Yankee Agitank foe B&W?

[steve bell]

I've been given a Yankee Agitank, but have heard bad things about them. I was planning to

buy a Combiplan tank in the new year, but might try this out first. If it does create

unevenly developed 4x5 negatives, is it still usefull for clearing Polaroid 55 negatives, as I

also have a holder and half a box I haven't tried yet. From the tanks lid instructions I

gather you shake it from side to side, do you just do this once a minute or for 10 seconds

every minute as if rotating 35mm or 120?

 

Steve Bell

[jim_malone]

Steve:

I've just used one for some 2X3 negs. Everything came out OK, but I think one of the keys is consistant agitation - whatever scheme you use. I believe as long as you use enough chemistry and agitate in a constant manner, you should be OK for developing negatives.

 

One think I don't like about the Yankee tanks is that it's easy to spill chemistry when emptying; you need to be careful about that.

[dave_moeller]

Steve-

 

I agitate my Yankee tank (when I use it) for 10 sec. per minute. Only agitate side-to-side, and expect to lose some chemistry in the process. If you're sensitive to photo chemicals, wear nitrile gloves.

 

I've loaded up as many as six sheets of 4x5 in mine with no problem. The tank will hold more, but it becomes harder to load correctly as you add more sheets and I never wanted to take the chance with accidentally loading two sheets into the same slot. (I know that there are some people out there who actually over-load these things by loading two sheets back-to-back in the same slot, but this seems like Russian Roulette with a full gun to me.)

 

One thing I will warn you about: the Yankee tank is awful for stand- or semistand-development. Use it with less than 10 sec. agitation per minute at your own risk.

 

You might look at the article on developing sheet film in a Unicolor print drum over at www.largeformatphotography.info for a much easier and less messy way to develop smaller volumes of film. Although you can only do 4 sheets at a time in an 8x10 tank, you use a lot less chemistry than the Yankee tank and it's much less messy. It is, however, a constant agitation method and you must therefore adjust your development times downward accordingly.

 

Be well.

[skygzr]

Steve -

 

I've never had good luck with the Yankee tanks. No matter what I did, I always had streaks or some kind of unwelcome development artifact.

 

Search the archives. I think this has been discussed before.

[bruce_karnopp1]

As far as the Combiplan tank is concerned, the big concern is pouring fluids into it. I use the JOBO tank for 4x5. It will take up to 6 sheets of film AND it needs only 270 ml of fluid. But that requires some rotary system. It is worth considering.

[mark f]

I can second what Bruce says. I pour my developer in in the dark. I then put the lid on, turn the lights, etc. Turn off the lights, take the lid off, pour out the developer, pour in the water stop, replace the lid, turn on the lights and do everything else in the light. It is not as bad as it sounds. I do it and I don't have plumbing in my darkroom. Having said that, the Jobo solutions look pretty sweet.

[graham_patterson1]

I use my Yankee tank for washing film (lid on, hose down the centre, multiple fill and drain cycle). For development I have some home-assembled PVC pipe 'tanks' which work fine for my modest needs. I use more chemistry per sheet than a fully loaded Yankee (175ml per sheet in the pipe). The Yankee uses 1/2x - 4x as much depending on how much film you load.

 

If you try the Yankee for processing, I suggest you practice without film and just using water. It is not the easiest thing to load and drain.

[frank.schifano]

...and yet another vote for Bruce's suggestion about operating with the CombiPlan tank. I fill it with developer with the lid off in the dark, but that's it. I don't find that draining the tank is too much of a problem. I do use dilute, slow acting developers though, so if the time extends a bit, it really doesn't make much difference. If I were using fast acting developers, I'd certainly consider changing my habits.

[al_kaplan1]

I had my best results using it in the dark, lifting the insert out of the solutions to agitate just like I would do if I was using stainless steel film hangers.

[paul_ewins]

Up until I bought a cheap Jobo CPP all of my 4x5 processing was done in a Yankee tank, usually 12 sheets at a time. I didn't have any problems, provided I was methodical. I agitated gently back and forth (i.e. parallel to the film) for 10 seconds in every minute.

 

I only ever used ID11 @ 1:1 dilution, usually with Ilford films. It may not work so well with other developers, but these tanks were quite common so it seems unlikely that they were as useless as a lot of people make out.

 

I loaded in the dark (of course) but it was lights on from that point on. Mine came with 4 steel pins that you pushed through the film to hold it in place but they don't seem necessary for 4x5. It takes a little while to get used to loading the film into the slots so I would recommend practising it a few times with some junk film before loading anything important.

 

It is slow to load due to the volume of chemistry required (1100ml)and will splash a little if you aren't careful. I usually had it sitting on a towel on top of my washing machine and would slide both the towel and tank to agitate which gave a nice smooth motion. I washed directly in the tank, filling and draining twice and then leaving it in the laundry trough with a trickle of water running into it for 5 minutes.

 

I wouldn't dream of doing colour in one, which is why I bought the Jobo, but for B&W it was fine.

[steve bell]

Thanks everyone for your comments. I'm new to 4x5, just collecting together everything I

need. I now have everything except my first lens, that should be in the post to me. So if

the weather is reasonable this weekend I'll be shooting some FP4+ and trying out the

Yankee tank. I have tried filling and emtying it with water, it's not as quick and more

messy than my Patterson tanks. I think I'll be laying out plenty of old newspapers where

I'm working, that should soak up any spillages. I'll see how I get on with it.

 

Steve Bell

[jennifer_thomas]

Hi,

Question for Paul. It seems you had good results with the tank. Did you ever get uneven development. Seems a major complaint is uneven

in where sky is present. I have one of these and was wondering. One thing that people say is the reel not locking in place. That is a problem, as mine is a sloppy fit. One person used a screw to fix it, I am going to glue it, as it seems to be made of styrene type plastic.

The water like glue for plastic models works on it.

 

Jennifer

[in the eye of a holga 120]

Yankee Agitank iS good developed 4x5 negatives ,I usually 12 sheets at a time. I didn't have any problems,

[in the eye of a holga 120]

I usually 12 sheets at a time. I didn't have any problems, Yankee Agitank iS Good ...12 sheets at a time.

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