Emulsion up or down-Tray development

Hi

I'm a newcomer in LF.
What are your experience with tray development for 4X5. Should I put the
emulsion up or down. Did you have problems with streaks or uneven development with tray development?

Any advise will be appreciated

First off try developing with a few sheets then process more sheets as you get better. If you could get a hold of Ansel Adams book "The Negative" is a good start. When I first did it years ago, I had scratches on my negs :-( When you process sheet film stacked in a tray, the emulsion is very soft vulnerable to scratches. I never experienced uneven development with processing film in trays. I process my film in my Yankee Agitank which I could process 12 sheets at a time. I've basically given up tray processing.

I like to have my sheets emulsion side up. When I go to pick them up, I touch the bottom and the emulsion is less likely to be harmed. I usually only do one sheet at a time. I've had too many scratches with multiple sheets. I usually put my sheets in a water pre-soak, drawing from the bottom of the stack to put them in the developer. It is time consuming, but I haven't had any scratches since I started that method.

Emulsion up. I do anywhere from 4-8 sheets at at time. Pull the bottom one out and drop it on top and gently push down. That's the method I use for agitation and have little to none in terms of scratching. I don't trust them emulsion down, plastic can have burrs and even chemical residue that you clean off can leave a sandpaper like finish.

Up, I only tray develop very small numbers at a time. Larger quantities I use to use tank and hangers. Then I switched to a Jobo tank and reel because its easier to do color.

Up.

I guess I'm going to have to be the odd man out in this: for 4x5 sheet film I process 8 sheets at a time, emulsion side down. When I first started using sheet film I processed the film emulsion side up and got many, many scratches in the emulsion. After I switched to emulsion side down, the scratches mostly went away. I still scratch a sheet from time to time but it's by my carelessness, letting a corner dig in when I'm putting the sheet I've taken off the bottom of the stack onto the top of the stack, but the scratch is on the back, not in the emulsion, and I can often deal with that easily.

One caveat: I simply can't feel the edges of sheet film when wearing gloves, so I don't wear them for 4x5 processing (TMX in D-76, mostly.) For 8x10 film, which I like to see in a pyro developer, I wear gloves so that stuff I do one sheet at a time.

Mike

As a newcomer consider a slosher tray. An open tray with 4 separate compartments so one sheet per compartment with holes in the bottom.The tray is simply placed in the first normal tray of developer and then lifted each time into stop and fix trays. No handling once loaded and no scratching possible.

pentaxuser

Down. With practice it is easy to do 12 sheets at a time, and allow different processing times for individual sheets within the run.

It sounds like emulsion up and emulsion down both produce good results, but the full plans of details for the entire routines are important.

edit: My notes sent via PM and I will send them to anyone who is interested.

Down. I process 6 to 8 sheets at a time in Paterson trays with the deep grooves so I can get my (nitrile gloved) fingers under the stack. I use at least 1.5 liters of solution for 4x5 in an 8x10" or 11x14" tray so the stack can kind of "float" loosely. I do get the occasional scratch, but it's on the back side of the emulsion. With some pyro developers, I find the emulsion becomes soft and slippery, especially when moved into the water stop. (Alkalinity of the solution is the culprit, I think.) It takes care and practice, and it pays to slow down and concentrate.

Peter Gomena

I develop with PMK Pyro developer which requires pretty freqent agitation. Single 8 x 10 sheets in 11 x 14 trays. I made the mistake one time putting the sheet emusion side down. The negative came out with vertical sections that had uneven development from the rest of the negative due to the valleys in the developing trays.