Let's Talk About Spending a Lot of Money on Lab Equipment with the Aim of Retiring in 25 Years.

mshchem said:

Very interested in this thread.

I have always thought D+D is the most elegant.

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Ahhh, that's probably because you never saw or dealt with so-called cine processors. Granted, they are limited to certain sorts of usage, not suited to being started and stopped frequently, nor for different sizes of film, etc. But when one has large quantities of roll films for a certain process and in a specific width there's nothing else to compare.

I was gonna describe something of the design and its elegance, but it just gets too wordy, not to mention off topic. So here's just a couple of paragraphs. Let me just say that if one wants every inch of all of their film to be precisely processed, easily within 1/4 second of the spec time, and well and consistently agitated, and near as pristine as can be, a properly set up and operated cine machine can do this.

Cine machines operate with a continuous web of film, so all must be spliced together ahead of time onto reels of substantial film length, perhaps one or two thousand feet. At the end of a processing run a special leader is spliced to the end so that the machine always remains strung. So in operation the machine is "started up" by splicing a fresh reel to the pre-strung leader and starting it. Each new reel is spliced in as needed, to be replaced by leader at the end of the processing run.

Much of the elegance has to do with the film tension control as well as with the film emulsion barely touching anything. It uses a spiral wind around the upper and lower spools on each rack, but with emulsion facing out, so only the base side of the film touches the spools. And then only near the edges of the dished spools.

But again, this is off topic here... this is not something a normal sort of smallish lab would use.
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mshchem said:

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Thank you for sharing this! I actually love finding pieces of history like this. I think I should really start referring to my shop as a 'plant'.

NortheastPhotographic said:

Thank you for sharing this! I actually love finding pieces of history like this. I think I should really start referring to my shop as a 'plant'.

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Absolutely. To confuse the neighbors put up a sign, plant #3. Get the locals to pay for new equipment if they want to keep the jobs

mshchem said:

Absolutely. To confuse the neighbors put up a sign, plant #3. Get the locals to pay for new equipment if they want to keep the jobs

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Ha ha, yes! AND... at your rear exit door put up a sign, "Main Plant - Authorized Employees only!"

NortheastPhotographic said:

In fact, this art form that we call 'photography' I do believe will revert to being primarily an analog medium. Very soon you'll probably be able to AI generate every product shot, on-model clothing shot, and even architectural image. I can honestly even imagine AI being able to generate the 'perfect' set of wedding photos based on all the phone pics taken that day. We're already seeing computational photography in every smart phone image...we're probably not that far from a world where you take a selfie and the AI 'perfects' it. So if you're a 'photographer' or seeking out 'photography', you're probably going to be looking for in images primarily made in a camera that have some separation from 'big tech'. We're planning on being there to service that future. I realize that this is unprovable thought experimentation but when you get into owning a lab, you are a true believer.

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I don't have much to contribute regarding processing equipment (other than to say that my best results with black & white lab processing have been with dip and dunk using XTOL)... but I wanted to comment that I appreciated the above statement, and your vision on this. I think it's thought-provoking and relevant.

Thanks,
Dale

Welp, I got the dimensions of the Roboline Dip and Dunk processor. I'm not sure it's going to work in our space without major modifications. The unit height is 9.5', and we have a drop ceiling that is at 8'. Above that drop ceiling is unfortunately simply a now defunct air duct (the building installed mini splits), and electrical wiring for the fluorescent lights. Not sure I could convince the building to let me rip all of that out.

It's a bummer because I was starting to get excited about having a real state of the art processor. It also measures a little over 12' in length and we'd have to build in the darkroom for loading. The advantage of the 'daylight load' lid for the RT machines is a pretty big practical one.

Our building manager seems to be open to removing the drop ceiling in our space, which would recover the ceiling height to 9' 8", just enough to be above the height of the Roboline. It's still not a huge space but it's workable.

Today I pulled out all the racks in our COLEX and scrubbed everything down. These things are so heavy...hoping this is the last time.

Colenta just informed me that they're doing a slight re-design of the Roboline which will reduce its hight by 15cm. Things are looking like 2026 will be the year of D&D!