Sheet film in trays.. how many sheets at once?

Amund said:

Actually slightly stronger than dil B, 70ml of hc-110 in 2 liters of water, that makes for a 1:28 mix....
He develops for 4min 15 seconds, and rate his Tri-X at around EI 100.

The info is from Jock, in an email to me.

Click to expand...

Ok, but one has to bow for his extremly quick fingers then

/ Marcus

I do anywhere from 8 to 15 sheets of 4x5 at a time in 5x7 trays. In addition to using plenty of developer, I've found a shuffle technique that's worked very well for me: as I pull a neg out from under the stack, I use a finger of the other hand to push the opposite side of the stack downwards to the bottom of the tray. That puts about an inch of liquid between the leading edge of the descending neg and the rest of the stack, which is plenty to avoid scratches. Pushing that end down also pivots the other end up -- which is what you want so you can get your finger underneath to get the next negative. The stack ends up doing a smooth see-saw motion once you get the rhythm right that really lets you rip through a shuffle. I've done a complete shuffle of 10 negs in 8 seconds, but any quicker than that and stuff starts flying off into space.

results

OK, I was able to get my scanner working and I also cleaned the mirror.
Here are 2 of the sheets I processed in the batch of 30.

I use small plastic boxes that is mainly used as a lunch-boxes. I only develop 4x5, and I would guess that the box is something like 5x7.

I lift one short end up a inch and agitate it a feq times. This makes some waves and makes it much easier to lift the neg on the opposite side.

I have never scratched my negs, but my main concerne isn't my finger or nails, but I feel that the area on the negative where you see the code (you know that zig-zag-pattern) should scratch them, but so far I'm lucky...

To get the films into the presoak, I hold the stack by the edges in my right hand. Then I pull out the bottom one by the adhesion of my wet left-hand fingers to the anti-halation backing. That way no water will drip on the stack, and no fingers touch the emulsion until the films are in the water.

I do six 4x5" or 5x7" at a time, but no more than two of larger sizes.

Thanks ole! thats another good idea.