Two rolls of 120 in single reel tank?

echbremmer · May 8, 2009

hey all,

I have a simple question to which I cannot seem to find the answer: is it possible to load two rolls of 120 film in my single reel tank (JOBO 500ml) and then develop them using a 1+0 developer solution (in my case Perceptol)? I figured I would load one after the other by taping the second film to the end-tape of the first film. My concern is whether the solution can handle both films or whether it'll be exhausted around half way.

Regards,

Emile

Anscojohn · May 8, 2009

echbremmer said:
hey all,

I have a simple question to which I cannot seem to find the answer: is it possible to load two rolls of 120 film in my single reel tank (JOBO 500ml) and then develop them using a 1+0 developer solution (in my case Perceptol)? I figured I would load one after the other by taping the second film to the end-tape of the first film. My concern is whether the solution can handle both films or whether it'll be exhausted around half way.

Regards,

Emile

******
I have souped this amount of 220 film in the old Ansco tank, using ca. 16 ounces of D23. I increased recommended developing time for 120 by 10% "just to be safe.".

Christopher Walrath · May 8, 2009

Wirelessly posted (BlackBerry9000/4.6.0.167 Profile/MIDP-2.0 Configuration/CLDC-1.1 VendorID/102 UP.Link/6.3.0.0.0)

Yeah, you should be able to put two rolls of 120 on a 220 reel. Perhaps a small pice of scotch tape to anchor the second roll to the first.

RobertV · May 8, 2009

You need to know the minimum concentrate for each film. For the rest the Jobo 1520 with 1501 reel is equipped with a small (red) clip for this purpose. You have to spool in the first film to the end. Then the red clip inside the reel down to prevent overspooling the second film.

You maximum volume for this tank is 550ml so you have to calculate if it's possible for the wanted dilution and developer.

Best regards,

Robert

ic-racer · May 8, 2009

You use the little red tab to separate the two rolls. I suspect you don't have the red tab, perhaps you can get one from a Jobo supplier.

NormanV · May 8, 2009

I put two rolls of 120 into a single Patterson spiral all of the time, just load the first right into the centre, it is beyond the feed balls so does not move as you load the second film. When I load the second film I leave the last few inches wrapped around the spiral. There is no need for bits of sticky tape, I have never had a problem with the film overlapping. I do not alter development time. If you had loaded 220 film you would have used the volume of solution that covers the film at the standard development time and that is the same area of film as 2 x 120, so there is no problem.

Martin Aislabie · May 9, 2009

I have smetimes done this - load 2 off 120 rolls onto one Jobo Reel - but never on anything important (just in case)

I loaded one roll, pushing it down below the red locking tab, then added the second roll in the normal manner

The chemical volume is sufficient to cope with the extra film area, without need to increase development time.

The volume Jobo quote is to submerse the film and reels with a bit of a safety margin.

Ilford quote the following on P7 of their fact sheet - http://www.ilfordphoto.com/Webfiles/200621612182416.pdf

The table below gives the number of 135/36 or
120 roll films a litre of stock PERCEPTOL, ID-11
and MICROPHEN can process provided that the
developer is reused.
Stock films/litre
PERCEPTOL = 4

So 2 rolls in 500ml of Perceptol is OK if used neat.

Martin

echbremmer · May 9, 2009

well it worked out perfectly using perceptol 1+0 and normal development time. Still need to figure out if it would work with 1+1 dilution and whether any compensation would be needed.

Loading the second film by taping it to the first was not so easy I found; I am fairly experienced in loading films and this took some effort. I think the suggestion provided by Martin using the red tab would work best.

thanks for the answers all.

Regards,
Emile
(I will be scanning these films and posting them on flickr.com/photos/echbremmer

NormanV · May 9, 2009

I'm sorry but you are making a lot of problems for a problem that does not exist. 35mm film is approx half the width of 120 film. Therefore you need twice the volume to develop 120 film. 35mm and 120 have approx the same surface area. If you develop 2 120 films in twice the volume of developer you do not need to increase times. Taping them just makes more problems. See my earlier post.

echbremmer · May 10, 2009

based on the specification of perceptol provided by martin it seems to me now that 1+1 or any stronger dilution will not work as it will exhaust the active ingredients. So compensating with longer dev times also won't make any difference ... can someone confirm this?

@NormanV: your last post is a bit confusing to me; the whole point is that you can use the same volume (500ml which is the tank minimum) to dev two rolls instead of one.

To me the question seems to revolve around the minimum concentrate needed to prevent reaching the exhaustion point.

Regards,
Emile

wobsy · May 10, 2009

If you gently pull the 1st film's tape from the backing paper and fold it over onto the film itself and then wind it right round to the centre of the spiral, the second 120 will not be able to pass if it should get to the contact point, the groove will be too narrow. No problem using the usual amount of dev as far as I have found. I frequently dev 2 x 120's together using this method. No probs with loading or dev.

Two rolls of 120 in single reel tank?

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