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Has anyone tried Lab-Box, a daylight film developer tank?


terrymc

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I watched videos of it when it first came out.

 

To be somewhat less than charitable to it, a $20 changing bag will let you achieve the same thing with standard developing tanks, and will be significantly more versatile.

 

Some film developing products that have come through Kickstarter have struck me as really good ideas. The SP-455 tank is one of those(I have one). This strikes me as a solution looking for a problem.

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To be somewhat less than charitable to it, a $20 changing bag will let you achieve the same thing with standard developing tanks, and will be significantly more versatile.

 

I quite agree. if you get a larger changing bag you can even set up a box frame in it

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I own Rondinax 35 but never liked the idea of using it.

I tend to rewind film entirely, either due to haste or to avoid mistakes.

I believe you need an awful lot of chemicals to use with an upright multi format reel?

While there must be a suitable developer for that rig, I am sure Microphen 1:3 abused for push processing (takes just 45minutes) isn't it.

When you shoot a lot you might be significantly happier with a Jobo, soaking multiple rolls at once.

 

So yes, I vote for the conventional changing bag instead too.

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I own Rondinax 35 but never liked the idea of using it.

I tend to rewind film entirely, either due to haste or to avoid mistakes.

 

Because of that I think it should be sold with a film leader puller/retriever.

 

For people in this forum, the downsides might not be worth the minimal upside. But for people new to processing their own film, this isn't a bad product, - except for the film leader part. Expecting a beginning film photographer to remember and know how to rewind the film leaving just the leader out is asking a lot.

 

The advantage I see to this product is not having to open a 35mm cartridge inside a bag, cut the leader off evenly, and loading the film on the reel all without being able to see what it is you're doing. The advantages for 120 might be even greater since I found loading 120mm film onto a reel to be a more difficult process to learn.

 

That's a pretty big plus for somebody whose got no experience using changing bags and loading film onto reels. Of course a lot depends on how well it works in practice. The video promises a lot, - like being able to process film while enjoying a fine meal at a restaurant. :)

 

For people already comfortable with a changing bag, there's not as much appeal.

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I suppose. But as I have noted, the idea is over 100 years old, and still hasn't really caught on.

 

I mostly don't cut off the leader, but instead load from the far end of the roll.

(I like using plastic blade, made for kids, scissors to reduce the chance of cutting

or poking the wrong thing.)

 

Like many things, it seems like it will be hard, until you do it a few times.

A changing bag does take a little getting used to, but not all that much.

And once you are used to it, you can use it for camera problems, too.

 

If someone really wants to get into film photography, might as well learn

to do it. Not that I wouldn't try one just for the fun of it, but I suspect that

it is more expensive than I would like.

-- glen

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FWIW, my experience with leader picks is less than positive. I've been using them a while, and it seems like about half the time the leader will pop out on the first try and at other times I can work at it for a while and not have any luck.

 

Also, I was told a while back that the light trap is more likely to scratch the film if the leader has been retracted and then pulled back out than if it's simply left out. Anecdotally, I've seen similar results.

 

On my power rewind cameras where it's an option, I generally set to leader out(one of the big reasons I like the F6 over the F5 or F100) . With manual rewind, I pop the back as soon as I hear/feel it come off the take-up spool. I then tear the "pointy" part of the leader off to avoid any confusion as to whether or not a roll is exposed.

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I suppose. But as I have noted, the idea is over 100 years old, and still hasn't really caught on.

 

I don't know if the previous products enjoyed any success or not. Perhaps they did at the time. Lots of photographic products that had widespread use at one time or another have been relegated to the dustbin of history. Including some things that people will now pay a pretty penny for on eBay.

 

I'm sure the potential market is still pretty limited but it is a different era. You don't really need a full dark room to work with film anymore if you're just going to scan. Getting decent scans with a good digital camera is now a reasonable option.

 

This type of product might ease a persons entry into film processing. Later on they can get a bag and a traditional tank that will let them process multiple rolls at a time, etc.

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I don't know if the previous products enjoyed any success or not. Perhaps they did at the time. Lots of photographic products that had widespread use at one time or another have been relegated to the dustbin of history. Including some things that people will now pay a pretty penny for on eBay.

