4X5 newbie, couple processing questions here

[Rich Ullsmith]

Somewhat related to the Rodinal thread below. Had me first real 4X5 processing session last week, ten sheets of Tmax 100 in rodinal 1+50. My 2L tank holds only 5 hangers comfortably, so that worked out to 40 ml of rodinal per each 5 sheets.

In retrospect, that 40ml should be plenty to process all ten sheets. Would you guys have run the second set of 5 sheets through the same solution, and simply compensate with a little more time? Or maybe juice it with another 5ml or so? Just seems like 80 ml of rodinal for 10 sheets of film is not very economical. Any thoughts on this would be appreciated.

 

[Ian Grant]

That's 400ml per sheet not 40ml

My Jobo tank uses 500ml for each batch of 6 sheets of 5x4 which has always been perfect in 25+ years of Rodinal & 5x4, I think you could very safely run a second set but maybe add 10% longer to cope with the slight exhaustion.

Ian

 

[rwboyer]

I know this has nothing to do with your question but....

Tanks are a giant PIA and can cause lots of issues with sheet film - getting agitation consistent is really hard esp if you are just starting out.

Trays are nice. I vacillate between trays and BTZS tubes. You may want to give either a try -they are both really really cheap. Jobo's are nice but... kind of a hefty investment. I got rid of my Jobo stuff a long time ago because my volumes went way down and because my preferred sheet film developer was not conducive to rotary processing - so I ended up with trays again after having started out that way.

RB

 

[Rich Ullsmith]

I think my math is alright there: 2000ml divided by 50ml=40ml. I thought about the tray, which is how I was doing it with my pinhole stuff, but that was only two sheets at a time.

10% was what I was thinking too, for starters. Or go to 1+100.

 

[Ian Grant]

Both our maths was right, I meant 400ml dilute dev per sheet

That's actually 8ml of concentrate per sheet, I reckon you could do 3-4 batches per 2 litre with care, or go more dilute as you suggest.

Ian

 

[BetterSense]

Tanks are a giant PIA and can cause lots of issues with sheet film - getting agitation consistent is really hard esp if you are just starting out.

What issues? I just switched to tanks and I'm loving it. It's much LESS of a PIA and I'm having no issues whatsoever, unlike the scratches and edge density problems I got from tray processing. The way to get consistent agitation is to consistently agitate. I agitate once per minute, same as for roll film.

 

[Ian Grant]

Over the years I've used spiral tanks (JOBO) and deep tanks with no problems. However tanks like the HP's and Yankees aren't as easy to agitate in my experience.

But for 5x4 tanks are vastly superior to tray processing or BTZ tubes bu that changes with large sheet sizes.

Ian

 

[Willie Jan]

I use manual Jobo tanks (2521) too without any problems for 4x5".
In the beginning you will have to find out the best way to fill the spool, but other than that there is no problem.

 

[Ronald Moravec]

The agitation trick with hangars is lots of agitation initially, in out tip 45 deg 5 sec, in, out tip opposite, drain 5 sec, 8 in and out cycles in first 60 sec.

If you had a stainless steel tank, I would tell you to order a hangar rack from Arkay in Milwaukee. Basically it is a cage that hold 6 hangars tightly and all you have to do is lift the cage. Makes life simple.

You will not like the price. At least $100. Another hundred for the single 4x5 tank. Fortunately I inherited the water bath and 2 tanks so my investment was minimal.

 

[totalamateur]

I'm a 4x5 newb too. (well, a darkroom newb would be more accurate) So what about no agitation at all - I was planing to drop Tri-X flat into a 8x10tray with a liter of full strength developer and let it sit for the recommended time on D-76 plus a little, like a minute after shooting at rated speed?

Or is that stoopid?

 

[BetterSense]

Yeah, I don't think that's a good idea. I think you can stand-develop sheet film in hangers, but it never worked for me in trays.