Drum and motor development

MikeK · May 11, 2003

When you have a really high contrast scene, like the one Aggie is describing you can get highlight bleed when using a staining developer. I first noticed this when scanning some 6x9cm negatives. Cutting back on the development time and agitation helped but never completely eliminated the effect.

With high contrast scenes I have had better success with compensating developers, and D-23 works well with most films I use (TMAX and APX100). I dilute D-23 1:1 and develop for around 10 minutes followed by a 4 minute bath in either Kodalk or Borax. 20 Mule Train Borax from my local supermarket works just great and can be had for a great price.

Mike

Ole · May 12, 2003

Aggie, you have halation. Even the best anti-halation coatings aren't perfect, just like the anti-reflex coatings on lenses. This is a fact of life, and no developer is going to get rid of it.

Sandy, halation and infectous development are completely unrelated phenomena. One is optical, the other is chemical. Infectious development is normally only seen with the (extreme) high-contrast developers known as lith developers. If other developers show infectious development, they shouldn't be used.

For a nice example of halation, look at the woodland negatives in Les McLean's book...

Aggie · May 12, 2003

Eric Rose · May 12, 2003

Aggie give Pyrocat-HD a try. I have used it in tanks as well as tubes and it has done a great job. I saw no difference in development between the two systems. Since I don't have a Unicolor or Jobo system I use hangers.

Sherman · May 29, 2003

Jeremy Moore said:
I purchased a Beseler motor base the other day for $15 at a garage sale in the hopes of using it with a Unicolor tube when I could find one to develop my sheet film as described at <a href='http://www.largeformatphotography.info/unicolor/' target='_blank'>http://www.largeformatphotography.info/unicolor/</a>

... stuff snipped ... If there's anything inherently wrong with this idea or you have any suggestions let me know!

I am not familiar with that drum but I am assuming it is perfectly smooth inside without the angles that the Unicolor drum has to hold the film or paper. (I'm not talking about the ridges, but the "V" shaped angle at the "top" and the two single angles at the "bottom".

If it is perfectly smooth then the issue I see is keeping the film separate if you do more than one sheet. It is possible that the sheets will move and end up overlapping, ruining them. With the Unicolor drum there is a spacer that keeps the 4x5 sheets apart and lacking a spacer I found a plastic spring type clothes pin works perfectly.

If it has the "angles" but not the ridges you shouldn't have a problem. By the way you can create your own ridges by gluing in strips of plastic available at hobby shops. I've done that with Dev-Tec drums with excellent results.

Sherman

fhovie · May 31, 2003

I just got to through in my $.02. I have a Jobo tank for 4x5 and motor rollers. I do use the motor for high energy developers but no longer for staining developers. PMK is a fairly weak deveolper and (thank goodness) pretty cheap. I mix up 1.25 liters of chemical to develop 6 sheets at a time (or less). I find that hand agitation with PMK offers noticably better accutance than using the rollers. I think the constant motion of the developer interferes with some ridge deveopment reducing some accutance. When hand processing, there I invert and swirl for 5 seconds every 25 seconds and noticed the improvement. I could never get good results with PMK on rollers when trying to develop more than 4 sheets with 500cc. The extra fluid prevents developer exhaustion.
Frank

JHannon · May 31, 2003

I have tried the Unicolor drums and have the unicolor motor base. It seems both my drums leak badly. The seals seem not to work very well for me.

Anyone know of any tricks to correct them?

Thanks,
John

MikeK · May 31, 2003

Try carefully removing the gaskets and soak them in really hot water. This trick worked for me and hopefully for you as these gaskets are like gold dust.

Mike

Aggie · Jun 1, 2003

George Losse · Jun 1, 2003

Robert said:
Doesn't the later beseler rotate?

I used a Besseler Motor base with the Jobo 3000 series drums for for number of years. Mine rotated in both directions for the first 5 or so years then something broke. It still processed fine after that when it only went in one direction.

You will nedd to pay attention to two things. 1)Make the motor base level and 2) put something at the end of the tank to keep it from walking off the motorbase. I used a bottle of chemistry, I have read that other people made a wooden-based where that the motorbase sat in and it had sides to hold the tanks from walking.

George

JHannon · Jun 2, 2003

MikeK said:
Try carefully removing the gaskets and soak them in really hot water. This trick worked for me and hopefully for you as these gaskets are like gold dust.

Mike

Thanks Mike, I will try that..

John.

Drum and motor development

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