Yankee Tank

I have recently tried to develop 4x5 in a Yankee Tank but the film

slots seem to result in uneven development. I assume this is my fault

for not agitating enough to really get the developer swirling around

the film - right?

Dear Aslan,

 

Don't feel bad, lots of people have trouble with uneven development using the Yankee tank. I have had better success agitating parallel to the sheets, but sometimes it worked better than others. I read a suggestion once that it is better to agitate by emptying and refilling the tank, but I never tried that. I keep my old tank around, but I haven't used it in years. (I built a homemade drive unit and purchased Jobo tanks on ebay.)

I tried everything I could think of to get even development from a Yankee tank. Nothing worked.

I have used a JOBO 2521 tank. It has a loader system that works pretty well and will handle 6 4X5 sheets with as little as 270ml of chemicals if agitated horizontally. I rigged up a Uniroller system so it will take this tank as well as my Paterson tanks for roll films.

 

The system is very effective and wonderfully consistent.

I use a Yankee tank for 2 1/4 x 3 1/4, 3 1/4 x 4 1/4, 9x12 cm, and 4x5. I've never had any problems with uneven development in any of those formats. When I agitate I do it in the direction the long dimension of the tank, for about 5 seconds every 30 seconds.

Extremely tricky to get good agitation with the Yankee and FR sheet film tanks. They are also developer hogs. Congratulations to those who have gotten good results.

 

Try "taco style" (rolled up in rubber bands in a SS tank), or in tubes in a tank.

I only recently started developing in the Yankee tank and have had problems since the beginning. It started when I got the tank and when I adjuted it to fit 4x5 it would never stay put, just collapse. So I took a glue gun and glued it into position which fixed the problem. However, once I started using it I got horrible uneven development. I thought it was my methods and made adjustments but had the same results every time. I went back to tray development. Well, I recently went on a trip and shot about 14 sheets. when I got back I decided the tank would be easier than trying to shuffle the sheets in a tray. I knew I was taking a risk. When I started to pull them out of the tank after processing I noticed the ones closer to the center of the tank were uneven more than the outer ones. Then I noticed they all had the same pattern of uneven development, kind of an "h" shape. I suspected fogging. Well, of course the ones fogged beyond repair were the better shots so I began to investigate further. I took a small flash light and shined it inside the tank to search for light leaks. Lo and behold, the clear glue from the glue gun was allowing light to shine through from where the pieces fit inside one another. Ah Ha! So I removed the glue and realized that even if the unit fit tightly as it was supposed to in the first place it would allowed even more light inside. It's just a very poor design allowing a ridiculous amount of light inside. My ultimate solution was to get a black plastic sprue from a model airplane kit and use a solder iron to effectively weld the unit together as before except with light-proof material. Works like a charm now. Yes, 55oz is a lot of chemistry but it's nice when you need to develop a large amount of negs and can't afford something nicer. Hope this helps. Sorry it was so long-winded.

I tried shaking the tank more roughly to get better agitation and more even development -- it worked, sorta, but the films started popping out of their slots too!

I used one for almost a decade with absolutely no problems at all. If you're having some problems, take it back, and exchange it with another one. Mine is "holding" some sheet film for me now, until I finish setting up the JOBO Autolab I got recently.

 

Am looking forward to savings on chemistry!

<p>How funny that now, on the Adorama web site, you see the following statement for mfr part#CF45 (not the old UF-45) described as "Yankee Plastic 4"x5" Sheet Film Day Light Developing Tank".<br>

"Improved design provides for better chemical flow and more uniform agitation."<br>

That may be the case, but I'll still wait for a good review before trying one.</p>

 

<p>I just bought that new and improved Yankee Tank and my first round of processing was horrible. Some uneven development around the edges and TONS of streaks all over the film, which I'm having a hard time figuring out what the cause is. The streaks are translucent and run in a diagonal direction from edge to edge over the whole sheet of film, and they're evenly spaced at about 1-2mm apart. What's causing the streaks? I've gotten the same horrible results from two different Yankee Tanks. I'm not a fan. </p>