For Sale FS: Nikor 4x5 SS tank, complete and in very nice condition

frobozz · Jul 7, 2011

OK, I'm really trying to cut back on my hoarding ways, so it's time for another one of these to go off to a new home. It's the wonderful Nikor cut-sheet film tank. It can hold up to 12 sheets of film, and is adjustable all the way up to 4x5. If you're in England, it will adjust all the way up to 5x4 With this, you can develop your sheet film just like you've always done with smaller formats, in a stainless tank using hand inversion. I'm a huge fan of this as *the* method to do 4x5 processing (and thus my previous obsession with buying them.)

This one is in truly spectacular condition, with just a little "brassing" on the matte black coating on the baffle inside the lid, and a few scuffs on the bottom of the tank. Everything else looks pretty much like the day it was made - shiny, smooth, wonderful - see the pics. It even includes the oft-missing zig-zaggy stainless band that clips around to keep the sheets from sliding out during agitation. It's currently adjusted for 4x5 film, though no doubt the plate will scoot around a bit in shipping, but it's easy enough to adjust for whatever size you want with the 4 thumbscrews. Here's a scan I made of the instruction manual:

http://backglass.org/duncan/apug/nikor_cut_sheet_tank_instructions.pdf

I'm asking $200 for this, but that includes shipping to wherever you are, and I'll eat any Paypal fees. So that's a flat $200, period, no matter what. If you don't do Paypal I'll also accept money orders, $20 bills, pennies, whatever you've got. And if you're near Chicago I'll even work with you to hand it off in person.

Duncan

frobozz · Jul 7, 2011

SOLD!

Duncan

Monito · Jul 7, 2011

Even though I couldn't get the reel, it is a thing of beauty. Thank you for showing it!

Richard S. (rich815) · Jul 7, 2011

Very cool tank. I especially like that its convertible from 4x5 to 5x4!

tomalophicon · Jul 7, 2011

I bet you've still got 8 of these.

mhcfires · Jul 7, 2011

I somehow ended up with two reels and no tank. Don't ask. I could sure use a tank if someone has an extra one and needs a reel.

m

akfreak · Jul 7, 2011

Make a tank from PVC. Send me a reel, I will make you a day light tank, that uses a NikKor light trap lid

frobozz · Jul 7, 2011

mhcfires said:
I somehow ended up with two reels and no tank. Don't ask. I could sure use a tank if someone has an extra one and needs a reel.

m

You're in luck! Nikor made this same diameter tank early on for all their regular reels - yes, they have 35mm and 120 reels that have extra large wires and extra wide spacing and fit into the 4.5" diameter tank. So sometimes on ebay you'll see those tanks for sale and all you have to do is buy one and set aside the big reels, and away you go with your 4x5 reel! They tend to go for cheap because, really, who wants a giant version of the normal tank and reels? (Well, they used to go for cheap until I just mentioned it here, oops...)

Sometimes the item description will mention the 4.5" diameter, sometimes you just have to look at the picture and figure it out, or ask the seller a question. Obviously the single-35mm-reel tank isn't tall enough, but just about all the other ones are. I've even seen one tall enough to take *two* of the 4x5" reels!

Ask me how I know all this. And on a completely unrelated note, anyone want to buy a bunch of the large-diameter 35mm and 120 reels?

Duncan

David A. Goldfarb · Jul 8, 2011

I thought the larger tank, which fits the 4x5 reel, was mainly for 220 reels that used thick wire like 120 reels. Interesting that they would make a 35mm reel with the heavier wire, but I suppose it would make sense for batch processing 35mm with 220.

Ken Nadvornick · Jul 8, 2011

Wait... Am I understanding correctly here?

Nikor made 35mm format reels to fit the 4x5 stainless tanks that held 36 exposure lengths? Or that held much longer continuous lengths of 35mm film? Perhaps from the large film magazines available from several camera makers back in the day?

(There was a 750-exposure back for the Nikon F2. That's 20 36-exposure rolls, plus 30 additional frames. Just a bit too much for any tank...)

Ken

frobozz · Jul 8, 2011

Ken Nadvornick said:
Wait... Am I understanding correctly here?

Nikor made 35mm format reels to fit the 4x5 stainless tanks that held 36 exposure lengths? Or that held much longer continuous lengths of 35mm film? Perhaps from the large film magazines available from several camera makers back in the day?

(There was a 750-exposure back for the Nikon F2. That's 20 36-exposure rolls, plus 30 additional frames. Just a bit too much for any tank...)

Ken

Sorry, the big 35mm reels for the 4.5" tanks were just for 36 exposure lengths. My hoarding does include a bunch of their long-reel stuff, which was mostly meant for movie film... but in fact the 100-ft 35mm reel would indeed handle the 750 exposure back film! But that tank is more like 17" in diameter, not 4.5"...

Duncan

frobozz · Jul 8, 2011

David A. Goldfarb said:
I thought the larger tank, which fits the 4x5 reel, was mainly for 220 reels that used thick wire like 120 reels. Interesting that they would make a 35mm reel with the heavier wire, but I suppose it would make sense for batch processing 35mm with 220.

You know, historical info on Nikor seems to be quite lacking out there, so it's anyone's guess. I get the impression from a lot of clues that the 4.5" tanks were their original design from wayyyyy back, and only later did they figure out how to miniaturize everything to fit in 3.5" tanks. But the boom in amateur home processing happened after that switch, so 3.5" is the size we're all familiar with 'cause that is the vast majority of what's out there.

At some point I'll have to look and see if any of my 4.5" 120 reels are actually 220 - I don't think so. So I'm not sure what that would look like.

If anyone comes up with a reason that having more space between the layers of film would be a good thing (like maybe fewer surge marks when you're forced into short development times?), then maybe there will be a renewed interest in these older larger reels and I can actually sell them all!

Duncan

David Brown · Jul 8, 2011

frobozz said:
I'm asking $200 for this ...

frobozz said:
SOLD!

Wow! Maybe I should sell mine ...

frobozz · Jul 8, 2011

David Brown said:
Wow! Maybe I should sell mine ...

If you put it on ebay, it will likely go for more like $250.

But yeah, if you don't use it by all means sell it here - they are fairly scarce and I think everyone doing 4x5, who is used to doing 35mm and 120 in stainless tanks should have one!

Duncan

David Brown · Jul 8, 2011

I'm not going to sell it. I'm not using it, but if I ever go to 4x5, I wouldn't consider developing any other way. I'm just astounded at how much it's worth!

John Shriver · Apr 28, 2014

The larger-diameter 35mm reels were the "six foot reel". So they held a bit more than a 36-exposure reel. The primary motivation for them was to make it feasible to do re-exposure of film "on the reel" for reversal processing, for early processes like E-2 and Anscochrome that required re-exposure.

The other large-diameter reels are the original 220 reels.

I use one of the "two 220 reel" size tanks for my 4x5 cage, because it's the later quick-fill design, so I can fill and empty it faster.

For Sale FS: Nikor 4x5 SS tank, complete and in very nice condition

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