Waiting for my new bellows, in the meantime development question

I have all the parts either with me or in process. Now it's just a

waiting game.

 

I've been thinking about how I'm going to develop the 8x10 film

(Arista 125 or 400). I'm thinking of using hc110 at the 1:63

dilution followed by a water stop and then a fix. What I'd like to

do is have two developer trays, put one sheet in and go for half the

time, then transfer to another tray and start the next sheet. I�ve

also thought of using a borax solution as the second bath for sort

of a divided developer (divided hc-110?). Using two trays (one

sheet per tray) I hope to reduce scratching. It would also be

beneficial if I could forget the second sheet (in bath 2) and

concentrate on the agitation of the sheet in the first tray, leaving

sheet two (in 2nd developer or borax) with little or no agitation.

 

Any one have any thoughts?

 

Also, where can I find neutol WA times for AZO?

 

Thanks as always,

My thought is that you're making your life much more complicated than it needs to be in starting out with 8x10. You seem to be trying to solve problems that you may never encounter. My suggestion would be to use any standard developer - D76 undiluted or diluted 1-1 is a good place to start. Use it in one tray. With only two sheets it most likely won't be difficult to develop in one tray without scratcing. Forget multiple trays, borax, divided developer, etc. unless and until you actually encounter a problem that you think they will solve. Why a water stop bath? You'll have greater consistency, less labor, and your fix will last longer with a real stop bath.

 

FWIW, I started out doing two sheets at a time in a tray and could do that o.k. without scratching. But two sheets became tedious when I had eight or ten sheets to develop. So I advanced to four sheets at a time. I was pretty good at that but every now and then I'd scratch what was always the best photograph in the batch. I eventually got tired of that so I bought three BTZS 8x10 tubes. They're pricey but they totally eliminate scratching, they also eliminate the need to inhale chemical fumes for long periods of time, and they allow you to process entirely in the light. You might want to consider that down the road if you actually have a scratching problem or get tired of standing over trays of chemicals in the dark.

I agree with Brian about going the tube method rather than trays. You could go the route of Unicolor or Beseler tubes and motor base. They can be picked up at good prices on Ebay. That way the only time your are in the dark is loading the film. Developing is done in daylight. It's an option. Good luck.

Truth be told, I find that with tray development, I get more even results by shuffling two or more sheets than by rocking the tray with one sheet.

 

If you want to use Neutol WA with Azo, start with the Agfa's recommended times for FB paper. I recommend the 1+7 dilution for better contrast, though I started with 1+11.

Since you are using 8x10 film, you have already obligated yourself to working slowly, as you should. While tray development is slow and messy, it is fairly quick to setup, this is very handy if you only have a few sheets to process. The problem that I have with the Unicolor/Beseler tubes is that the ribs scratch the film backs. Plus you can only use about 12-16 oz of chemical, you may not get full development of the film even with extended times.I also get uneven development at the edges of the film that touch the channels that hold the film. For now, I think you will have better luck sticking with tray processing 2-4 sheets at a time, just interleaf them. The Ansel Adams series of books describe tray processing very well.

 

Randy Boren

Jeff,

 

I have never been able to develop multiple sheets without at least one scratch so I sympathize. I built a small tray insert so I can do 4 4x5 sheets at the same time. However, I do 8x10's one at a time, in HC-110. I wouldn't bother with two development trays but you suit yourself. I am not in that much of a hurry. If I were going to try this, I would develop a neg in each tray simultaneously (i.e., don't bother to move for half the development time) and start one a little earlier so that it would hit the stop bath first and then on to the fix as the second neg went to stop. Also, I just use regular stop. The whole Borax thing doesn't make sense to me.

 

I develop 4x5 in a Jobo - an older CPE-2 - and if I had the dough, I would get a newer model with Expert drums for 8x10. Makes life very easy.

 

Don Wallace