I'm about to switch from plastic developing tanks to metal. I just received a metal tank from Adorama, and inside the tank, there is a wire "thing" made out of the same thickness of wire as the reels. It's as tall as the tank, has a small loop at one end, and two loops at the other. Can someone tell me the purpose of this? It fits through the center of the reels, but seems to flop from side to side, and I'm afraid it will hit the film. Thanks for any info.

-- eugene devereux (dreamofbeauty@yahoo.com), June 23, 2001

Answers

I'm guessing it's a handy dandy wire thingie used to lift the reels in and out of the tank. If it goes through the center, there's no way it should be able to hit the film. Many people recommend lowering the reels into the developer in the dark, especially for short development times. This gets the film covered sooner and may reduce the chance of air bells. I tend to use dilute developers with developing times of 14 minutes or so, use the standard fill opening, and just dump the reels out in my hand when finished, so have never had a "lifter".

-- Conrad Hoffman (choffman@rpa.net), June 23, 2001.