I've recently started processing B&W prints in drums after years of tray processing and was interested in hearing about others' experiences with this method. I've compiled a short list of advantages/disadvantages using drum processing:

1. More consistent chemical treatment print to print if you "one-shot" the chemistry and use a motor base for agitating/economic penalty associated with one-shot processing 2. Space saver for small darkrooms/print size is more limited with drums than with trays 3. Can process in room light/can't develop by inspection under safelight or selectively develop an area of print 4. Maybe no real advantage to two-bath fixing, since fresh fixer is used each time/not practical to tone prints in drums, unless you just want to make more archival with no actual color change

Any thoughts/experiences on this issue?

-- Larry Rudy (ljrgcr@cetlink.net), February 02, 2001

Answers

Looking at the capacities, you are right about spending more/using more chemistry than needed. A gallon of Dektol has a capacity of 120 8x10 prints. So you would need only about 1 ounce per print. I am not sure how good of coverage you will get with only 1 ounce in a drum.

The same for the fixer. Ilford states the capacity of the first bath of two bath fixing at 40 prints per liter or about 120 per gallon, but that is with a second fresh bath. Again, you end up only using about 1 ounce and again run into good coverage.

I don't do B&W in drums, but I do color in them. I use 60 ml (2 ounces) for RA-4 one shot or 75 ml (2.5 ounces) one shot for Ilfochrome. No problem with good coverage this way.

-- Terry Carraway (TCarraway@compuserve.com), February 03, 2001.

You forgot to mention: Pain in the butt washing and drying drum after every print!

-- Jeff White (jeff@jeffsphotos.com), February 03, 2001.

Jeff,

Get more drums. :)

-- Terry Carraway (TCarraway@compuserve.com), February 04, 2001.

I use drum processing for larger prints -- especially 16x20". I use 300 ml. fluid in a 20x24" drum. One-shot processing @ 20C for resin-coated paper: Bromophen 1+3 for 2.5 min. Weak stop for a min. Half-strength fixed for 1.3 min. Water for a minute before opening the drum. Then wash in running water. You need fairly long times for every step to ensure that the paper gets even processing. Just a bit of the print is in the solution at any given time. Synopsis: it's messy; you have to clean and dry the drum between prints; and it's devlishly hard to get a large, wet print out of the drum without creasing; it uses lots of chemistry per print; but it beats mixing 4 litres for a 16x20 tray when there's only a few prints. I used to do 11x14" prints the same way, but on a balance of pains, it's not worth the hassle.

-- Robert Phipps (robert.phipps@sk.sympatico.ca), February 04, 2001.

I'd agree that it's not worth the hassle, except for large prints. Even then, you can 'see-saw' a 20x16 in a 16x12 tray quite easily. Another minus with a sealed tank, you lose the never-ending magic of seeing the print come up in the developer.
This gives me an idea though; I've got an old Kodak rotary apron-and-drum colour processor that I never use these days. Maybe I can use it for one-shot B&W processing for short print runs.

-- Pete Andrews (p.l.andrews@bham.ac.uk), February 05, 2001.

Drums work for RC paper. FB - you will ruin your print puuling it out of a drum.

-- Boris Krivoruk (boris_krivoruk@ams.com), February 05, 2001.

Greetings,

I've processed prints both ways and will continue to process color in drums, but I'm about to switch back over to trays for B&W. FB prints can be processed in drums, but it's a lot less than ideal. A quick way of drying out drums for repeat processing is a quick wipe with a paper towel followed by a hair dryer.

Regards,

-- Pete Caluori (pcaluori@hotmail.com), February 06, 2001.