4x5 Developing

JADoss23

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Hi,

After awhile away I'm venturing back into 4x5. Are there any easier and daylightish ways to develop 4x5 that's not tray developing? Thanks!
 

fiddle

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I use the Stearman Press SP445.
I have read complaints, but Ive never had an issue myself. 4 Sheets, 450ML of Chemistry If I remember correctly. Not perfect, but good enough.
 

AnselMortensen

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Yes.

I use a B/W King stainless steel tank and rack set. It's like the old Nikor tank & rack...
I load it in my blacked-out apartment at night, and can process film whenever it's convenient.
There are also 3D-printed racks for Paterson & JOBO tanks, but I have no experience with those.
Hope this helps!
 

Nitroplait

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MOD54 is easy to use after you have seen their instruction video. Up to 6 sheets.
 

Paul Howell

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Old Yankee 4X5 tanks, not liked the Yankee tank myself, hard to agitate. I've used 5X7 paper drums and a motor base, been able to process 2 sheets at a time.
 

John Wiegerink

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Paul Howell said:
Old Yankee 4X5 tanks, not liked the Yankee tank myself, hard to agitate. I've used 5X7 paper drums and a motor base, been able to process 2 sheets at a time.
Click to expand...

Paul,
I had a problem with the Yankee 4X5 tank. It developed film fine, but the problem was one of volumes. A large volume of developer is required and the volume of sheets you shoot. If you have just 3,4 or even 6 sheets you end up using much more developer than required, which makes it not so hot for saving a few pennies. When I started using Xtol-R it was a whole new ballgame. Very little waste and it worked perfect for me. When I only have a few sheets to develop I use the SP445. I get along fine with the SP445, but some folks don't like it much. All I know is this, I will never go back to tray devlopement. I mean never. JohnW
 

cjbecker

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My very un daylight method is yankee tanks with hangers, using developer that is left in the tank and either reused for x number of films (hc110 b) or replenished xtol.

Knock on wood, i have never had uneven developing, even with foma 200 in hc110 for 3.5 mins.

But i went with the tank method have having scratch issues especially with foma 200
 

Jay Schrotenboer

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As you can see lots of options. I personally chose the Stearman Press sp445 when I stepped up to 4x5 and it has worked well for me so far, except for the times that I would have liked the ability to develop more than 4 frames at a time.
 

Two23

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Another happy user of the Stearman 445. I was one of the first to get one and have processed several hundred sheets without incident. They also have one for 8x10. It does one sheet of 8x10, or two sheets 5x7, or 4 sheets of 4x5. I've also processed "odd" sizes in it.


Kent in SD
 

Paul Howell

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The Yankee tank I was thinking of is the daylight version with adjustable slots, with the lid on had to rocked back and forth to agitate. I use deep tanks, Kodak, Yankee, and 2 Color Spot tanks, made in LA, not sure when, only seen the 2 I have. Each holds a quart, up to 4 hangers will fit, I generally fit 3. They have daylight lids which I don't use as I like to pull the hangers up and out for agitation rather than rock back and forth.
 

BAC1967

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I recently got one of the Yankee Agitanks. It does the best development of other methods I’ve tried but as John mentioned above, it takes a lot of chemistry. I have one of the Nikkor stainless tanks but if you don’t agitate it just right you get bands across the film from the cross braces. Tray development works ok for me but I have to go through the process of turning the laundry room into a dark room so I tend to avoid that Unless I’m doing a lot of printing. As long as I have two liters of fix on hand I’ll keep using the Yankee Agitank.
 

guangong

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I once used Yankee tanks, but now use Jobo. I should add that my LF is limited to 4x4, and not the larger sizes.
 

Tel

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Many moons ago, when I first started developing my own LF negs, I took a friend's advice and got a couple of Unicolor tanks and a roller base. Never looked back--black and white, C-41, it all works well in my Unicolor rig and I only need 300 ml of soup. The small size tank will do four 4x5 sheets, two 5x7 sheets or one 8x10.
 

Donald Qualls

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Paul Howell said:
Old Yankee 4X5 tanks, not liked the Yankee tank myself, hard to agitate. I've used 5X7 paper drums and a motor base, been able to process 2 sheets at a time.
Click to expand...

I'm currently using a Yankee Agitank. Main advantages: capacity (12 sheets) and price (under $50 new). Main disadvantages: mildly annoying to load, especially with higher loading (easy to get two sheets in the same slot), and high volume (an incentive to use a replenished developer, where volume hardly matters).

If you strongly prefer one-shot developers, or aren't likely to shoot more than 8 sheets or so on a single outing, I'd suggest the Stearman Press SP-445. Very economical of developer and compact compared to the B&W King or Mod 54.
 

Donald Qualls

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Raghu Kuvempunagar said:
use the Taco method and develop the sheets in the Paterson tank just like roll film.
Click to expand...

Very important! Make sure you have the core column in the tank, it's part of the light trap!
 

Sirius Glass

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I tried trays, the Yankee tank and several others. Each time [from the Yankee tank] at FreeStyle [shameless plug for one of Photrio long time advertiser and supporter] for better tanks. I ended up with the Jobo 3010 Expert Drum and CPE2 processor and never looked back. For both black & white and color that pair provide consistent good streakless problem free negatives. Well worth the investment.
 

abruzzi

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I have both the Stearman tanks (445 and 810) as well as the 20th Century spiral for Patterson tanks, I’m still developing 4x5 mostly in the Stearman 445, but honestly, you could easily do 4 sheets of 4x5 in the 810 with 300ml of developer, which is super frugal. The 810 is also nice if you have issues with small fiddly things in the dark (loading the 445 isn’t hard, but the 810 is easier.). Really the only drawback of the 810 is it’s more problematic in color temp controlled bath, so I use it only with B&W at more or less room temp.
 

grat

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Stearman SP-445, 20th Century Reel (for 4x5 and 2x3). Happy with all three.

The 20th century reel (and the mod54) are nice complements to grafmatics, as they both hold 6 sheets.
 
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