Entering a whole new world

I spent the day breaking new ground in every direction. Developing 8x10 negs in J&C tubes with Pyrocat-HD. Previously I'd never developed sheet film larger than 4x5, and it was in tanks with non-staining developers. Aside from an initial screw-up that lost me 2 negs (someday I'll do something right the first time...), I wound up with 8 pretty good looking negs. 6 FP4+ & 2 HP5+. I used the times from Sandy King's article on Unblinking Eye with an aim towards Azo prints, and things seem to have gone pretty well. I took the negs out of the tubes after the dev/stop and fixed/cleared/washed in trays. I didn't notice any scratches... despite one of the negs falling out of the tube when I changed dumped the pre-soak and put in the dev. We'll see when they're dry and I can take a closer look on the light board.

Next week I'll get to printing a couple of them. And then I have to load up some holders with the 8x10 Efke 100 and J&C 100 I recently got and see how that works out.

Keep Shooting!

Benno,
Congratulations. There is a whole world of difference between a "little" 4x5 neg which must be enlarged and big piece of 8x10 film. Though I've retreated back to 5x7 film, looking at an 8x10 ground glass is a great learning experience. Have fun!
Take care,
Tom

Yes, congrats, Benno.

Now that the negs have dried and I've been able to take a good look at them, I see that my exposures are a little short on most. Printable, I think, but from what I've read about what makes a good Azo neg, they are probably a bit on the thin side. Two, however, look pretty darn good. Now to find the time to print them this week...