Alternative to Jobo processors

Curt · Jun 12, 2010

I there an alternative to a Jobo processor for developing black and white film? Besides the tubes you roll constantly by hand in a tray of water.

Curt

dng88 · Jun 12, 2010

Tray development would be a good option and in fact it is cheapest and the best way for black and white. Just like the BTZS tubes, I have never tried the dip and dunk system but it is used by some others. The jobo can be hand rolled. I have used inverted method up to 4x5 using Paterson and Jobo Tank.

ic-racer · Jun 12, 2010

Phototherm, King Concept, Wing Lynch, Kodak Versamat, Hope, Kreonite, Colenta (others?)

grahamp · Jun 12, 2010

Trays*, deep tanks*, BTZS tubes, home-made tubes (inversion)+, conventional spiral tanks without spirals (taco method)+, Jobo 5x4 film tanks#, Jobo paper tanks#.

* Need a darkroom + 5x4 maybe 5x7 # motorized or hand rolled, inversion is possible

They all work, and they all have their own adherents. I use a Jobo for most of my 5x4, but I still use my home made single sheet inversion tanks for some jobs where I want less agitation http://grahampatterson.home.comcast.net/~grahampatterson/grahamp/darkroom/lfdevelop.html

Allen Friday · Jun 12, 2010

Do you want to develop under room light, or in the dark? Trays are easy and cheap, but you spend a lot of time in the dark. The Jobos are great, but expensive. If temperature control is not vital, e.g. You can control the room temperature sufficiantly, the a Bessler roller base and Jobo tubes works fine. If you get uneven development in trays, you might try a slosher tray.

Curt · Jun 12, 2010

That's one I forgot about, the slosher trays, thanks Allen. Now to have a slosher tray on a motorized rocker, maybe end to end then side to side motion or random? The Jobo units roll at 75 RPM I believe, I wonder if that's too fast for a slosher tray to rock even though it's a tray to tank comparison? Great ideas and I hadn't thought of all those systems in a long time.

I like the one called "Hope", we could all used a bit of that. op ed.

I use tanks and hangers right now for all sheets from 2 1/4 to 8x10, the number if sheets that can be processed is fine but a slosher tray that did say 4 films would be OK too. A pivot on the tray support table and a motor with an disk overhead with a rod to the tray would work. A variable speed DC motor would work very good.

I don't mind sitting in the dark but having to shuffle films gives my neck and head aches. I don't mind lifting the hangers but a simple automated setup would be great.

TareqPhoto · Jun 14, 2010

I am really looking for getting JOBO processor machine, but i can't find where to buy it anywhere, can you help me? or can you link me to any other developing machine? i don't want to use tanks and reels manually traditional way.

Adrian Twiss · Jul 28, 2010

Curt said:
I there an alternative to a Jobo processor for developing black and white film? Besides the tubes you roll constantly by hand in a tray of water.

Curt

You should be able to buy the jobo roller base number 1509. It is a manual base that is adjustable to take all jobo tanks and drums. I use it with a jobo expert 3610 tank. Its one of the easiest to load and can be used on this roller base without leaking. Whilst I have not got my rotation regime quite right, I am not getting any uneven developement. You can use the smaller 25 series on this roller in addition to using it as a standard development tank.

AgX · Jul 28, 2010

Durst Filmetta 2nd hand (a bit like a Jobo ATL1000)

Thermaphot Filmprocessor customized to b&w

domaz · Jul 28, 2010

Curt said:
That's one I forgot about, the slosher trays, thanks Allen. Now to have a slosher tray on a motorized rocker, maybe end to end then side to side motion or random? The Jobo units roll at 75 RPM I believe, I wonder if that's too fast for a slosher tray to rock even though it's a tray to tank comparison? Great ideas and I hadn't thought of all those systems in a long time.

I like the one called "Hope", we could all used a bit of that. op ed.

I use tanks and hangers right now for all sheets from 2 1/4 to 8x10, the number if sheets that can be processed is fine but a slosher tray that did say 4 films would be OK too. A pivot on the tray support table and a motor with an disk overhead with a rod to the tray would work. A variable speed DC motor would work very good.

Err 75 RPM for a slosher tray? I think the agitation principles are quite a bit different between a tray and a horizontal tank. In a horizontal tank you have to constantly agitate to ensure the developer covers the film uniformly, in a tank you are back to agitating every 30 seconds business or so. You can do that with a DC motor but that's quite a bit more complicated because of the timing. You will probably have to hook it up to some sort of aftermarket timer or perhaps a programmed Microprocessor.

Alternative to Jobo processors

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