Yes! ANOTHER $%^&^ Agitation Question!

Arkasha · May 6, 2012

Greetings,

I recently acquired a plastic developing tank. It has a plastic stirring rod and undulations so when you spin the reel back and forth it goes up and down as well. It was part of a Beseler developing kit.

I'm curious about this - I've always agitated by inversion, but the literature with the tank claims the stirrer does a great job, and it would be marginally easier for me to time the agitation cycle. However, the only information I found about this method was a complaint by one user who didn't like it.

A search here turned up nothing.

Does anyone have an opinion on this method, positive or negative?

Thanks!

kerne · May 6, 2012

I'm not a fan of swizzle sticks either. Tried it once and got very uneven development. :/

Jerry Thirsty · May 6, 2012

Same bad results as kerne. Very uneven between edges and center.

jordanstarr · May 7, 2012

....I can't say from experience, but the logic behind the twirling of the canister is to allow fresh developer to move all over the film. I can't imagine the stick doing the same quality of job, even if it does move up and down. The film kinda "cuts" through the developer, not really moving it around a lot. I wouldn't trust it personally, but I'm doing dip n' dunk.

Herzeleid · May 7, 2012

Using the agitation stick always overdeveloped the edges of my negatives. I invert when developing and use the stick for stop and fixer.

Arkasha · May 7, 2012

Thanks, all. Good to have a clear answer on the issue.

Neal · May 7, 2012

Dear Arkasha,

Just to screw things up a bit, I have one of those tanks (they are sold under the Arista and Adorama house names now) and it works great. I probably agitate a bit more than most but I never had problems with it before I went to the Jobo system.

Neal Wydra

RalphLambrecht · May 7, 2012

i likr them better than jobo, wgich always leak a bit.

Arkasha · May 7, 2012

Neal said:
Dear Arkasha,

Just to screw things up a bit, I have one of those tanks (they are sold under the Arista and Adorama house names now) and it works great. I probably agitate a bit more than most but I never had problems with it before I went to the Jobo system.

Neal Wydra

So much for consensus!

Thanks for the info, Neal. I like the plastic tank, and found 120 easy to load with included reel. I may try out the rod agitator just to see.

Chris Douglas · May 7, 2012

plastic tanks

I managed to get even development with a Yankee tank, but the stick wouldn't do it. Sliding the tank back and forth on the table top works, but it has to be fast enough that the developer is almost spilling out the top. I went to stainless steel and inversion, and won't go back.

Juri · May 7, 2012

I have a developing tank just like that, with the rod moving up and down. I spin the rod in one direction and I haven't had any problems with uneven development. I think when you spin it right, it moves the chemicals around enough during the whole development cycle. No need to worry about spilling chemicals. Has worked for me.

Jerevan · May 7, 2012

Arkasha said:
A search here turned up nothing.

Search for "agitation stick" on APUG and you'll get some more reading...

Arkasha · May 7, 2012

Jerevan said:
Search for "agitation stick" on APUG and you'll get some more reading...

Heh - I tried "stirring rod."

Yes! ANOTHER $%^&^ Agitation Question!

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