How long till exhaustion???

Developer, D E V E L O P E R !!!!

I was recently "souping" some exposed 4x5 film and started wondering...How many sheets can I develop in a single batch of developer???

I use 8x10 trays and develop 4 sheets a time, with a stainless film holder. I find that a good liter of develor covers adequately, but haven't seen figures for sheet film capacity. Most times capapcity is rated in rolls....

So, what has your experience been? Developer type, concentration and capacity....am I being wasteful by dumping out my developer (usually rodinal 1:50, Ifosol S 1:9 and Tmax at normal dilution) after eight sheets???

Second part to the question...

I've been presoaking my film for about 2-4 minutes and notice that the water darkens (using TMax 100); is this normal???

1 roll = 1 x 8x10 negative = four 4x5 negs.

Agfa say 10ml stock per "roll" so, 2.5ml per 4x5 neg. but.. some peeps use less...

Presoak water dissolves anti-halation etc dyes.


Cheers, Bob.

Bob F. said:

1 roll = 1 x 8x10 negative = four 4x5 negs.

Click to expand...

Ahhh! <slaps forehead>

Thanks, Bob...

500 ml of dev for 160 sq inches. So you could conceivably get 16 4x5's or 4 8x10 per liter. I'm notsure that I would push it that high. When usiing trays (pyrex meatloaf trays) I use 500ml of solution for 4-6 sheets of 4x5.

Mike Davis

Mike

You can just as easily use 5x7 trays for 4x5 film. I develop as many as eight sheets (though far more often only 6 or fewer) at a time and always allow at least 100 ml per sheet. I've not found that a particularly long pre-soak is necessary to remove the anti halation backing...just a minute or two does it very well. The real advantage of pre-soaking is to prepare the emulsion to accept the developer by softening it just a bit so the developer does its' thing evenly and immediately.