Home Processing

[Scott MacSween]

Hello all,

Apologies if this has been covered in depth before but I would like to hear some advice and recommendations on the various options for home processing. To start with I will likely only be processing 5x4 and 120 black and white negs but I will need to use one of the daylight systems since I don't have a room that can easily be made completely dark. Depending on how successful I am I may try my hand at C41 processing (I don't expect to need to do E6 processing). I probably don't need to worry about printing conventionally since I can scan the negs with a Flextight scanner and make inkjet prints. I suppose that I am most concerned with finding a relatively straightforward method where I can obtain reliable and repeatable results.

Any thoughts would be appreciated.

Many thanks.

Scott

[dennis]

Scott,
You don't say whether, or not, you have any previous experience of processing? If not you will presumably also need a 120 developing tank as well as a daylight system for 5x4? Darkroom for these, i.e. loading a 120 or 5x4 tank should not be a problem since only a very small space is needed. In fact it can be done in a changing bag, or in my case when I 1st started, under the bed clothes on my bed after dark. Cupboard under stairs, or similar can be utilised. Hope this some help as starter . . . Dennis.

[michaelfinch]

Scott, I agree with Dennis. A changing bag, a Paterson 3-reel tank + reels for 120 and a MOD54 film holder for the sheet film should get you up and running relatively inexpensively. The Paterson bits and bobs can be picked up for very little; the sheet film holder costs around £40. Hope that helps. (That's the second time in the last few days that I've mentioned that particular sheet film holder................I've no connection!).
Michael

[Scott MacSween]

Thanks, Dennis and Michael.

Michael, I saw your initial post about the MOD54. I had a look at their website and was quite impressed. It looks like it could be the right solution for 5x4.

Dennis, I have no experience with DIY processing but I can be pretty patient and methodical. (I guess that biochemistry degree has shown itself to be useful after all)

Are there any advantages to using a Jobo rotary processor and tanks instead of the the Paterson inversion tanks?

Thanks, again.

[Wilson Cheung]

Jobo rotary generally uses less chemistry. Also you can leave the process unattended until time is up whereas with inversion you usually have to agitate so often unless doing stand processing. Also a with a machine it is usually easier to get consistent and repeatable results than by hand.

[lostlandsuk]

You can process roll film immensely cheaply - a good Paterson tank and a cupboard for loading, and a kitchen sink and a washing up bowl for the wet stuff! If you don't want to go to the expense of a changing bag, then wait till night
Seriously though, I've processed tons of 120 with a Paterson tank I bought at a car boot for £1.50 years ago.
Sheet film is more difficult if you have nowhere to dedicate to processing, and in cases like that certainly the new MOD54 or a Jobo or the Paterson Orbital print processor would be your solution. I do mine in ancient 5x7 trays - total cost £10.
I would advise if you are wanting to get on with repeatable results in wet processing, be very methodical, always keep notes, get a good thermometer (if you're initially doing B&W, I find food thermometers with stainless steel probes are excellent and cheaper than dedicated photographic ones which are more accurate for colour work), decide on a developer and stick with it until you have learned it inside out. Rodinal and D76/ID 11 are good starters and give excellent results.
Good luck, have fun, and I would say, buy a couple of rolls of Lucky brand 120 film off eBay so you can practice loading 120 onto a reel - there is nothing worse than having some great images on a film and it just not wanting to go on
Although the (recently discovered) tip for that is to bend the first 3 or 4 mm's of the film in the opposite direction to its natural curve - works a treat.
Phil

[Clive Gray]

If you go the Jobo route the numbers can be quite confusing. The most affordable of the Jobo options would be to start out with a 2520 tank that has a cap that allows inversion or roller processing. The 2500 series is the cheapest range that has a reel that takes 5x4 that reel is the 2509n. For 35mm / 120 you need a 2502 real.

