4 x 5 Sheet Film Developing

[Barry Dale Currence]

I have done 35mm film developing in my darkroom for some time. I bought a Toyo 4 x 5 view camera and would like to know the best way to develop the film. I've read of tray development by inspection, that sounds like the cheapest way, what can a beginner expect with that process? I am anxious to try out my new camera but don't want to send the film to a lab.
Barry Dale

 

[Jim Jones]

Tray development is inexpensive and convenient. Long ago development by inspection was more common, but relying on time and temperature may be more suitable with modern material.

 

[reellis67]

It depends on how many films you want to do in how much, or little, time. Trays are good for one at a time to begin with, and then once you get the hang of shuffling you can do more by shuffling them over and over in the tray. You can do around 8 at a time with hangers or a daylight tank like the HP, or you can do stand development one sheet at a time in a 4 reel tank. I've done one at a time tray, hangers, and the 4 reel tank method and found they all work well for me, but I've not quite got the hang of shuffling just yet. I still scratch only the best negative everytime I try it.

- Randy

 

[Markok765]

How do you dev by inspection?

 

[BrianShaw]

Ortho film and a safe light. Look at film while developing. Stop developing when it looks right.

 

[stompyq]

is ortho film still available?

 

[reellis67]

Oh yes. Follow the Freestyle link on the APUG homepage.

- Randy

 

[BrianShaw]

is ortho film still available?

I don't think so... except, maybe, in digital formats (hee-hee)

EDIT: My mistake; I stand corrected. Randy is right... all sorts of sizes at Freestyle, but litho only.

 

[k_jupiter]

Everybody has an opinion.

I have these tubes made out of flourescent light protectors, cut down to 5 inches. I put them in a Patterson Series 4 tank, the one that will take two 120 film rolls. Of course, there aren't any rolls in them when I process sheet film, heck, I don't use them for 120 film, I use metal reels in a Kindermann type tank. Anyhow, place the 4 4x5s in the tubes in total darkness, put the center tube in the tank, and you now process just like roll film.

For 5x7 film I use a color tube processor (beseler 11x14) with a divider so I can process two films at once on a roller unit. That's a little different than regular roll processing.

tim in san jose

 

[MikeM1977]

Ortho film and a safe light. Look at film while developing. Stop developing when it looks right.

I occasionally develop by inspection with HP5 in HC110. I haven't fogged film yet.

 

[reellis67]

They do still have some Maco ORT, but it's all out of date...

- Randy

 

[Monophoto]

Barry -

The easiest way to start is with tray developing. Obviously, you have to have a darkroom. If you are doing only one sheet, that's a perfectly good way to work. But there is a risk of scratching if you are doing multiple sheets.

One step up is to use a slosher - that's a simple insert that fits inside a tray that provides individual compartments for sheets so that they don't touch each other. A six-sheet slosher with 11x14 trays is an excellent way to process film.

There are daylight tanks for 4x5 sheets. Yankee has a plastic tank that has a bad reputation for leaking and uneven development. ComboPlan is a German plastic tank that is pretty good, but also pretty expensive. And you may be able to find a stainless steel tank in the used equipment market. Nikkor had one that processed sheets in a flat/parallel hanger system, and I've seen a round tank that had a spiral holder for 4x5 sheets.

Then there are various automated or semi-automated approaches. BTZS tubes are light-tight tubes that hold individual sheets of film. You insert the film, pour in the developer, install the end caps, and then lay the tubes on their sides to agitate by rolling. Some people use printing drums and motor bases - you can process four sheets at a time in an 8x10 printing drum. And finallythere is the Jobo system.

LF is fun - you will have a few disasters along the way, but keep at it.

 

[timeUnit]

Check this out:

(there was a url link here which no longer exists)

It's tube/tray development. Much like k_jupiters suggestion, but a bit different.

 

[Phillip P. Dimor]

I use a uniroller with an 8x10 unicolor drum. It holds 4 sheets of 4x5 at a time. It takes about 250 to 400ml of developer. This is a rotary/constant agitation system.
I like it, especially for the price. I have three roller bases but the good 8x10 drums are a bit more expensive/tougher to find.

I could never tray develop. I've tried, I was just never very good at it.
I tried the btzs-style tubes.. Too much spinning.
This is the best way for me. It's cheap, I can mix up fresh fixer and stop while developing.. It's repeatable, etc.

Jobo is great but $$$. I paid about $30 for my first roller base and 8x10 drum.

 

[noseoil]

I like the tube development with pyrocat approach. Minimal agitation (roll tube for first minute, then do 10 seconds every 3 minutes until done) and a tube allows you to work with the lights on for most of the time. The tubes are nice because you can tailor times to each sheet and its needs. Made tubes from 1 1/2" abs drain line and plumbing shop fittings. See article in the how to section for details. tim

 

[MurrayMinchin]

Confused yet Barry? Ask 50 photographers how they do something and you'll get 75 answers

My suggestion is to keep things simple at first...you'll have enough to think about without trying to judge the quality of a diffuse, milky negative in just a few seconds under really dim light.

Have you read the sheet film development section in Ansel Adams book, "The Negative"? It's got all the information you need to get started. His method is what I used, and still use, even though I'd never even seen a LF camera until mine arrived in the mail. Seemed to work well enough for him!

