4x5 B&W Tray Processing

[mjs]

Lots of good advice -- developing B&W sheet film is a simple enough process that there's plenty of room for variation. If it were me...

I'd start by processing the first few sheets one at a time until I've convinced myself that I've got the basic process down -- developer time, stop, fix, wash. In my experience, most scratches on film are a result of a corner of one sheet dragging against the surface of another while they're being shuffled, or in washing, so just sloshing one sheet in a tray, emulsion side up, really minimizes the chances of scratching.

Once I have some nicely done negatives under my belt, I'd process two films together in a tray. I would process them face down because, in my ugly hands, I get fewer scratches than I get with the emulsion side face up. Your mileage may vary! Once I manage to eliminate scratches with two sheets, I'd go to four sheets at a time. With four sheets, I'd want at least a quart of developer in an 8x10 tray in order to have sufficient depth of solution to help prevent scratches. You can probably use less solution in a 5x7 tray but I wouldn't know as I don't have any 5x7 trays. I use one quart because the T-max film I use really, really likes FRESH D-76. I mix D-76 a gallon at a time and as soon as it's mixed, decant into four one-quart bottles, filled to the brim and tightly capped. D-76 keeps for a long time that way. A quart of D-76 will develop 16 4x5 films, so I try to hold off processing until I have about that many sheets to process, but that's just me, 'cause I'm cheap. I normally process 8-12 sheets at a time but I've been doing this long enough that I have lots of practice. The more practice you get, the better you get at it, the fewer scratches you'll have, and the more sheets of film you can process at once. Good luck and have fun!

Mike

 

[aaronmichael]

Lots of good advice -- developing B&W sheet film is a simple enough process that there's plenty of room for variation. If it were me...

I'd start by processing the first few sheets one at a time until I've convinced myself that I've got the basic process down -- developer time, stop, fix, wash. In my experience, most scratches on film are a result of a corner of one sheet dragging against the surface of another while they're being shuffled, or in washing, so just sloshing one sheet in a tray, emulsion side up, really minimizes the chances of scratching.

Once I have some nicely done negatives under my belt, I'd process two films together in a tray. I would process them face down because, in my ugly hands, I get fewer scratches than I get with the emulsion side face up. Your mileage may vary! Once I manage to eliminate scratches with two sheets, I'd go to four sheets at a time. With four sheets, I'd want at least a quart of developer in an 8x10 tray in order to have sufficient depth of solution to help prevent scratches. You can probably use less solution in a 5x7 tray but I wouldn't know as I don't have any 5x7 trays. I use one quart because the T-max film I use really, really likes FRESH D-76. I mix D-76 a gallon at a time and as soon as it's mixed, decant into four one-quart bottles, filled to the brim and tightly capped. D-76 keeps for a long time that way. A quart of D-76 will develop 16 4x5 films, so I try to hold off processing until I have about that many sheets to process, but that's just me, 'cause I'm cheap. I normally process 8-12 sheets at a time but I've been doing this long enough that I have lots of practice. The more practice you get, the better you get at it, the fewer scratches you'll have, and the more sheets of film you can process at once. Good luck and have fun!

Mike

Thanks for all the information Mike! Speaking of fresh D-76, I'm a student and so I do all my work at our school lab. The D-76 and HC-110 that we have are premixed and in a cylindrical plastic tank. Should I use this when developing or should I ask them if I can mix my own? If I mixed my own then I know it would be fresh. I don't know how this applies to the Arista films though, maybe it doesn't matter as much as the T-Max films you use.

 

[Terrence Brennan]

Why worry about catching the overflow for future use when it is already weakened from partial use and most developers are single shot once diluted. The minimal cost of developer makes it false economy to do so when it might cause you to under-develop the best image you have ever made.

True, but I replenish my developers, and I keep the storage bottles topped to the brim.

At the end of a developing session, after adding the correct amount of replenisher to the bottle, I top it off with used developer; any excess is discarded. If I am processing more film than the volume of developer in my tray can accommodate, then I replenish as I go.

 

[2F/2F]

8 oz for a single sheet is the minimum if you don't want to run into under-development problems from developer exhaustion at some time.

That is very safe, but I disagree that it is a minimum. 8 oz. of D-76 will easily develop 80 sq-in of emulsion, or four sheets of 4x5, even at 1:1. I believe Kodak states a 4 oz. minimum of stock per roll, so 8 oz. can actually do eight sheets. And that can be halved, unofficially, and complete development achieved. When D-76 was my main developer, I used it 1:1 or 1:3 in trays for a single sheet, with 8 oz. working solution per sheet, with no problems at all.

