Stearman Press 8X10 Tray film wash

acrobatic_citron · Jul 19, 2025

Hello

Whittling down my choices for 4x5 dev, the Stearman 810 is calling to me as its scaleable if I ever decide to dabble in 810, uses less chemistry than all other inversion systems, lets my dev in daylight and should minimise scratches with drag and drop film insertion and each sheet separate from the rest.

The last piece of the puzzle is rinsing, traditionally a big fan of Ilford method as in the UK we have water meters. I've read for a wash you only need enough flow to refill the tray every 5 mins

How are users rinsing their film with the 810 tray?

Thanks

Doremus Scudder · Jul 19, 2025

Once you've fixed your film, you can rinse/wash it any way you like. I might recommend one of the basket-style "archival" film washers, one you can easily empty and refill if you like the Ilford method, and/or one that has a low-flow rate. If your volume is not high, you can also use trays. There are lots of options.

Best,

Doremus

djdister · Jul 19, 2025

... and use a hypo clearing agent.

acrobatic_citron · Jul 19, 2025

Thanks guys, I don't have water meter yet so and yes very low volume shooting so film washer may be the way to go. Is hype clearing recommend for all film or specifically 4x5? Its often not mentioned in the gateway drug of 35mm

MattKing · Sunday at 3:54 AM

Hypo clearing agent and other wash aids help you reduce your time and water use when you use them for film.
They also aid in removing a magenta "tinge" with some of the T-Max films.
They aren't necessary, but can be advantageous.

Paul Howell · Sunday at 1:16 PM

acrobatic_citron said:
Thanks guys, I don't have water meter yet so and yes very low volume shooting so film washer may be the way to go. Is hype clearing recommend for all film or specifically 4x5? Its often not mentioned in the gateway drug of 35mm

I use Helicon Perma Wash, for film 35mm to 4X5 1 min wash, 1 min in clearing agent with agitation, then 1 min final wash. I usually do a 3 to 5 mins final, Ive tested with hypo residue solution and it does come out clean with the standard 1, 1 and 1. Not sure if you can get Helicon in the UK.

abruzzi · Sunday at 11:00 PM

acrobatic_citron said:
How are users rinsing their film with the 810 tray?

I don't know whether others will consider this sufficient or "archival", but I live in the desert and I don't like wasting water. I wash the same as every other dev tank I use:

0:00--0:30: fill and dump as many times as I can in the 30 seconds.
0:30--2:00: Dump and fill. Gently agitate the water for this minute and a half.
2:00--3:30: dump and fill again, continue gentle agitation
3:30--5:00: dump and fill again, w/agitation
Total time 5:00 minutes
(followed by one more dump and fill plus photo-flo for 30s)

Also, for the SP 810 I only use 300ml of developer. Its very efficient on the chemical usage.

Kino · Monday at 9:05 AM

Probably not strictly archival, but I use a water stop and TF-5 fix so I:

1. 1:00 - 500ml water rinse with constant agitation.
2. 1:00 bath of Perma Wash hypo clear.
3. 1:00 - 500ml water rinse with constant agitation.
4. 1:00 soak in photoflo in a separate tray.
5. Dry.

My tap water is of good quality and is double filtered (carbon and string filter), so I do not have to use distilled water in the final rinse, but I do use it in mixing the all my formulas. No problems so far in a decade.

acrobatic_citron · 2025-07-25T05:34:43-0400

Great, thanks for the tip guys

Stearman Press 8X10 Tray film wash

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