Hello

I need some advice. A back injury has caused the loss of sensation in my hands and fingers. Because of this, I am going to have to switch from tray processing (large format negatives) to drums or tubes. The problem is I have no idea what I am dealing with. If possible, I want to be able to process multiple 8x10 B&W negs simultaneously. Is JOBO the only answer? I have read some posts which mention using Beseler or Unicolor print drums for negs. If I used one of those, would I be able to do more than 1 neg at a time? What about tubes? AAAAAAAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRGGH!

I'm sorry to sound so dense, but I really know nothing about this subject. Any advice or suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

Thank you,

Bob

-- Robert Lyman (railroad@northweb.com), August 27, 1999

Answers

Hi Bob,

I don't know if this will be any better, but have you considered traditional metal film hangers and square tanks? You can certainly do up to a dozen at a time, or just one. You'd have to get them loaded, but that's fairly easy. I can even envision some sort of guide fixture where you'd hang the hanger on it, then funnel the film into the slot. These things have served large format people well for, I dunno, 75 years or more, and are plentiful on the used market.

-- Conrad Hoffman (choffman@rpa.net), August 27, 1999.

Hi Conrad

Thanks for responding. I haven't really looked into the tanks and hangers, because of the amount of chemical required. I will check out the used market though. Thanks again,

Bob

-- Robert Lyman (railroad@northweb.com), August 27, 1999.

Unicolor print drums work fine. Unfortunately they're not available new any more, but there's plenty of them on the used-gear market. The 8x10 drum, which can hold four 4x5 sheets, comes with a small rubber-block neg separator that keeps two sheets on the same side from sliding together; if you get a drum without the separator you'll need to devise some sort of similar gadget. The separator just slides down the center pair or ribs, which hold it in place. What's special about the Unicolor drums is that the inner surface is ribbed, which allows solution to get to the back of the film and remove antihalation and sensitizing dyes etc. A smooth-walled drum can cause mottling unless you remove the film for fixing, HCA etc, which is a royal pain and carries a very high risk of damaging the wet film. An alternative is Phil Davis' tubes, which are available from Darkroom Innovations. I've never used the tubes but I understand they work fine. The setup of choice is a Jobo and an Expert Drum, but that's comparatively big bucks. A variation I've heard of is using an Expert Drum on a Beseler roller, and using an oil-filler funnel w/hose to fill the drum while it's rotating. No idea how well that works.

-- John Hicks / John's Camera Shop (jbh@magicnet.net), August 27, 1999.

Hi, sorry to hear about the back. I use a Unicolor drum now for my developing and it works great. I have for a long time used the hangers and they work fine also. The chemistry works out to be about the same over the long haul.The advantage of the drum is that once you enclose the film in it, you can then turn on the lights. and it is easier to keep your chemistry at the proper temperature. james

-- james (james_mickelson@hotmail.com), August 27, 1999.

Bob: I use the tubes sold by Phil Davis and I have had very good results with my 4x5 film. The overall evenness is better than I was able to achieve with tray developing. However, some of the process does take place in trays. Once you get to the fixer, the sheets come out of the tubes and it's done in a tray of fixer. Let me know if you want more info. Good luck.

-- Doug Rhinehart (drhinehart@coloradomtn.edu), September 01, 1999.

Bob, look around for a used UniColor 8x10 drum. Much easier than Davis' tubes. All the processing is done in it. JAMES

-- james (james_mickelson@hotmail.com), September 03, 1999.

Just wanted to thank everyone for their responses. It looks like the Unicolor drums are the way to go for me. I've found soe listed on eBay, so I should be all set.

Bob

-- Robert Lyman (railroad@northweb.com), September 04, 1999.