way but IMHO if you can afford gigantic cameras, and gigantic film, you can afford the 3063 drum to process them perfectly.

David A. Goldfarb · Jul 13, 2021

Trays. You need a dark space and practice. When I use trays, I develop emulsion side up, holding the sheet from the far end, passing it with a sweeping motion into the solution and patting it down to make sure it's all in, and then I shuffle the stack from the bottom up. Start with one sheet at a time, and you'll eventually be able to do more. A slow working developer is easier to start with to avoid the risk of uneven development, but not so slow as to risk the effects of potential light leaks in your darkroom, if that's an issue.

Alan Barton · Jul 14, 2021

I developed 11x 14 for several years using standard tray development (16x20 trays) - never more than 3 negatives at a time. Developer was ABC Pyro. As long as you are careful (in loading the film, removing it and developing) - I only lost one or two negatives in that time.

Alan

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