Ideas on B&W 4x5 developing anyone?

antonroland

antonroland

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Hello all you wonderful people!

OK, OK, hello to all of you outside F&C TOO!:p:D

So I am curious...having learned the hard way that a Paterson tank is not the ideal way to develop 4x5, how should I go about looking for something better?

Any ideas?

As always, much appreciated!:thumbs:
 
Well, I've never developed 4*5, but I see there are 'adaptors' for Paterson tanks : http://SPAM/b8hyrh2 don't know if they are any good :shrug:
 
There are a few square tanks for 5x4 but i dont know whether they will be much better
 
Just out of interest, what are you doing with the negs when you develop in a paterson tank?

I personally do what Gandhi explained to me years ago... fold the sheet over (without creasing, obviously), such that the ends meet, and then put an elastic band (a very thin one) around it to hold it in place. Emulsion should clearly be on the inside. Can fit 4 in a tank and works fine for me? Are you doing that or something else?
 
Woodsy said:
fold the sheet over (without creasing, obviously), such that the ends meet, and then put an elastic band (a very thin one) around it to hold it in place. Emulsion should clearly be on the inside. Can fit 4 in a tank and works fine for me? Are you doing that or something else?
Click to expand...

Exactly what I do with 9x12cm, quarter, half and whole plate film.

Restricted to one sheet at a time with the larger formats but never had a problem with the results.
 
Woodsy said:
Just out of interest, what are you doing with the negs when you develop in a paterson tank?

I personally do what Gandhi explained to me years ago... fold the sheet over (without creasing, obviously), such that the ends meet, and then put an elastic band (a very thin one) around it to hold it in place. Emulsion should clearly be on the inside. Can fit 4 in a tank and works fine for me? Are you doing that or something else?
Click to expand...

Sounds like a great low tech solution, thanks!

I simply folded it over gently and allowed it to kick straight against the inside of the tank. Not ideal but worked...I tried two sheets at a time but I am a bit worried about the one scratching the other in the whole process...
 
To everyone else, cheers for all the responses!:thumbs:
 
antonroland said:
Sounds like a great low tech solution, thanks!

I simply folded it over gently and allowed it to kick straight against the inside of the tank. Not ideal but worked...I tried two sheets at a time but I am a bit worried about the one scratching the other in the whole process...
Click to expand...

Glad to help :)

One thing I've learnt from this solution, is that the elastic bands need to be as thin as possible. As they are effectively against the anti-halation coating, it's pretty essential (if you don't already that is) to pre-wash before developing, otherwise you risk not all of the anti-halation layer coming off during the dev process, and leaving marks on the back surface of the film corresponding to the area covered by the elastic band.

Lastly, I personally only have a small-ish dev tank - one designed to fit 2 35mm spools or 1 120 spool. As such, I can fit 4 sheets in comfortably, 5 at a squeeze. This is because I have to fold so that the 4" sides touch each other, thus making each roll 4" tall in the tank. If you have a taller tank, you could fold so that the 5" sides touch, and thus easily fit 5 sheets in a tank comfortably, possibly even 6 at a squeeze.
 
Woodsy said:
Glad to help :)

One thing I've learnt from this solution, is that the elastic bands need to be as thin as possible. As they are effectively against the anti-halation coating, it's pretty essential (if you don't already that is) to pre-wash before developing, otherwise you risk not all of the anti-halation layer coming off during the dev process, and leaving marks on the back surface of the film corresponding to the area covered by the elastic band.

Lastly, I personally only have a small-ish dev tank - one designed to fit 2 35mm spools or 1 120 spool. As such, I can fit 4 sheets in comfortably, 5 at a squeeze. This is because I have to fold so that the 4" sides touch each other, thus making each roll 4" tall in the tank. If you have a taller tank, you could fold so that the 5" sides touch, and thus easily fit 5 sheets in a tank comfortably, possibly even 6 at a squeeze.
Click to expand...

I am seriously considering getting creative some square-ish flat Tupperware with a light tight seal...
 
Check out the mod 54 http://www.mod54.com/, it's expensive for what it is but it seems to me to be a very simple solution! With a little ingenuity It wouldn't be impossible to make a clone either??
 
Last edited:
onform said:
Check out the mod 54 http://www.mod54.com/, it's expensive for what it is but it seems to me to be a very simple solution! With a little ingenuity It wouldn't be impossible to make a clone either??
Click to expand...

Ann, yes, had a look at one of those on Fleebay...already contemplating an improvised equivalent BUT I do not have a 3 spool tank...thanks!:thumbs:

Hence wanting to get creative with some Tupperware...

Cheers!
 
paterson orbital processors are very nifty of you get one with the motordrive. silly money on fleabay but probably worth looking at the car boot/charity shops etc. they are designed for paper processing but you can mod them to be very good film tanks to do upto 8x10.
 
Will look out for one on fleebay, thanks.:thumbs:
 
Look at Item numbers:
the tank/processor
321055651737
200877156062
Motor drive (for the lazy/anal about repeatability)
200877158508
 
The orbital is nice, but it's important to remember about minimum developer volumes when using it. Due to the very small volume of chems required it's easy to forget and not provide enough developer for the total surface area to be developed, especially if you're a proponent of low dilution rodinal for example. It does work nicely though, especially with the motor.

Some people even go as far as to modify the bed with groove to make development more even, but I haven't found the need so far with mine
 
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