Washing 4x5 films

[norm123]

Hi
I want to move to Yankee tank to devellop my films (4x5) but I try to figure how to wash the films after, instead a tray washing. I can use another Yankee tank with a Paterson hose inside with the flow from bottom to top, the tank in the sink. Maybe there is a better way to wash them. I'm not sure about to put the hose in the tank. The best is a close tank (to light) who accept hangers, with connecting hoses. Does this tank exist? What is your methods?

Thank you for tips

Normand

 

[jimjm]

Norm -

Same as you, I just place the film hangers in an open Yankee tank and push the end of the Paterson hose to the bottom. I place the tank in the sink and let the overflow come up and out the sides. I move the hose around every few minutes, but it's probably not necessary.

 

[grahamp]

When I was tube developing 5x4, that's what I did - put the sheets in the Yankee tank and push a pipe to the bottom of the tank down the center core. It doesn't need a big flow rate.

 

[Kilgallb]

I do the same as grahamp. I went to Home Depot and bought a piece of surgical rubber tubing, it is strong but will not scratch the negatives. I made clip to hold the hose on the top of the tank with the end of the tube at the bottom. Another APUGER suggested this to me. Works like a top.

The Yankee tank is the best thing for washing but the worst tank for developing. Do not use it for developing. Use a tray, a slosher, Byzantine tubes, old Kodak dip and dunk tanks, but do not use a Yankee tank. Development is very uneven.

 

[Ronald Moravec]

Fill any tank with water, agitate 60 sec, dump and refill, agitate 30 sec, dump & refill ,agitate 30 sec , Basically Ilford method. Do not fill so much as to impede agitation, 3/4 full about right. If you lift hangars in & out. 8 cycles = 1 agitation, then dump & refill.

Hoses only dilute the dirty water and it takes way too long and wastes water. Been doing this 20+ years with no ill effects.

Similar for prints but I cycle the prints and move to second tray, dump first and start to refill, repeat 8 times.

 

[removed account4]

like ronald says
film and dump at least 20 times
use fixer remover too

good luck!

 

[seezee]

Fill any tank with water, agitate 60 sec, dump and refill, agitate 30 sec, dump & refill ,agitate 30 sec , Basically Ilford method. Do not fill so much as to impede agitation, 3/4 full about right. If you lift hangars in & out. 8 cycles = 1 agitation, then dump & refill.

Hoses only dilute the dirty water and it takes way too long and wastes water. Been doing this 20+ years with no ill effects.

Similar for prints but I cycle the prints and move to second tray, dump first and start to refill, repeat 8 times.

I'd use the Ilford method, too. Although it's my understanding that you increase the number of agitations/time with each subsequent fill, on the theory in each cycle the carrying capacity of the wash goes up as remaining fix goes down. I do 20 inversions, 40 inversions, 60 inversions, dumping & refilling each time.

 

[Andrew O'Neill]

As Ronald says, Ilford method is very effective and you use minimal amount of water. I do it this way with paper too.

 

[nsurit]

I use Mod54 in a Paterson tank for processing and then wash in a Gravity Works film washer which has a basket which has 12 slots for 4X5 film. Don't know how available these are on the auction site or elsewhere, however it does a good job. Bill Barber

 

[nsurit]

These were sold by Calumet.

 

[TheFlyingCamera]

I would NOT use a Yankee tank for developing my film. I tried it, and hated it. They leak, they use an obscene amount of chemistry to develop 12 sheets of film, and the racks that hold the sheets cause developer surge at the edges of the sheets which creates over-development of the edges of your film. This wasn't a big deal back in the day when they were designed and popular because most people using them were printing for newspapers, so they would have composed loosely and cropped when printing, so any unevenness would have been cropped out in the editorial stage anyway. I'd stick to tray processing unless you're going to go to a Jobo Expert drum.

Regarding the washing, well, the aforementioned Ilford method is probably the best, regardless of what system you're using for development.