A couple tips...use a pre-soak (so you can be sure the sheets aren't stuck together), and start with a small number of sheets at first. Three is good for a start; taking the sheet from the bottom of the stack and placing it on the top every 10 seconds. The most I do now is 6, agitating every 5 seconds.

Murray

P.S. Some techno-whacko's here (sorry Sean ) use night vision goggles to develop by inspection...you may want to do an APUG search on that topic

 

[markbb]

Barry,
like you I moved up to 5x4 a while back & had the same issue with developing film. For me, to get an absolutely dark dark room (as opposed to a reasonably dark darkroom, OK for printing) was a pain in the arse, so I picked up a paterson orbital process on ebay for a tenner. With this I could process 4 sheets of film in daylight (obviously loading it in a changing bag) & get very good results. You dont need the motorised base, just give it a wiggle at the same times you would invert a daylight tank.



Moving on a few years, I now have a jobo processor & use the (very expensive!) expert tanks to do B&W, E6 and C41 processing of 5x4 and 10x8 film. I wonder how long before you'll be there!

 

[mjs]

Ooh, I know how to heat things up: when developing multiple sheets of film in trays, process the film emulsion side down. It *really* reduces the chances of scratching the film. And don't hurry, there's no need. I've gotten to the point where I can process 12 sheets of 4x5 at a time (which is the capacity of my home-made washer,) and haven't scratched a sheet it.... I don't know how long. A long time. Cheap, simple, and effective.

mjs

 

[tim atherton]

I'd second the Unicolor drum and base - I used this for a good few years vefore I got a Jobo - a patient search shold get you a setup from $30.00-50.00. (for a while I used the base with Jobo Expert drums as well - but they obviously cost more) Very conventient and reasonably easy to use:

http://www.largeformatphotography.info/
scroll down to Traditional processing and printing for lots of options, including:

http://www.largeformatphotography.info/unicolor/

Also, for development by inspection, it doesn't of course need to be Ortho:

http://www.michaelandpaula.com/mp/devinsp.html

 

[John Bartley]

I like the tube development with pyrocat approach. Minimal agitation (roll tube for first minute, then do 10 seconds every 3 minutes until done) and a tube allows you to work with the lights on for most of the time. The tubes are nice because you can tailor times to each sheet and its needs. Made tubes from 1 1/2" abs drain line and plumbing shop fittings. See article in the how to section for details. tim

Same here except with extended D23 for a developer. Easy, cheap, consistent results, no working in the dark. How much better can it get?

cheers

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

If you want to develop by inspection the traditional way with panchromatic film and a green safelight, read the article on this subject at www.michaelandpaula.com.

Tray development may be done by time and temperature or by inspection.

There are some introductory articles on sheet film development at lfphoto.info.

 

[JBrunner]

After mucking about with trays and tubes for 4x5 developing, I finally settled on the HP combi tank. I like being able to do six sheets at a time, and I like that it is procedurally similar to developing roll film. It takes some practice to load. After you load it you must run your fingers around the edge (like tupperware) to make sure it is sealed. Even then it may leak a little, so its best in a sink or tray.When filling you must make sure the air valve is all the way open, or it will take too long to fill up. I have read complaints regarding both these issues, and in large part I solved them, with the previously mentioned actions.

Some people do absolutely hate this tank,
but once I got used to the quirks, it became my friend. It is particularly good for stand development, as once it is loaded, you get to work in the light.

For 8x10 I use tray development, because it is simple, and I tend to shoot many fewer sheets when I use the 8x10, and that is most of the time.

 

[raucousimages]

I think the best way to start is development with a tank and film hangers. Easy to learn and inexpensive. Then go on to tray, tube, inspection, stand, semi-stand, compensating, N, N-1, N-2, N+1, N+2, brush, spray, nitrogen burst, coffee, staining, tanning, steam vapor and dancing naked to Dark Side of the Moon. Did I miss anything? Let him start with the basics. Tank and hanger is about as simple as it gets. He will have all the time in the world to get screwed up later. And yes we can help. LF is a sickness and we are the symptom not the cure.

 

[poutnik]

I'm also a beginner in the field of sheet development. So far I've developed around 50 sheets.

The first 40 were all developed in trays. It's easy, straightforward. I haven't scratched a sheet this way. I've also tried development by inspection with a green light, but have fogged all the sheets I tried. So this is no way for me. (I do single sheet at a time; stand development, 15 "tilts" in the begining, then 1 "tilt" of the tray around every 5th minute)

As I wanted also to try developing color, I ordered a used HP Combi tank. Just yesterday I developed first 8 sheets in this (first 2 sheets just to test). As there was no instruction manual with the tank, I had to find the hard way about opening the air valve. At the second try I though it was better to fill the tank with developer first, then shut the light off and load the film in the holder, dip them into the tank and then close the lid, turn the lights on and do the agitation then (solves the problem of too slow filling of the tank). Just remember to open the air valve prior to emptying the tank...

The only downside is you have to use 1litre of solution for the 6 sheets, in trays I use much lower amount - around 400ml for a run of 8 sheets...

So from my point of view, if you have lighttight darkroom, try trays.

 

[poutnik]

You can go for any other method later, but for larger sheets there are less options for tanks. So IMO it helps to learn the tray development...