 

[aaronmichael]

Skipped biology class today because I was so excited that I finally got the film this morning and of course I wanted to shoot at least one sheet of it. Took me a few minutes to get the film loaded into the holder. Went outside with the camera, took the shot, and went back into the darkroom and developed. The shot was shot at 1/30th, f/11, ISO 100. I pre soaked for 1 minute, developed for 5 minutes using HC-110 dilution B with agitation by lifting the tray every 15 seconds, water as a stop bath, and 20 minutes in the fixer. Overall, I'm pretty happy with how it came out. I just need to be more careful handling the film because there are permanent finger prints all over the left side of the image. Maybe I'll look into getting some gloves. I scanned the photo at 2400 dpi after it was dry and I was AMAZED at the level of detail that a 4x5 negative holds.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/aaronmichael/5636120679/in/photostream

 

[Bill Burk]

Very nice aaronmichel!

I wanted to answer because you asked - even though it won't matter until you get brave enough to do several sheets - that when shuffling... Shuffling itself causes enough agitation. And yes, a sharp corner of one sheet dragging across the emulsion is something to avoid. Emulsion-up rules out tray ridges as a possible source of scratches.

 

[walbergb]

I agree with mjs: start with two sheets and increase as your skill level increases. I like doing four at a time, but I'm still on the upslope of my learning curve.

There are some good videos on YouTube (type in "processing sheet film in trays"). I prefer 5x7 trays. I find the film moves around with the rocking in anything larger, and I lose track of the order not to mention the risk of scratching while trying to gather them up. With a 5x7 tray, I can easily collect the pile at the end of the tray and pick the bottom sheet out. I put the notch codes of the bottom sheet at the top and flip all the other sheets 180 degrees so I know how much each sheet has been shuffled.

My last suggestion is to practice in daylight with wasted film. When I bought my used film holders, there was film in them. I saved them for practicing.

 

[mjs]

Skipped biology class today because I was so excited that I finally got the film this morning and of course I wanted to shoot at least one sheet of it. Took me a few minutes to get the film loaded into the holder. Went outside with the camera, took the shot, and went back into the darkroom and developed. The shot was shot at 1/30th, f/11, ISO 100. I pre soaked for 1 minute, developed for 5 minutes using HC-110 dilution B with agitation by lifting the tray every 15 seconds, water as a stop bath, and 20 minutes in the fixer. Overall, I'm pretty happy with how it came out. I just need to be more careful handling the film because there are permanent finger prints all over the left side of the image. Maybe I'll look into getting some gloves. I scanned the photo at 2400 dpi after it was dry and I was AMAZED at the level of detail that a 4x5 negative holds.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/aaronmichael/5636120679/in/photostream

Not bad, not bad at all! To answer your earlier question, I'm careful about the freshness of my D-76 because T-max films get unpredictably wonky with partially oxidized developer. That said, "fresh" D-76 is what's in my darkroom and what I use for all my film... because it's what I have! I use Arista.edu and Ilford in 8x10 and Arista.edu in 5x7. Depending on exposure, etc. I'll either use D-76 or PMK Pyro with these films. Sorry that I can't help you with how partially oxidized D-76 works with Arista or other films.

Regarding your fingerprints; yes, gloves will help. Keep in mind that Arista.edu is a relatively soft film in that the emulsion doesn't have hardeners in it like Kodak or Ilford film does. Especially at elevated temperatures (greater than 70 deg. F.) it easily takes fingerprints. You really have to learn to handle it by the edges and don't drop it!

Mike

 

[aaronmichael]

Thanks for the feedback. I'll definitely try loading in the light in order to practice. I wasn't aware about the Arista film not having any hardeners in it, thanks for the information. I'll just have to be really careful about loading it. I think my problem was that I was trying to load it from where the light trap at the bottom starts - instead of feeling for the start of the grooves and then sliding it in from there. Doing some more shooting tomorrow of my sister and hopefully heading up to Los Angeles on Saturday. Hopefully the shots I take come out alright. I think I'll develop one sheet and see how it comes out, and then base my development times of the other photographs off of that.

 

[aaronmichael]

Went out to LA to shoot today and hopefully developing on Monday. I think I'm going to tray process one at at time in HC-110 dilution H for 7.5 minutes. I found a couple other posts about Arista.EDU Ultra that said that dilution + the film was a great combination. I developed my first 4x5 shot in HC-110 dilution B though for 5 minutes and it came out a little thin. I've heard that Arista EDU.Ultra develops fast in HC-110 dilution B so maybe my negative was underexposed.