Single Reel 120 Tanks, Or Multiple Reel 120 Tanks?

<p>I have looked back through several years of threads here on PN trying to get an answer to the above question, only to find little written on the subject..I see many references in the PN archives to photographers developing 4 to 8 reels of 35mm film in the larger tanks; but little is mentioned of developing 2 to 4 reels of 120 film in those same sized tanks..</p>

<p>My questions are as follows, and apply to the hand processing of 120 black and white film..</p>

<p>Is it best for a beginner to stick with a single 120 reel tank until the basics are mastered?..I am assuming that this is likely the case, but I could use some input from more experienced photographers..</p>

<p>Are there any quirks or problems to consider when developing 120 film in 2-reel, or 4-reel tanks?..I am leaning towards purchasing stainless steel tanks..</p>

<p>I anticipate shooting no more than 5-6 rolls of 120 film through a Pentax 67II camera on any given day..This could change, of course, so the ability of the system I purchase to accommodate developing more than 5-6 rolls of film per day would be a bonus, but not absolutely necessary..</p>

<p>I am considering the purchase of Calumet S.S. tanks, Hewes 120 S.S. reels, and Kindermann plastic lids for the S.S. tanks..After reading many posts here on PN, I have come to the conclusion that the Calumet tanks, the Hewes reels, and the Kindermann lids will make the best long-term, least problematic investment for me..</p>

<p>When purchasing a tank with a capacity greater than a single reel, does the tank come equipped with the lift rod?..Or, is the lift rod an additional purchase?..The product descriptions regarding daylight film developing tanks on various photography websites (Adorama, B&H, Calumet, Freestyle) is not clear on this..</p>

<p>One last question..Does any member have any experience with the Calumet 7" or 13" tubular plastic Roll Film Washers?..These seem like a reasonable choice for a film washer for beginner like me, but I cannot find much written on the web about them..</p>

<p>Thanks for answering my questions..</p>

<p>Bruce</p>

<p>1. I only use single reel capacity tanks. I have one for 120, one for 220 and one for 35mm. I operate film developing in a bathroom at my home. I only have the ability to hang one roll of film to dry at a time as I use a coat hanger and the shower rod. </p>

<p>2. Haven't used them.</p>

<p>I like doing one roll at a time. Even when I was completely film based I operated with single reel capacity tanks. Simple and I never had any problems. Because I'm a simple person!</p>

<p>Hope this helps you!</p>

<p> </p>

<p>There is no problem using multiple reel tanks. I used to be able to load stainless reels, but don't do it anymore because the Paterson plastic reels are so much easier to load. They also cost much less. When I had to do volume processing I would load 2, 5 reel tanks and do them together. This can be confusing and dangerous though. I suggest you stick to doing one tank at a time. The only disadvantage of large tanks, 5 reels and more, is that the top reel will get slightly less development. But it is not enough to cause problems.</p>

<p>I use a 2 roll 120 tank for almost everything. I can mix, and match a singlae roll of 120, and one or two rolls of 35mm. I almost never have less than 2 rolls of film to develop, and unless there is a deadline I'll wait till I do.</p>

<p>Keep it as simple as possible until you feel comfortable. A double reel tank is very easy to use. I never cared much for single except 35 mm.</p>

<p>Plastic or stainless is a topic of hot debate and personal preference around here. I have a few of both types. I prefer the plastic tanks and reels. They're easier to load, cheaper to buy, and they don't wear out. Some of mine are over 20 years old and still give no problems.</p>

<p>Single or multiple reel tanks, that's your choice. If you have only one, or decide to process one roll at a time, there's no reason to use more chemistry than required to cover a single reel. Having a multiple reel tank gives you more options. You can choose, or not, to process multiple rolls concurrently. You can choose, or not, to use a highly dilute developer and still meet the minimum stock solution requirements. You can't do that if the tank is too small. Don't know about the lift rod. Maybe yes, maybe no. The last multiple reel steel tank I bought came with a lift rod. You'll need to check with the retailer. </p>

<p>For a film washer, I use a 1 gallon plastic tub rescued from the trash. Originally, it held a laundry product called OxyClean. I poked a sufficient holes in the bottom with a piece of hot wire so that all the water drains out in about 2 minutes. Water goes in on top and drains out the bottom. A 10 minute wash time gives five changes of water. That's plenty for a good wash. I'll be damned to spend $90 on something I can make in 10 minutes for nothing.</p>

<p>I develop 3 120 rolls at a time at home with a Jobo tank and extender. I'd much rather do a few rolls at a time given my limited amount of free time. </p>

<p>A vote for the plastic Patterson tanks here - steel will take longer to get the hang of, despite the steel-folks who claim it is easy. But trust me, it's not. I will grant you they look cooler though.<br>

Two reels is no problem but I found through experience that the Patterson tanks lose a little bit of chemistry around the lid (especially as they get older) If you're doing a lot of inversions with the tank (the Kodak method) this loss can happen, so if your tanks calls for 1000ml for two rolls of film (as mine does) I usally put in 1200ml, just to be sure. As long as the developer is mixed properly and you have enough chemistry in the tank, there will not be any differece in development between which reel is on top or bottom. <br>

I wouldn't do more than one tanks (two reels) at a time simply because if something DOES get messed up in the process, you're out two rolls and not more. Good luck! </p>

<p>"I wouldn't do more than one tanks (two reels) at a time simply because if something DOES get messed up in the process, you're out two rolls and not more. Good luck!"</p>