 

(snip)

 

Well, I somewhat agree with this.

 

I am trying to remember what I thought about auto-focus 30 or 40 years ago.

 

I suspect I laughed at it, and thought it would not catch on, except for point-and-shoot cameras.

 

That is it too easy to AF to the wrong part of the subject, and that is definitely true.

 

I know I have at least one picture of two people, where AF found the background in

between the two people it was supposed to find.

 

But I think it is really cost/benefit, and that I am pretty cheap today in what I buy

for darkroom work. I still have and use the 35mm Nikor tank I inherited from my

grandfather 51 years ago. I lost the curved device that is supposed to help curve

the film just the right amount to load it. As well as I remember, my grandfather didn't

use it, I might have used it the first time, but then got used to the feel of the film.

 

One thing that everyone hates is when the film loads wrong on the reel, and touches

some other spot, so that part doesn't get developed. When one loads by hand, one

gets used to the feel of film going in the right way, and the wrong way. The curved

loading device reduces the feel.

 

It seems to me that automatic load devices have to be darn close to 100% reliable

at getting the film on the reel the right way. You don't have the feel for it going in

wrong. Learning that feel is part of learning to load reels. It might take one or

two tries, but once you learn it you (usually) don't forget.

-- glen

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I do hope I wasn't been too discouraging. It does look like fun, but then

the Day-load could be fun, too. Trying different ways to do something is often

fun for a few times. My budget for developing tanks is about $10.

(I think I got the Nikor 116 tank for about that price. I paid $10 for a 127

reel, to use in a tank I already have.)

 

I think part of the fun is actually touching the film, though.

-- glen

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  • 3 weeks later...
You don't really need a full dark room to work with film anymore if you're just going to scan

I really, really don't see the point of this so-called hybrid workflow.

 

If you want/need a digital end result, then shoot it digitally! Instead of wasting time and Earth's resources faffing about with an unnecessary intermediate process.

 

By all means do the job properly and make silver-gelatine prints, but to just have something to post on the web?

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I really, really don't see the point of this so-called hybrid workflow.

 

If you want/need a digital end result, then shoot it digitally! Instead of wasting time and Earth's resources faffing about with an unnecessary intermediate process.

 

By all means do the job properly and make silver-gelatine prints, but to just have something to post on the web?

 

How about if I shoot some film, planning to make silver-gelatine prints, scan them and post here,

but then never get around to making the prints?

 

I have negatives from 40 or 50 years ago that I never got around to printing. Now I can scan them and

upload them, so people can see them. (About 5th grade through college.)

 

And for extra complication, scan them and then have them printed on Crystal Archive paper from

the scan though scanning lasers?

 

Sometimes film is just more fun.

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-- glen

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How about if I shoot some film, planning to make silver-gelatine prints, scan them and post here,

but then never get around to making the prints?

 

I have negatives from 40 or 50 years ago that I never got around to printing. Now I can scan them and

upload them, so people can see them.

That's all fair enough, but many new users of film have absolutely no intention of wet-printing their negatives, nor of bothering to acquire the skills/equipment to do so. In fact they probably have no clue that darkroom work exists or existed at all.

 

It seems a lot of the attraction of film use to millenials and hipsters is in how 'cool' it makes them look to be seen using a film camera. Just as long as it's obviously a film camera, and not a perfectly serviceable but plastic-looking later model that might (horror of horrors) be mistaken for a digital camera.

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JFC man, if you don’t like film, just don’t use it. There’s no need to pop up in aging threads and make judgmental posts about how other people like to do photography. For many or most of the people here it’s a hobby and it makes perfect sense to use whatever they enjoy using, since the enjoyment is the goal.
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I really, really don't see the point of this so-called hybrid workflow.

 

If you want/need a digital end result, then shoot it digitally! Instead of wasting time and Earth's resources faffing about with an unnecessary intermediate process.

 

By all means do the job properly and make silver-gelatine prints, but to just have something to post on the web?

