I have always wondered whether anyone ever uses that little rod that twirls the film reels in roll film development tanks. I've noticed that it is even supplied with tanks that are obviously meant for inversion, such as Patterson. Since the lid of my tank leaks I decided to try using it with a couple of films and upon cursory inspection it seems to have given me the same results as inverting. Has anyone else tried this?

-- Andy Laycock (pbrlab@unixg.ubc.ca), September 17, 1997

Answers

Yes Andy, I actually do use the reel twirler. I used to not use it, as it seemed just another part to deal with, but I guess so is the lid when inverting. I started using it in an attempt to decrease agitation when developing as my negatives were coming out with dense highlights and little to no detail in lower values. I also read somewhere that using less agitation helps give finer grain. All in all, it seemed to help for my purposes, but I've also been intentionally more gentle and careful about the timing of my agitation, so I don't doubt that as you weren't changing your technique otherwise, the results were much the same.

-- Fred Schmidt (driko@ix.netcom.com), September 18, 1997.

This is an old thread and maybe no one will read this, but I use the twirler too. I think it gives better control than twisting and inverting. I use a Patterson tank now, but I used to use a little Ansco universal tank which would only do one roll at a time. I've never had uniformity problems.

-- Tim Brown (brownt@ase.com), November 19, 1997.

Tim, I vaguely recall using a reel twirler years ago that incorporated a thermometer. It would have been a nice convenient feature if it had been accurate. It might have been made for the Ansco tank. Do you remember this feature?

-- Mason Resnick (mresnick@idt.net), December 04, 1997.

Mason: I still have one of those Ansco tanks. I also see them from time to time at camera shows. My twirler/thermometer is off by 5 deg. F though.

-- Tim Brown (brownt@ase.com), December 09, 1997.

Only 5 degrees off? Oh, if only mine were that *accurate*! :-)

-- Mason Resnick (mresnick@idt.net), December 09, 1997.