Developing 4x5

I went with a slosher

I had the same issue, but I went with a slosher.

Mine is a converted Kodak 2x2 hanger - here's the thread on sloshers:

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

Regarding the slosher trays - I normally do 8 x 10, but occasionally shoot 4 x 5 and wanted to do four sheets per tray. I was not attracted to the price of the commercially available trays so I made my own. Down at Wallmart, they sell in the craft department sheets of plastic that has holes in it. It cost about $5 for a package of 6 sheets that are about 16 x 20 inches. You can easily cut the material with scissors. I made up a pattern, cut out the strips, and used hot melt glue to assemble a slosher basket that neatly fits into an 11 x 14 tray for my developing. Each sheet has it's own compartment and easily enough space around it for agitation.

I'm assuming that the hot melt glue doesn't have any chemicals in it that will leach out into the developer, but I'm not sure on that. However, I have used it once and there doesn't appear to be any problems.

great idea

Dan Dozer said:

Down at Wallmart, they sell in the craft department sheets of plastic that has holes in it. It cost about $5 for a package of 6 sheets that are about 16 x 20 inches. You can easily cut the material with scissors. I made up a pattern, cut out the strips, and used hot melt glue to assemble a slosher basket that neatly fits into an 11 x 14 tray for my developing. Each sheet has it's own compartment and easily enough space around it for agitation. .

Click to expand...

What a great idea Dan!

Krzys said:

For those using drums/tanks (that work!) how much did you pay for your setup?

Click to expand...

It's a bit unusual, but I use a PhotoTherm 4 sheet adapter. I happen to use it in a PhotoTherm system most of the time, but it fits perfectly into a Paterson 3 reel tank and works fine that way.

It's not cheap. About $120 for a little plastic thingy that looks like a rip-off when you first take it out of the box. But it works great. The high cost isn't materials, it's sales volume. If they were selling a thousand of them a week they would probably only cost $19.95.

Somewhere around her (or maybe photo.net, can't remember where now) is a description of it that I wrote up.

I used 8x10 trays for many years. Here is my procedure, which came from Fred Picker.

I do 4x5 tri-x in trays, have been for years, with HC110. 8 - 10 sheets at a time.
Unload from holders into a film box, e-up, clipping the corner of the last one, so I can find it in the dark.
Turn the stack over, now the clipped one is on the bottom, e-down. Hold films in the left hand.
Pull films out with the right hand, one at a time, drop into a tray of water the same temp as the developer, pushing down into the water with the little finger, keeping the rest of the hand dry. Go through the stack, the clipped one on the bottom, and herd them all together into a neat stack.
Shuffle constantly for 2 minutes.
When the clipped one is on the bottom, pull out the stack and drain for only a second or two.
Place them, e-down, into the developer and begin shuffling, bottom to top. Rotate 90 degrees clockwise every other shuffle (feel for the corner).
Agitate constantly the whole time.
Pull the stack out together and go to the stop, fix, etc.

I use an 8x10 tray for 4x5 with 1000cc developer (you can use 1500 for deeper chem). This was Fred Picker's recommended method for tray development and I have very few problems with uneven development, and maybe only one or two scratches over the years with this. I also do a lot of pan strips, and a sequence of shots is always very closely developed between shots. It's important that the stack is never settled out completely, so they are shifting a bit between each other all the time.
Practice in the light with some of that bad film to develop the feel for it.

I used to use trays, but it was slow, I got scratches with soft film, and my hands turned brown. I use hangers and kodak hard rubber tanks now. It's really the way to go. Takes 1.75L of chemistry, but I used replenished D23 so it's not a big deal.

There is nothing of which to be afraid. Trays should give even development. Just use a tray at least a size bigger. E.g., use 5x7 trays for 4x5 film, 8x10 trays for 5x7 film, etc.

As I see it, the main draw of trays is for individual development.

If you don't do altered/individualized development very often, there is the hanger route, the Yankee tank route, the Nikkor tank route (hard to find and still usually sell for a pretty penny), the mid-level Jobo route (2000 series, I believe it is called), the top-end 3000 series Jobo Expert route (and other brands of rotary tube processing, such as BTZS tubes), and the tray slosher route (my personal favorite when I have three or four sheets at a time).

I do all my 4x5 in BTZS tubes .... very low chemistry use.... individual sheet processing times .... highly stable and accurate temp control .... very easy ... not scratches and fingerprints .... very even development .... see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TMXQO5ATgiY .

BetterSense said:

I used to use trays, but it was slow, I got scratches with soft film, and my hands turned brown. I use hangers and kodak hard rubber tanks now. It's really the way to go. Takes 1.75L of chemistry, but I used replenished D23 so it's not a big deal.

Click to expand...

********
Ditto.

When I had my 4x5, I used to use a Cambi Plan tank. I never had any real problems apart from a tiny bit of seepage from the lid after processing the first batch for the day. A real plus is that you can turn the lights on as soon as the lid is on tightly.
Now that I've gone to 8x10 I had to take up tray processing.
Mike

Oh, and since I'm addicted to developing by inspection now, things like BTZS tubes, Jobos, and Combiplans are right out. Trays, hangars and sloshers you can see the negatives the whole time.

I got some Jobo 2509N reels from Samy's for about $30 US each, so 1/2 price of what B&H wanted. When I inquired as to how much they were, and they came back with like $30-35(can't remember exactly), I was like, "I'll take 4 please!" .

I got a Jobo 2551 drum with 4 135/120/220 reels for $10 at my local camera show. And picked up a Unicolor motorbase for $20 off of craigslist.

so the deals are out there, you just have to shop around a bit.

definitely check out Samy's though for the 2509N reels though, get em before they find out everyone else is charging double that!

-Dan

I had trouble with tray development. I suspect that my darkroom, although perfectly light tight for printing is not light tight enough for film. I load my 120 sprials in a Harrison changing tent with the lights out. I have just acquired a Jobo 2509n sprial and test drum 2820. I have been assured that the 2820 is just a 25 series film tank with a different sticker on it. Can anyone confirm this? If this is not the case it looks like I will have to shell out for a proper tank. I have tried the HP combiplan tank but got uneven development with it. I intend to develop my next batch of 5x4 in the job using the inversion method. I am not that worried about the high volume of chemicals as I use Rodinal for my 5x4 films.

Adrian Twiss said:

I have just acquired a Jobo 2509n sprial and test drum 2820. I have been assured that the 2820 is just a 25 series film tank with a different sticker on it. Can anyone confirm this?

Click to expand...

On the inside of my 2521 tank is a mold number - 02 017 - This is the same as the base section of my 2840 tank. However, the lids are totally different - The 2521 lid is similar in design to the 1520 & Paterson style tanks.

paul_c5x4 said:

On the inside of my 2521 tank is a mold number - 02 017 - This is the same as the base section of my 2840 tank. However, the lids are totally different - The 2521 lid is similar in design to the 1520 & Paterson style tanks.

Click to expand...

Yes, the inside of my tank has the same mold number.