Tank needed for 4x5 developing?

[F4U]

The 4x5 sheet film hanger tank I designed and posted the stl 3D print file I posted on here has worked VERY well for me in the 6 months since I designed it. And can be printed out on the lowly Ender 3. It's for 4 sheets at the time and uses a minimal amount of chemistry. All you need is some hangers. Far better than trays and commercially marketed tanks. After 6 months of using it, I wouldn't even consider any other method. No streaking, scratching, or bromide drag. Even has a thermometer slot to keep a constant eye on temp. It's also free. If you like it, donate to the site.

 

[Paul Howell]

It expired on 1994. Do I need to compensate for this while shooting and/or developing?
Unfortunately there is only one developing lab where I live which take 2 weeks to deliver and only processes b&w and c41.

There are 3 issues with 30 year old color film. First is fog. Depending on storage, frozen vs refrigerated vs room temp, color film is easily fogged. Second is loss of speed, 30 year old color, best guess is a stop. Second issue is shift in color. Until you shoot a test sheet, with a compensating filter or under hot lights it is difficult to predict. You can send on sheet unexposed to your local lab and have it developed in C41 just see if it is fogged. On the positive side lower speed film like ISO64 tend develop less fog than higher speed films. Color shift, who knows.

 

[Paul Howell]

Thinking about it, what do you intend to do with the 4X5 slides? To make prints you have to scan and print inkjet as there are no direct positive color papers made on the market. Second option to to make an inter-negative, although color films designed as inter negative films are no longer on the market it is possible to use porta 160, that would be expensive, check out the current price for 4X5 color film, here in the U.S 10 sheets is listed at $72 US, and is out of stock at the moment at Freestyle. You could copy with MF or 35mm but what be the purpose if you loss the gain and resolution advantage of 4X5. I do not scan and have little experience with the process, but as you scan you can use PS or the like to correct for any color shift. Last option to build a 4X5 projector. I guess you could use the lens of your 4X5 camera reversed, find a bright enough lamp and fans, then a housing, two sheets of nonrefective glass for a slide holder. Would take some work, one slide at a time, but possible.

 

[pbromaghin]

I had a 2-4x5-reel jobo tank and could never load them correctly. It drove me half-crazy and it's a big part of why I gave up on large format for about 5 years. I do occasionally still use it for many 120 or 35mm rolls.

 

[suanmein]

Thinking about it, what do you intend to do with the 4X5 slides? To make prints you have to scan and print inkjet as there are no direct positive color papers made on the market. Second option to to make an inter-negative, although color films designed as inter negative films are no longer on the market it is possible to use porta 160, that would be expensive, check out the current price for 4X5 color film, here in the U.S 10 sheets is listed at $72 US, and is out of stock at the moment at Freestyle. You could copy with MF or 35mm but what be the purpose if you loss the gain and resolution advantage of 4X5. I do not scan and have little experience with the process, but as you scan you can use PS or the like to correct for any color shift. Last option to build a 4X5 projector. I guess you could use the lens of your 4X5 camera reversed, find a bright enough lamp and fans, then a housing, two sheets of nonrefective glass for a slide holder. Would take some work, one slide at a time, but possible.

That is a really good point. Unfortunately I couldn't get my hands on coloured negative film so these are the only material I have at the moment. Could you possibly make a "fake coloured" print by separating channels while printing on regular coloured printing paper? ... now that I think of it I would get a coloured negative. Damn...

 

[Paul Howell]

That is a really good point. Unfortunately I couldn't get my hands on coloured negative film so these are the only material I have at the moment. Could you possibly make a "fake coloured" print by separating channels while printing on regular coloured printing paper? ... now that I think of it I would get a coloured negative. Damn...

I don't think that it would work, R4 paper is for negatives so your right, you will get a negative, and the colors would be not be correct. And color negative film has a orange mask so the contrast will be off. But might be worth a try. The best bet would a scan then print with an inkjet. A high resolution scan and inkjet will likely capture the resolution and grain of a slide. I don't do a lot of work in PS but seems to me that you could also correct for the tungsten cast by adding blue. Before going any further I would spend the money to have an unexposed sheet developed in C41 to see who much fog there is. If highly fogged then?

 

[Luckless]

Might be worth splitting the discussions on your printing options into a new thread just to keep subject clarity. It also helps bring eyes to the issue from users who might skip over "4x5 tank" discussions.

Starting with hybrid process and pulling scans of your slides into the digital realm sounds like it would be the smoothest path to finished prints to start with. But nothing says you can't revisit your slides later on and step into producing internegatives for each colour channel and printing those onto colour paper once you establish the ballpark of your corrections needed in the digital realm.

"Pin Registration" might be a subject you'll want to read up on if you want to make colour separations in the darkroom.