 

The assumption that you're making is that a digital end result is the purpose rather than just the means. Some reasons what I shoot film but don't use a darkroom:

  • A hybrid process doesn't produce results that look like an all digital one. That alone may be why some prefer the hybrid process.
  • I have a Canon 60D (APS-C) that I use regularly but it's not hard to produce a better image on my $50 Yashica 12. Sure I can spend more money on a full frame digital or even a medium format digital camera, but I don't want to.
  • I can always have a traditional print made down the road or even decide that I'd enjoy having a darkroom
  • Without much effort, a negative or slide will likely outlive me. Digital images will require some attention and diligence to survive and be accessible after I'm gone. I'm taking steps to do that, but when I get too old...
  • The most important reason I shoot and process film is that I find it more satisfying and enjoyable than simply pushing a button. I like fixing old cameras and using them. If I just want a quick picture, I'm more than happy to use a digital camera or my phone. I'm not religious about film.

My wife doesn't get why I enjoy sailing so much either. It's way too much work in her mind. If your purpose is to move swiftly across a body of water, there are much quicker and convenient ways to accomplish that.

 

But my purpose in sailing is not to move swiftly across a body of water.

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...If your purpose is to move swiftly across a body of water, there are much quicker and convenient ways to accomplish that.

 

But my purpose in sailing is not to move swiftly across a body of water.

 

Hmm... I never go sailing.

You can't get up to ramming

speed...

http://bayouline.com/o2.gif

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The most important reason I shoot and process film is that I find it more satisfying and enjoyable than simply pushing a button.

But this Lab-Box gizmo is aimed at making film photography more about simply 'pushing a button' and taking away a stage that requires some degree of commitment and skill.

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But this Lab-Box gizmo is aimed at making film photography more about simply 'pushing a button' and taking away a stage that requires some degree of commitment and skill.

 

Using the Kodak wooden box from 1920 would seem to add some extra challenge, and also some thoughts about photography 100 years ago.

 

One part of using film is learning the rules for proper exposure, which are different from digital.

 

As well as I know, Super 8 is coming back for use in film schools, so students can learn to think film.

(I am not sure at all how fast Hollywood is going digital.)

 

Even easier than Lab-Box is taking it to a professional lab, which I usually do for color film.

I have done color, I know how to do it, but it is enough work, and the chemistry costs enough, and

I don't do it all that often, that I have someone else do it.

 

If Lab-Box cost $10, then I might buy one. Maybe it would be fun to try once.

 

Last weekend, we went to a state park, not so close. I brought a DSLR, a Brownie 2-F with PXP120,

and an FE2 with Ektachrome. (In the latter case, I had a partial roll from a camera whose shutter locked-up

partway through the roll.) I took some pictures with both film cameras, and none with the DSLR.

-- glen

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For some film enthusiast wanted to develop film at home the Lab Box might seem like a good idea, but even at the high price many might use it a few times and then put it away. Rather like the many telescopes purchased in 1986 to view Halley's Comet.

Maybe I'm missing something, though, because it's difficult for someone like me who's been developing film since age 10 to understand the attraction of the Lab Box. In many areas the problem isn't learning how to use it, but obtaining chemicals.

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For some film enthusiast wanted to develop film at home the Lab Box might seem like a good idea, but even at the high price many might use it a few times and then put it away. Rather like the many telescopes purchased in 1986 to view Halley's Comet.

Maybe I'm missing something, though, because it's difficult for someone like me who's been developing film since age 10 to understand the attraction of the Lab Box. In many areas the problem isn't learning how to use it, but obtaining chemicals.

 

I think it's difficult for you to understand precisely because you've been doing it since age 10. For somebody like my whose only been doing it a few years, the initial struggles with getting film on a reel in a changing bag just relying on my sense of touch is fresh in my mind.

 

I've gotten good enough at it now that Lab-Box doesn't have any appeal, but it might have a few years ago. In addition to the cost of a changing bag and a regular tank/reels, you've got to find a sacrificial roll of film. In my case both 35mm and 120. So that might cost $50 or more (changing bag, patterson tank, film). Still a whole lot cheaper than lab-box, but not free.

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