Jobo Tank for Inversion - Doubling Capacity

I love my Jobo 1520 for inversion development, but I'm shooting more film than it can handle. I'm considering the 1530 extension or the 1540 (1510+1530) to double my capacity.

Does anyone have experience inverting these larger tanks setup? Are they too heavy/cumbersome? Should I switch to a rotation method instead?

Thanks for any advice!

This works fine no problem. Consider replenishing your developer. Saves money

jbaxx said:

Are they too heavy/cumbersome? Should I switch to a rotation method instead?

Click to expand...

Too heavy - no. But rotation is more efficient chemistry-wise. It's also a little less tedious IMO than having to handle the tank every 30-60 seconds.

With tall (and full) tanks - say 5x35mm or larger, it pays to tip enough to get your fingers underneath, and invert with two hands, one on the top, the other on the bottom. You know the capacity of the tank, and water is roughly 1Kg per liter for this purpose, so you can mock up the weight fairly easily.

The old Paterson 8x35mm tank was one tall beast. Around 2,320ml, I think.

They all work perfectly well in either method.

The 1540 tank is probably the sweet spot for inversion, big enough to handle 4 x 35mm films. Not too heavy but it can be rolled back and forth on a sink base by hand without needing to buy anything else as the red sealing rings are far enough apart that they keep the tank perfectly level without tipping over.

The 1520 with the 1530 extension was a very popular choice in Germany for rotary processing on the smallest (at the time) Jobo rotary processor; the CPE2. 600ml of chemistry for rotary development and Ilford recognised it was so popular that they sold ID11 film developer in 600ml kits in Germany. I believe the only country where they sold powder film chemistry kits under 1 litre.

I have developed by inversion a few times with the 1520 tank + 1530 extension, it's alright, but not something I looked forward to as the 1540 combination was far easier to handle; even though it is not that much smaller.

If you pick up the 1530 extension kit, ensure it comes with the extension core which comes with it. They were always sold as a two piece unit when new, but sometimes secondhand the seller either doesn't realise the two items go together, or they just don't have the centre core extension.