Process for Developing 8X10?

[jmooney]

Hi All,

I've done 35mm B&W developing so I assume the chemistry is the same but I've never dealt with LF before so how in the heck do you develop 8X10 B&W print film as far as tanks for the film and such? Are there daylight options? or does it have to be done in the dark? It seems to me as there are some logistics required to handle those mondo negatives.

Take care,

Jim

 

[Jim Fitzgerald]

Jim, I live in a one bedroom apartment and develop everything from 4x5 to 8x20 sheet film in the tub. For the 4x5, 5x7 and 8x10 I use hangars and tanks and develop in Pyrocat-HD minimal agitation. I get nice even developing using this method. Four tanks is all that is needed. Pre-soak, develop, stop, and fix. Use the pre-soak tank to wash and hang to dry. 8x20 is done in the Park seed trays. All done in the dark.

Jim

 

[JLP]

Jim, Another option is the Jobo 3005 drum. Not exactly cheap but good for both 5x7 and 8x10 Will take 5 sheets of film. Disadvantage is that you also need a motor base but they can be had for little money on the auction site. Beseler and Unicolor base will work.
Load in darkness and process in daylight like with 35mm.


jan

 

[John Kasaian]

I use a poor man's jobo----a unicolor processor. 1 Sheet of 8x10 in an 8x10 print drum or 2 sheets of 8x10 in an 11x14 print drum. On the Large Format Home Page you'll find a link to Greywolf Phillips' article which pretty much explains it (though it is written for 4x5) Obviously for low volume 8x10 work but it has done well for me. A drum and motor base (make sure it is a print drum, not the film version) goes for $30-40 at auction. About the only thing that can go wrong is a leaky gasket. You only need to be in the dark for loading the drum. I take the drum into the kitchen and use the timer on the oven and was the negs in the kitchen sink. An added benefit is that it takes very little chemistry compared to trays.
Cheers!
Cheers!

 

[Konical]

Good Morning, Jim,

John's message above is on the mark. To avoid the Unicolor gasket problem, get a Chromega print drum. I've used one for decades without any leakage problem at all.

Last night, I posted a response which somehow didn't "take." The essence of it was that we've had about a zillion APUG posts on the sheet film development matter. Do a Forum search for much more information (and a few informed opinions)!

Konical

 

[John Bartley]

I use an Agfa-Ansco 8x10 .... I work in ... The Bathtub (we only have one) .... homemade developing tubes (ABS) ..... only have to be dark to load the tube and to pour in the developer .... daylight for everything else ... develop, stop, fix in the tube .... wash in trays using a hand-held shower hose from the shower head for a wash water source .... hang with clothes pins from a string across the basement floor or the tub ... as Jamie Oliver would say "easy-peasey"

cheers eh?

oh yeah .... a warning .... ask your sweetheart if he/she needs to use the bathroom BEFORE you start (if you only have one bathroom)

 

[petrdvorak]

I use a Unicolor 8x10 print drum with a rotating base. My drum was leaking badly so I replaced the original gasket with a home made one, cut from a mouse pad (any suggestions for a better solution? . I handle film in a changing bag, it is not very convenient but possible.

 

[Wayne R. Scott]

I use a Unicolor 8x10 Print drum also. Like all of them it leaked. I cut a new gasket from the lid of a Folgers 3lb. coffee can. I used the old gasket for a template, with out all of the little legs. Works like a charm.

Wayne

 

[walter23]

Look for an 8x10 unicolour print drum. An 8x10 sheet (or multiple 4x5s) fit just fine and you can develop them, rotary agitation style, with about 150 to 200ml of chemistry. Has to be a print drum though, which has ridges for holding the film. The film drums are for spirals and have smooth walls.

Looking back over the thread I see it's been mentioned already. This is another vote of confidence for the method.

You may find if you use a motorized roller base that you need to compensate by reducing your development time by about 10 to 15% of the recommended time. I get best results taking 'about a minute' off the manufacturer's recommended intermittent-agitation development time (usually around 8 to 11 minutes depending on the film / developer combo). I haven't done any real rigorous testing, this just seems to give me nice printable negatives. I was getting slightly too high contrast until I reduced time a bit (though I do the opposite for alt. process prints to get more contrast - still haven't totally nailed that down though).

Hi All,

I've done 35mm B&W developing so I assume the chemistry is the same but I've never dealt with LF before so how in the heck do you develop 8X10 B&W print film as far as tanks for the film and such? Are there daylight options? or does it have to be done in the dark? It seems to me as there are some logistics required to handle those mondo negatives.

Take care,

Jim

 

[John Kasaian]

I find that with B&W temperature isn't all that critical (within limitations of course! Disregard if you live in Greenland or the Kalihari!) What is important is that all your dev, stop and fixer be the same temperature, so all my stock solutions live together in brown glass jugs until use. Even if I use a water stop, I'll temper it by keeping it in a jug along side the rest of the chemicals.
It works for me anyway.

 

[jmooney]

Thanks for the info guys. Looks like it isn't that costly to develop as the drums and motors are pretty cheap on eBay. I was hoping it'd be expensive so I'd have one more reason to put off getting into 8X10.

 

[JBrunner]

I find that with B&W temperature isn't all that critical (within limitations of course! Disregard if you live in Greenland or the Kalihari!) What is important is that all your dev, stop and fixer be the same temperature, so all my stock solutions live together in brown glass jugs until use. Even if I use a water stop, I'll temper it by keeping it in a jug along side the rest of the chemicals.
It works for me anyway.

Ilford has a neat chart posted on their site in the basic film developing guide that gives an idea of temperature compensations.