Harrison Jumbo Changing Tent

sanking · Dec 23, 2005

I had an opportuity to buy a used Harrison Jumbo changing tent in Mint condition for a good price and went for it. These tents are supposed to be useful for changing film up to 12X20" size. However, I just set it up and had quite a bit of difficulty in changing the smaller 7X17" film. If anyone is using one of these to change 12X20 I would appreciate a word or two about your technique.

Sandy

George Losse · Dec 23, 2005

Sandy,

I have a Jumbo changing tent that my wonderful wife bought for me this past Fall. I've used it a couple of times on our last outing to Indiana. I have to say you never really know how big these thing are until you start working inside.

It worked fine for loading and unlouding 8x20's. There was some learning curve issues about placement of stuff inside the tent so not to have to juggle things too much. It worked better with two holders then it did with four inside.

They sell the Jumbo tent with side extensions for the ULF users. They are a must. They allow the dark slide to be in the top of the holder and have the film area right at the arm holes. Otherwise you might have to be a very long armed person to use the tent.

What would you like to know?

sanking · Dec 23, 2005

George,

Thanks for your comments. I though what I had was the largest one but I don't have the extensions. Anyway, the source that sold it to me thought it had the extensions and they refunded me $75 for the mistake.

After a second effort I figured out how to do 7X17 ok, and frankly I am not sure I could change 12X20 in a tent even with the extensions. I still find it fairly complicated to change film this size even in a large closet.

Sandy

George Losse said:
Sandy,

I have a Jumbo changing tent that my wonderful wife bought for me this past Fall. I've used it a couple of times on our last outing to Indiana. I have to say you never really know how big these thing are until you start working inside.

It worked fine for loading and unlouding 8x20's. There was some learning curve issues about placement of stuff inside the tent so not to have to juggle things too much. It worked better with two holders then it did with four inside.

They sell the Jumbo tent with side extensions for the ULF users. They are a must. They allow the dark slide to be in the top of the holder and have the film area right at the arm holes. Otherwise you might have to be a very long armed person to use the tent.

What would you like to know?

David A. Goldfarb · Dec 23, 2005

How do you find it for 11x14"? I've been thinking of getting one.

Charles Webb · Dec 23, 2005

I have one and use it, but somehow the armholes don't match up with my anatomy, but it is in my opinion one of the best!
Charlie...............

George Losse · Dec 23, 2005

David, I've never used it with the 11x14, as I don't travel with that format anymore. But I could try it next time I open it up. I think you will have enough room without the side extensions.

I know exactly what Charles mentioned. The arm holes seem to be in a bad location at first. I ended up pushing the elastic on the arms past my elbows and things worked better. One thing I found was to use the extensions to allow the dark slides to stick out, keeping the business part of the holder inside the main part of the tent.

Sandy, the toughest thing to do inside the tent is turning the holder over after loading film in one side. The extensions want to stay flat like a slit in the tent. I don't know how that will work with a 12x20. the extensions are not like extra sides, they are more like a bag at the bottom seam where the sides meet the bottom of the tent. They are not open by nature, they lay flat. I'm not sure how well they will work with 12x20. Maybe it just a matter of changing my work habits to better fit the tents requirements.

I will say this thing is BIG. And it likes to be on a solid surface. I tried using it on a bed, bad idea. A solid surface like a kitchen table or even the floor worked much better. Still I can say its much better then locking yourself in a motel bathroom at night.

pelerin · Dec 23, 2005

sanking said:
George,

Thanks for your comments. I though what I had was the largest one but I don't have the extensions. Anyway, the source that sold it to me thought it had the extensions and they refunded me $75 for the mistake.

After a second effort I figured out how to do 7X17 ok, and frankly I am not sure I could change 12X20 in a tent even with the extensions. I still find it fairly complicated to change film this size even in a large closet.

