Developing Paper Negatives in Tank??

[Young_Nat]

Would it be possible to develop paper negs in a dev tank? Does anyone have experience with this? I currently do not have access to a darkroom and thought this may be an option.

Thanks for any help.

 

[rwyoung]

Yes you can develop a paper negative in a tank. The developing times are shorter than with film of course. So you will need to move pretty quick. And it may take a little experimenting to find out how much developer is required to do a a sheet.

Do you have a bathroom you can use? Just set up in there and you can develop in trays. If you are having trouble making it light-tight during the day and can't modify the room, consider working at night. If not a bathroom (convenient because you have water and power) a closet can also work. In both cases, you get to work under safelight and see things come up in the tray.

 

[Martin Aislabie]

Nat - welcome to APUG

Its a real mine of freindly advice and specialist knowledge

Can you Dev Paper in Film Tanks - Yes - the tighter the fit the better - less chance of the paper flopping around inside

Don't forget to leave the centre column in place (to keep the tank light tight)

However, Jobo also make Paper Drum tanks if you have large Paper Negs

I take it you would be loading the Paper into a Tank inside a Changing Bag

Have fun

Martin

 

[Young_Nat]

hey guys thanks for the help.

 

[Joe VanCleave]

You can also dilute your developer a bit and extend the developing time, to give more uniform processing. Of course, you'd have to do a few tests to ensure you achieve adequate development. FYI, I use Agfa Neutol WA, primarily because: 1) it's readily available from Freestyle; 2) In liquid concentrate it keeps a really long time. I usually dilute it 1:20, and keep some of the old developer and replenish with a fresh mix. I don't like powdered developers; you have to mix the entire package, and then the stock solution doesn't have as good keeping properties as liquid concentrate.

Having access to a darkroom, I typically process my paper negatives by inspection. But if you standardize your metering and exposure, and use the same developer method, it should work.

While we're on the subject, I find using graded paper (Freestyle's Arista RC grade2) works well to control the excess contrast that can happen with multigrade paper in UV/blue daylight. If you live in Britain, the light may not be such a problem; but here in the American SW, it can be brutally contrasty otherwise.

~J