Film developers in Jobo rotary processors

[arigram]

I've heard that not all film developers work well with Jobo processors. I even heard something about Rodinal. Please don't tell me I won't be able to use Rodinal with a Jobo processor! How about ID-11/D-76, Ilfosol S, Perceptol?
What are the "good" and "bad" developers?

 

[L Gebhardt]

I've heard that not all film developers work well with Jobo processors. I even heard something about Rodinal. Please don't tell me I won't be able to use Rodinal with a Jobo processor! How about ID-11/D-76, Ilfosol S, Perceptol?
What are the "good" and "bad" developers?

X-Tol, D-76, DD-X, Pyrocat all work just fine in the Jobo. I haven't tried Rodinal. PMK is the only one I have had bad luck with in the Jobo.

 

[galyons]

I've heard that not all film developers work well with Jobo processors. I even heard something about Rodinal. Please don't tell me I won't be able to use Rodinal with a Jobo processor! How about ID-11/D-76, Ilfosol S, Perceptol?
What are the "good" and "bad" developers?

Ari,
Never heard this. I have been using jobo drums for years. Pyro, D76, etc. with no problems. Post a tech question to Jobo. They are very responsive.

Cheers,
Geary

 

[richard littlewood]

D-76 and ID-11 work really well, especially diluted 1+2. The poor Jobo motor then has up to 900ml to deal with. Diluted 1+1 is also good, but 1+2 is sharper. I once tried rodinal and the finished negs looked almost like lith film - at this point I should have experimented more - Rodinal is a high activity developer, and sure it will rotary process, (tests and more tests).

 

[AndrewH]

add DDX to the "it works" for the Jobo.

 

[Tom Duffy]

Rodinal works "OK" in a Jobo, fairly similar results to any of the other normal developers, but the high accutance, and sharpness that are possible with Rodinal at high dilution and minimal agitation don't acrue. To sum up, it provides a reasonable tonal range, but Pryocat is sharper in a Jobo.
Take care,
Tom

 

[Tom Hoskinson]

I in the past, have developed with Rodinal in a Unidrum/Uniroller processor with good results. I've never tried it in my Jobo, but it should work.

However, I greatly prefer the "look" of film processed in Rodinal with minimum agitation.

 

[TimVermont]

Ari,

I have a trick that works well with both Rodinal and Pyrocat HD. I use the 1500 series tank with a magnetic drive coupler. I spin the tank for one minute, then take it off the magnet and let it stand in the corner of the waterbath, then just put it back on the magnet for a few seconds every two minutes, then let it spin for the final minute. Its the best of both worlds, partial stand in a JoBo, but demands more attention from you.

Tim

 

[Ted Harris]

I have been using Rodinal in various dillutions in a Jobo ATL 1000 and 2300 for more than a decade with excellent results.

Ted

 

[pentaxuser]

I've heard that not all film developers work well with Jobo processors. I even heard something about Rodinal. Please don't tell me I won't be able to use Rodinal with a Jobo processor! How about ID-11/D-76, Ilfosol S, Perceptol?
What are the "good" and "bad" developers?

The first time I tried Rodinal was with Ilford D400 in a Jobo processor. The negs were quite thin compared to using ID11 with tank agitation and the prints did not seem any sharper than prints from negs developed in ID11. I wrote to Ed Buffalo who said that constant rotation in a Jobo would prevent the high accutance that was a key feature of Rodinal. The flat negs were probably the result of using too little Rodinal. Ed recommends a minimum of 5mls but the Jobo allows less than this for one 35mm film.at 1:50 dilution. He also suggested that in future I rate the D400 at ISO 200

So I would tend to agree with most of the other replies. You can use Rodinal in a Jobo and get normal contrast but you may lose the accutance. If you use the part rotation and then the stand development routine that another correspondent suggested, I'd wonder whether a Jobo was worth using. You might as well use tank and hand agitation.

I have just done Ilford SFX in Rodinal at 1:25 using 10 minutes and hand agitation. The negs are much better in terms of contrast compared to the D100 using the Jobo. This recommendation was based on Hugh Millsom's experience. His book on Infrared photography is very good. His time is much more than the Agfa recommendation for a 1:25 dilution with SFX but although I have yet to make prints, the negs look good.

If you've used Rodinal by hand agitation then I'd be interested in the result of you using a Jobo for the same film. You could then make a direct comparison which I can't. Until you take the chance of losing accutance( or not) with a Jobo, you'll never know the answer. I suspect the difference of using a Jobo with Rodinal compared to hand agitation will not be one of disaster compared to glorious success but rather one of good prints compared to not quite so good but still usable prints . Based on my experience, using a Jobo will still give reasonable negs. My D100 negs and prints with the Jobo are not so bad I'd want to throw them away.

You may lack water for FB printing but from my visits to your island you possess scenery in Crete( the Great Greek island) which most of us can only dream of.

Best of luck.
Pentaxuser

 

[Neal]

Dear Ari,

To date I have only used Xtol, T-Max and Flexicolor C-41 in my JOBO tanks. All worked very well once I got the times right.

Neal Wydra

 

[harveyje]

HC110 1:50 also works very well. I use the 1:32 times.

 

[stormbytes]

I've been testing HC110 1:63 with HP5 using a Jobo rotary processor. The negs are what I would call "normal", definetly printable, but absolutely nothing special. I'm thinking that maybe the developer is too dilute? Contrast is there but the accutance is whats missing. The negs are simply not "punchy".

I'm moving on to Rodinal. Going to try a basic 1:50, and will be testing both hand processed & in-Jobo.

I'll report the results if there's interest

Daniel

 

[Silverprinter]

Hi, I've been using a Jobo for about 20 years, mostly with D-76 and occasionally with Heico, F76+ and a few others. I used to develop some b&w prints in my Jobo but I found I like tray developing better and went back to that.

You need to approach the Jobo in the same manner as you would a new film or a new developer. You need to test and determine the optimum conditions for the look you want. The greatest advantage of the Jobo (IMHO) is precision; the greatest disadvantage is constant agitation. Once you work out a process that you like, you may find that the Jobo is much more efficient - but that only counts if you are processing a lot of film in a session.

Have fun!