All of the above are still available new from Firstcall ...aledgedley

http://www.firstcall-photographic.co.uk ... ultitank-2
http://www.firstcall-photographic.co.uk ... 2509n-reel
http://www.firstcall-photographic.co.uk ... o-set-reel

Nova has some listed

http://www.novadarkroom.com/product/379 ... ystem.html

If you like the idea of automating things a bit the CPE2 or CPE2 plus processors offer temperature control and automatic agitation without a lift you need a magnet on the tank the actual tank would then be a 2521 if you got a processor with a lift then you need a tank with a cog lid 2523.

The CPA and CPPE are larger better featured processors and go for more.

The ATL range of processors offer much greater automation but generally are quite expensive.


All the Jobo bits regularilly sell on ebay however quite often you will see people asking more for the reals than the cost new

It's possible to get lucky I got a 2521 tank with two reals for £12 on a buy it now and sometimes the CPE2 will go for say £40 if its a collection but often they go for much more.

Or you can get really lucky .. I brought some bits and pieces from Harpers of Woking including a small Jobo tank who told me about a customer who wanted to give a processor away which turned out to be a CPE2 plus 4 tanks.


Just providing some info if the Jobo route looks usefull to you, personnally i just use it for 120 / 35mm as I have a small dark room and dip dunk 10x8's in some Foto Sell processors but i have some of the Jobo bits and made the effort to research them some what, the Duolab could suit you too but with that you need both its matching tanks for the lids.

If you go Jobo and get confused about the numbers ask as many people here should be able to help



you can get some Jobo Manuals here

http://www.jobo.com/jobo_service_analog ... index.html

[Robin Wait]

For monochrome 5 x 4 you could also consider a Paterson orbital processor; these have a much smaller footprint than the Jobo rotaries if you are short of space (though you don't have a water bath for temperature control so colour processing is less feasible). They aren't made any more, but crop up used still (in fact there is one currently on ebay, complete with the motorized base, which is an accessory worth having). Loading film in a changing bag is a breeze, with much less risk of scratching than the Jobo 2509N reel. You need to make some simple modifications to use it for film rather than paper, but Paul O of this forum has the instructions on his Blog (http://paul-betweenarockandahardplace.b ... lm-in.html ) and Roger Hicks used to have instructions on line somewhere too. As a bonus you can also do 5 x 7 and 8 x 10. It's also incredibly economical with chemistry (e.g. 100 ml Rodinal 1 + 100 for four sheets of 5 x 4).
best wishes
Robin

[Valerio Trigari]

Hi Scott,

I personally use a Jobo 2500 tank system for developing my 4x5 B&W sheets and a Calumet light-tight tent for loading the sheets into the film holders or developing reels. The Jobo tank is quite easy to load, though it needs a lot of liquid, about 1.5 L, unless us use the roller base, in which case you only need 270 mL, according to the instructions. Do not bother buying the reel loader though; I bought it and it doesn't make it any faster to load the sheets, so don't waste £90 for a new one as I did... Anyway, all in all, I'm happy with the Jobo system.

The Calument tent is not too bad either, but I must say that the space inside is rather limited. It works well when loading and unloading sheets to and from the holders, but when loading the film into the tank, you really need to be careful, or you'll risk scratching the emulsion very easily. This is especially true with cheap film like Fomapan, for instance.

As per the chemicals I use for processing, that depends on what you want to do. Kodak D-76 and HC-110 are two classic choices, as well as Rodinal. Another developer I use a lot is Ilford Ilfosol S or 3, which always gave me very consistent results. I use Ilford chemicals as well for the stop bath, fixing and wetting. However, if you're sensitive to acetic acid, you may want to switch to a odourless fixer, which contains citric acid instead, e.g. the one made by Tetenal.

For drying the wet sheets, I simply hung them on cloths racks using a Paterson clip, the one with a metal pin. Usually the film is dry in about a couple of hours. When dry I store the sheets into polyester sleeves, for protection. The sheets are then scanned on a Epson V700 and I'm very happy with the results I obtain.

Hope this will help,

Valeiro

[Peter B]

Just a quick update to say that Speed Graphic are currently selling the MOD54 holder and Paterson tank together for £59.95 with free delivery for much of the UK.

http://www.speedgraphic.co.uk/processin ... 122_p.html