Developing B&W 4x5 Film

[AERO]

I develop 4x5, 5x7, 8x10 in open trays

That was the way I started - with GLASS plates back in the late 1940s! darn shame glass plates went out..they stayed in place in the tray emulsion up ...

 

[Donald Qualls]

That was the way I started - with GLASS plates back in the late 1940s! darn shame glass plates went out..they stayed in place in the tray emulsion up ...

Sure, but I'm guessing it didn't work nearly as well to develop a stack of them together...

 

[AERO]

Sure, but I'm guessing it didn't work nearly as well to develop a stack of them together...

I had a small tray did one at a time in the kitchen sink...only had 3 single holders....(no hurry in those days)...used to get the lads in the newspaper darkroom to enlarge them on their old wooden horizontal enlarger (Ark vintage).... whilst I ran copy for the editorial..... Different word then..............

 

[Donald Qualls]

only had 3 single holders

That's what I had with my first plate camera, but I've never used glass plates -- and I can't fathom taking a trip to make photographs with only three film holders, or having to develop the plates one at a time afterward. There were multi-plate tanks available, back then, but if you got what you wanted from what you had, it was good enough.

 

[AERO]

That's what I had with my first plate camera, but I've never used glass plates -- and I can't fathom taking a trip to make photographs with only three film holders, or having to develop the plates one at a time afterward. There were multi-plate tanks available, back then, but if you got what you wanted from what you had, it was good enough.

Actually..I ever even thought about it.....as a youngster was happy as a sandboy..meanwhile my mates were out enjoying crashing their painstakingly built model aeroplanes....

 

[Donald Qualls]

Yeah. I solved the film holder capacity issue -- I've now got four Grafmatics in 4x5 and two in 2x3 (now if there were more than four emulsions -- all B&W -- available in 2x3). Given a 4x5 shot is more involved than even medium format, I figure 24 frames ought to last through a week's vacation with at most one reloading session in the dark bag.

 

[AERO]

I just spotted AND bought on EBAY ( Church Charity ) these three FiDELITY De luxe holders.......look brand new to me.....£25 post free ($31 to US readers.
Bargain or what

 

[SodaAnt]

After I went from trays to various tanks, FreeStyle recommended that I try the Jobo processor with the Jobo 3010 Expert Drum. I quickly found out the with that drum I could develop color or black & white 4"x5" sheet film easily and consistently.

I eventually want to get a Jobo 3010, but have several other things on my list ahead of it.

I used to develop 4x5 in hangers and tanks back in the day, and that system worked well for me. I didn't mind the time spent in the dark either. Maybe I'll look for some tanks and hangers on eBay and give it a try again.

 

[JWMster]

Has anyone tried B's 4x5 reel?

B's 4x5 developing reel Mk2 — Bounet-Photography

www.bounetphoto.com

A little late in reply, but YES, I have 4 of B's reels for 4X5; 1 for 5X7; two of his processors and 1 extender. B's stuff is well made and finished; his rotating drive unit works great and he provides a 1-year warranty (which I've used), and it all works with Paterson tanks. Burp the tank when after pouring in your chemistry and you don't drip a drop. I typically develop B&W with PyrocatHD these days (used to do D23) and DEVELOP using semi-stand. This means my developer step uses hand agitation, but I have done rotation with B's for C41 and it worked fabulously. Sold all my Jobo gear (reels, tanks and processing gear) together with a Heiland processor to Catlabs.... and B's lightweight gear does a BETTER job IMHO than all of that with smaller footprint and at lower cost. Fairly, Jobo taught me.... and got my first "no problem" development, but with more years under the belt, I wanted to step up my game, reduce grain and pick up accutance.

Loading a B's reel is as simple as it gets. No tricks to stump you in the dark. No mistakes to find afterwards of a sheet slipping out of place. Lightyears more reliable in this loading than one of Jobo's 6-sheet 2040 reels. FWIW, in trying to debug the 2040 reels I found most weren't trying to do 6 sheets but more typically confined it to 4 sheets. Tells you something. Yes, I even had the Jobo loader for that and STILL found it a struggle. Thought about the larger Jobo tanks which many recommended, but the cost was significantly higher and would have involved an upgraded (bigger) Jobo than the small CPE2 I had on hand. Chose instead to try, prove out and then switch completely to B's stuff and Paterson tanks. Highly recommend B's stuff, and yes, you can rotate these tanks with the burp induced vaccuum without a spill or drip. Good to have rotary development for C41 and it works fine for B&W, too. The C41 process is short enough I've not had a temp control problem either.... that was any more significant than experienced with a JOBO.

But B recommended hand agitation for development, and I started going there. Found semi-stand for B&W and haven't gone back. Yes it takes a bit longer, but the results have been worth it. And I'd say tough to beat no matter what equipment you pick to use. With B&W, I do semistand for the Development step and rotary for every other.

Much to be said for BZTS's approach, too.... and I did pick up the last available tubes of similar design for 4X5 from Steve Sherman. Sherman also lays out how you can build the same with tubes and caps from Home Depot. Worth a look at Steve's stuff: The Power of Process

 

[Donald Qualls]

you can build the same with tubes and caps from Home Depot.

I used ABS drain pipe and caps, plus a couple light trapped pour-through caps, some years ago when I was first doing large format and had next to no budget. If you want to do them like BTZS (developer in the caps, load in the dark and turn on the lights after initial agitation) you could use a union and minimum length of pipe to connect to a cap to hold the developer. It's the principle of the BTZS method -- sudden complete wetting of the film with developer followed by continuous agitation -- that's special there, not the hardware used.

I never found a way to fix the film in the tubes without leaving streaks of antihalation dye from contact with the base side, however -- but after development is complete, caps removed and developer dumped with film into stop bath still in the tube (this step in the dark until all the film has been stopped), you can slip the film out of the tubes to fix in a tray. I see it as difficult to get a precise development stop for more than three or four tubes, however...