Reccomended 8mm/16mm movie film daylight processing tank

[EASmithV]

Ok, well I've read up on reversal processing, and although slightly confused I think I get the overall idea. The next step is to try it. So, I was wondering if anyone had a reccomendation on what kind of developing tank I should try to buy. Hopefully one that can do both 8mm and 16mm film.

 

[nickandre]

They're ungodly expensive. The one you want is the Lomo tank. It pops up on ebay often from sellers in the ukrane and russia with huge shipping and huge prices.

I found instructions to build a tank by using two pipes of PVC and clothesline and electrical wire. The idea was that you took the smaller pipe, wrapped it in evenly spaced 8mm film, and constructed wire guides for loading in the dark. You submerged this in another, larger pipe which could be capped and filled with chemistry. The downsides were that it used a lot of chemistry, like 2-3 liters. I was looking to seal the inner pipe to reduce chemistry volume. I never went through with it because I don't shoot enough super 8. I could find the link if you want.

here it is

 

[mrmekon]

I have a Morse G-3 rewind tank that I used for processing Double 8mm at home (which is 16mm uncut). It was easy enough to use, but what a pain in the ass the process is -- an hour of constant winding. Mine has a plastic window on the side that can be opened to re-expose reversal film part-way through development. I think some of them don't have the window. I picked it up about 6 years ago for ~$100 at auction.

edit: looks like the Morse can't do Super 8. Just 16mm and 35mm, I think.

 

[ic-racer]

I have a Morse G-3 rewind tank that I used for processing Double 8mm at home (which is 16mm uncut). It was easy enough to use, but what a pain in the ass the process is -- an hour of constant winding. Mine has a plastic window on the side that can be opened to re-expose reversal film part-way through development. I think some of them don't have the window. I picked it up about 6 years ago for ~$100 at auction.

edit: looks like the Morse can't do Super 8. Just 16mm and 35mm, I think.

Just curious, how did you split it? Did it project OK?

 

[mrmekon]

I don't remember where I got it from, but I have a little metal can with a razor mounted in it that you can feed the film through. I just put the uncut 16mm film on one side of a rewinder and two 8mm take-up reels on the other side and wound the film through the cutter. It wound on spools correctly, and projected fine.

 

[EASmithV]

Tiberius: Would this same instructions work for 16mm or would I have to double the length of the developing tank?

 

[nick mulder]

I have all the Lomo tanks (kept buying bigger and bigger) ...

From what I have heard they are clearly superior to the morse tanks, PVC pipe sounds fun but once you take into consideration the time involved building and testing it and the extra chems involved in each process then the Lomo starts getting interesting ...

Have a look here:

http://www.geocities.com/cinetank/tank.htm

Olex, the guy that runs this site is a regular poster at cinematography.com

 

[filmamigo]

Many Super 8 shooters who are OK with the DIY look will process Super 8 in a bucket. (No, i'm not kidding.)

 

[EASmithV]

I have a Morse G-3 rewind tank that I used for processing Double 8mm at home (which is 16mm uncut). It was easy enough to use, but what a pain in the ass the process is -- an hour of constant winding. Mine has a plastic window on the side that can be opened to re-expose reversal film part-way through development. I think some of them don't have the window. I picked it up about 6 years ago for ~$100 at auction.

edit: looks like the Morse can't do Super 8. Just 16mm and 35mm, I think.

I think I actually like this better than the Lomo tanks, but why was the processing an hour long?

 

[nickandre]

DIY in a bucket works, just FYI If done delicately and correctly it will pass quite nicely. Holding the 100 degree temp might prove a problem though.

It looks like a royal PITA to build. If you try 16mm you'd have twice the width and length, so that's a 4x longer pipe of PVC. If you're doing 16mm then you probably should go with the lomo tank.

I found a splitter on ebay, also from Checkleslavackia or wherever for an arm and a leg.

 

[EASmithV]

I may try the bucket thing just for shits and giggles. I'm not really worried about the temperature, because I'm more interested in doing BW movies than color anyway (for now).

 

[mrmekon]

I just found my old notes:

Prebath (photo-flo + water): 4 min
Rinse: 4 min
1st Dev (1L Kodak D-19, 9.5g Sodium Thiosulfate): 18 min
Rinse: 4 min
Bleach (1L water, 28.5g Potassium Dichromate, 198g Sodium Bisulfate): 10 min
Rinse: 4 min
Clearing bath (750ml water, 210g Sodium Sulfite, add water to 1L): 20 min
Rinse w/ re-exposure (100W bulb @ 10"): 8 min
Redeveloper (1L D-19): 10 min
Rinse: 4 min
Fixer (1L rapid fixer): 10 min
Final wash (800ml water, 200ml hypo clear): 4 min
Final wash (1 L water, photo-flo): 6 min

No temperature notes... this was probably for 20C, and I probably actually did it at 24C... wasn't very careful back then.

I got this from various sources around the net (mostly filmshooting.com), and it worked well for me. I know nothing about chemistry and very little about the reversal process, so maybe this isn't the most efficient way to do it. What I do know is that this method takes 108 minutes of winding at a constant speed, and it was boring. Quite possibly some of these steps can be lessened (34 minutes of this is rinsing!!). With the winding method, though, the film is tightly wound against itself so the chemicals don't distribute very evenly. You probably have to make a few complete passes to guarantee uniformity.