<p>Yeah, I've done two tanks at a time, it's not fun, and much more prone to error, I always lose track of which has been agitated and which hasn't, etc, etc, etc.</p>

<p>My tank did not come with a lift rod; not a big deal on the smaller tanks. By the time you want to lift the film out, it's in a water rinse that you can just dump anyway. Sometimes I use a set of tweezers to grip them and pull them out in mid process; it's basically not a big deal, and I wouldn't sweat it over a lift rod on a small tank. Maybe a solution combination might be so hazardous in some way as to discourage direct handling in mid-process; but that's outside of the usual good ol' standards like D76, etc.</p>

<p>My guess is that any combination of tank parts would do okay, as long as they basically fit together. I use Hewes stainless steel. As near as I can tell, the wear and tear of drying out the gasketing over the long term is really the only weakness that stainless tanks have. I usually agitate with the single reel tank wrapped in a towel anyway. Again, no big deal.</p>

<p>For the multiple reels; I agree with some of the sentiments, above. I think it's mostly a matter of keeping track or staying organized more than anything else. One at a time can help contain flubs. For me, those kinds of things occur when I do many reels, one after the other. In that sense, a multi-reel tank might help. Meanwhile, most of my errors occur with homemade developers, usually used to exhaustion or in a trial mix. So, again, it gets more back to the operator than the equipment.</p>

<p>Once you get into using them and loading them easily, the stainless steel tanks are very easy to use. Maintenance is almost always little more than a cold water rinse and towel rub or air dry. Good luck. J.</p>

<p>Thanks to all for the answers..I will purchase several multi-reel tanks, as well as several single 120 tanks to get started..I will start learning on the single reel tank..Knowing that uniformity and consistency are the key factors in getting the 2 and 4 reel 120 tanks to work well takes a load off my mind.. </p>

<p>Thanks again.. Bruce</p>

<p>Personally I would just get one single 120 reel tank, and maybe a couple of multi-reel tanks. More important than the tanks are having dry reels on hand. I've never found myself wanting for another tank, but, yeah, I'm always wishing I had more dry reels.</p>

<p>By the time you are at a two-reel 120 tank (30 ounces), the drain and fill times start to get substantial. The reason those 30 ounce tanks come with a lift rod is because you should really use it to quickly lower the reels into the developer in absolute darkness, and then put on the lid.<br>

You will get the most even development using a single-reel (15 ounce) tank if you can't put your reels into the tank in the dark.<br>

Also, one reel at a time eliminates the "fate sharing" problem. You only ruin one roll when you make a mistake.<br>

There are no parts that wear out on a real Nikor stainless tank. The ones with metal bottoms and plastic lids, the lid will crack on you someday, ruining a roll of film.</p>

<p>"I will purchase several multi-reel tanks, as well as several single 120 tanks to get started."<br>

In my opinion you'd be spending more than you need to. For the amount of film you're talking about shooting I would get one stainless steel tank that holds four 120 reels, and four stainless steel reels. Stainless dries very quickly with a blow dryer after you've used it. That's one of its big advantages over plastics. So you don't need more than one set unless you're really running a lot of film. Caps come with the tanks, you don't buy them separately and buying them separately could lead to problems with them fitting if there any minor variances in manufacturing. I do prefer the soft plastic caps on a stainless steel tank because I think they seal better than the steel caps.</p>

<p>I have a 3-reel Paterson tank but only rarely use it. When I shoot 120 I tend only to shoot a single roll, though occasionally two.</p>

<p>One problem with the stainless tanks is the small orifice (relatively small) at the top to pour chemicals into and out of. Not a problem with single 35 mm rolls, but three rolls of 120 are likely to take 1500 ml of chemicals. I too like the patterson tanks, the funnel makes it easy to pour chemicals into and they drain really fast. And although I prefer stainless reels in 35mm, I can't stand them on 120 film. By and far, the patterson reels are the easiest to use and the best quality plastics I have seen. Stainless tanks are sensitive to ambient temperature and should be dropped in a temper bath between inversions for consistency.<br>

I usually use diluted chemicals at 68 degrees so I can keep the development times between 8 and 10 minutes. This will help with the consistency lost from pouring chemicals and draining chemicals ( you may be off a couple of seconds batch to batch). The other thing I notice is that a 4 reel tank is a bit unwieldy, the three reel tank fits quite nicely under the tap for film rinse.<br>

As for being a beginner, you can use one reel quite easily in a multi reel tank, you will just put in less chemical. You may or may not have to put in a dummy reel depending on the tank.</p>

<p>Even though I have both plastic and stainless steel reels, I only use my steel reels. I have 4 single reels tanks, 2 double reels tanks, and 2 four reels tanks. And many, many, many reels (both 35mm and 120). But I rarely use more then 2 reels at a time because of how much chemicals it takes. I don't think the amount of time it takes for a single or multiple reels is any different, must the volume of chemicals.</p>

<p>Some advantages to stainless that I didn't see mentioned:<br>

You can use them when they are wet. I use a four loader 120 tank, which is equivalent to 8 rolls of 135 film. I've developed 16 rolls in one night after a trip abroad. You can't do this with plastic reels. I used Paterson when I was learning. I've taught my 10 year old son how to use stainless from the beginning. Just takes some practice.<br>

Stainless uses less chemistry. A Paterson tank is wider in circumfurence and thus uses more developer to process the same about of film.<br>

In favor of Paterson though, I've heard of people taping two rolls of 120 together to get them on one reel. You can't do that with stainless.<br>

I've switched and really like stainless now.</p>