Trays for developing

[coriana6jp]

Hi All,

Finally had some time to take the 12x20 out and shoot with it, its a dream to behold. Not to mention a people magnet. I managed to shoot about 8 negatives so far, but haven't developed them due to the lack of suitable trays. Getting large trays here has been a real problem, having them shipped over is rather costly.

I found some trays at the local hardware store they are 22 x 15 inches, a little on the small side but they are completely smooth and very strong.
Any thoughts on whether this might be too small or if there might be any problems? Up until now I have done all my processing in drums, but thats not longer and option it seems at this size.

Thanks.

Gary

 

[DanielStone]

from the limited amount of tray developing that I've done in 4x5 and 8x10, I've always found glass baking pans to be the best. every time I've used plastic trays(even the ones with gulleys on the bottom), I've gotten scratches. with the glass dishes(approx 2-3" deep) I've never gotten scratches of any sort whatsoever.

I've been searching for a large glass dish that can handle negs of this size, but so far no luck.

Otherwise, there are plenty of people on here that use a jobo system for ULF development. I would imagine that you could use a large print drum(without ridges seems to be best from most people's accounts), and use it even in a water bath, rotating by hand.


best of luck though.


Dan

 

[vet173]

The trays are on the small side for the format. If doing singles I would watch for overdevelopment on the edges if gentle agitation is not used.

 

[Bruce A Cahn]

Those are fine. I used 16x20 trays when I had a 12x20. As Daniel says don't overagitate. Also you get more even development and less of an edge problem if you reverse the negative front to back halfway thru development.

 

[coriana6jp]

Thanks all for the help!

I will go ahead and give them a try.

Gary