Sandy

Sandy,
I have used one of these to load 12x20 holders. It is "do-able" but certainly quite cumbersome. I found that one holder at a time was quicker (including the time penalty to close the box and swap holders) than trying to stack and swap multiples. This however was based on a modest smount of practice, one might find that more effort lead to a different conclusion.

Unloading:
1) box, post-its and holder into tent box on top, 2)take the first third off the box and stack so that "two tops" cover the inner most box with the inner box towards the bottom, 3)swap box to bottom 4)crack back the top DS and remove film by looping 180 towards the lightlock end of holder, 5)apply post-it to back of sheet and slide, crack box lids open and slide sheet of film under stack in box, 6)flip and repeat.

Loading is essentially the reverse, the film is made manageble by curling it 180 and feeding back into the holder (saves space). Not attempting to reverse the darkslide makes this much easier. (the wings I assume solve this problem) I would certainly never advocate not reversing the slide but when you have only two holders and lots of post-its (and not much sense) it sometimes seems like wonderful idea. FWIW you might call the nice lady at Camera Essentials (Patty Harrison) and ask her if they could modify your tent. I have found them to be very nice folks.
Celac.

scootermm · Dec 23, 2005

Sandy,
Ive been using the Harrison Jumbo changing tent (w/o the extensions) for about 4months now for 7x17 mainly (on occasion 5x7 or 8x10). I change two holders out, just recent two as I finally got a second holder. It seems to me to have gobs and gobs of room in it. Im wondering if there isnt some descrepancy in the size of it from one tent to another. Perhaps its that I work inside a tiny closet and have grown accumstomed to the tiny confines. when Im changing the holders out I always think to myself that the extensions wouldnt be neccesary even for 12x20 as there is more than enough width to completely remove the darkslide and flip it over.

Just my thoughts and experiences but it is making me wonder if maybe the tent design got smaller recently or something.

Mike A · Dec 23, 2005

David A. Goldfarb said:
How do you find it for 11x14"? I've been thinking of getting one.

David, I've been using mine for about 6 months or so and find it very useful since I have a limited number of holders in 11x14, especially when I'm out for a full day.

Mike

wm blunt · Dec 24, 2005

Sandy,
You might want to contact Tillman Crane. He uses the jumbo with extensions to change 12x20 film. We were photographing together at Pecos NM and I watched as he sat at a picnic table with the tent and changed film, while holding a conversation. I then decided I had to get a tent for my small film holders. I figured it he can manage those big holders hopefully my 4x10 and 5x7 won't be a problem. With the jumbo they are not a problem at all.

sanking · Dec 25, 2005

Thanks for this description. It was exactly the kind of information I was looking for.

BTW, do you have a numeber or email for Camera Essentials? And the name of the "nice lady" you mention?

pelerin said:
Sandy,
I have used one of these to load 12x20 holders. It is "do-able" but certainly quite cumbersome. I found that one holder at a time was quicker (including the time penalty to close the box and swap holders) than trying to stack and swap multiples. This however was based on a modest smount of practice, one might find that more effort lead to a different conclusion.

Unloading:
1) box, post-its and holder into tent box on top, 2)take the first third off the box and stack so that "two tops" cover the inner most box with the inner box towards the bottom, 3)swap box to bottom 4)crack back the top DS and remove film by looping 180 towards the lightlock end of holder, 5)apply post-it to back of sheet and slide, crack box lids open and slide sheet of film under stack in box, 6)flip and repeat.

Loading is essentially the reverse, the film is made manageble by curling it 180 and feeding back into the holder (saves space). Not attempting to reverse the darkslide makes this much easier. (the wings I assume solve this problem) I would certainly never advocate not reversing the slide but when you have only two holders and lots of post-its (and not much sense) it sometimes seems like wonderful idea. FWIW you might call the nice lady at Camera Essentials (Patty Harrison) and ask her if they could modify your tent. I have found them to be very nice folks.
Celac.

Harrison Jumbo Changing Tent

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