How to develop 10 rolls of 120 film in C-41 chemicals at once?

[faberryman]

Where exactly does your pessimism come from? Genuinely curious. A tank holding more reels requires more chemistry, but once you have that, you would fill it up the same way as using less reels and develop/agitate the same time and method. What can possibly screw up? Please, enlighten me.

The thirty rolls of film were from what was my first and probably only trip to Sequoia National Park, which is half way across the country. The costs for air fare, lodging and meals, not to mention the time invested, were significant. I had a four reel stainless steel tank and reels already. I could have tracked down an 8 reel tank and extra reels but why go to the extra expense for the amount of time saved developing? Although I can't remember screwing up a roll of film in the 44 years I've been doing this, sometimes bad things happen. Why take the risk? I put on some music and enjoyed the process. I'm not in a white hot rush to do most things these days.

 

[Siompa]

Okay there's a update to this now:

I found a local lab that will let me rent their Jobo color processor. Apparently, it can process 10 rolls of 120 at a time (5 reels x 2 each). Has anyone used the Jobo processors before and can comment on its ease of use / consistency / quality of results?

I have a Jobo cpe-2 which is the most manual of the jobos. All the pouring and emptying of the chemicals is manual. It takes a while for the chemicals to stabilize at the right temp but once that's done it's a breeze.
I only have one tank for 2x 35mm rolls at the time though. Planning on buying a 5 reel tank.

 

[Tony Moreno]

Okay there's a update to this now:

I found a local lab that will let me rent their Jobo color processor. Apparently, it can process 10 rolls of 120 at a time (5 reels x 2 each). Has anyone used the Jobo processors before and can comment on its ease of use / consistency / quality of results?

That’s awesome! It’s 2022 now but I’m curious to learn how it all turned out and what did you do? I tend to freeze my developed rolls for six months or so until I build up to around 10-12 rolls, then I have a developing day and do them all. Currently I’m doing two rolls of 120 at a time and would like to increase that to 5. That would cut things down to just two batch runs, but I was worried about the long pour time. I think I am going to try to have my chemistry container be wide enough that I can invert the Multi-reel 8 upside down and let it drain out in reverse of how it was filled.

 

[mshchem]

I just developed 3 rolls of 120 C-41. I use a Jobo processor. I buy large quantities of C-41. Bleach is pricey but lasts for years. Check out Unique Photo, it needs to ship ground but it goes a long way.

 

[Light Capture]

I process max of 8-10 rolls in Jobo processors quite regularly.
Important things are:
1. Even chemical distribution
2. Well planned agitation or constant agitation
3. If tank is rotated on rotating base or in rotating processor like Jobo, tank needs to be leveled so chemistry is spread properly in longer tank
4. Jobo Autolab processors assign 15 seconds to pour and dump chemistry. It would be good to be able to do it in 15 seconds and start with agitation as soon as possible
5. If I use tank without film processor and water jacket in them, I prepare tempered bath and immerse tank to minimize heat loss during processing.

In my use, rotary processors with constant agitation provide extremely consistent results and never had micro bubbles or any other processing issues happen with rotary processing.

 

[Sirius Glass]

I hold my exposed film until I have 16 roll by putting them in ZipLok bags, air pushed out, in the refrigerator. Then I left the film come to room temperature and develop as many rolls in developing session as fast as I can. That takes two or three days.

 

[mshchem]

Today I used a 2500 series tank. I loaded 1 roll of 120 onto a 2500 reel, total of 3 reels, 3 rolls total. I warmed up the tank for 4-5 minutes on the CPP3, I have 1 liter of developer, bleach, fixer. To process I use 800-900mL, at 60 rpm. I made fresh developer today from replenisher, starter, and water (Flexicolor LU) I replenished the developer. Kodak does not recommend replenishment with rotary.

I don't overuse chemistry. I replenish bleach always, I've been using the same for over a year. I don't usually replenish developer, use once and toss when using 1500 series tanks. Fixer is cheap, I use a couple times. New final rinse every so often.