Drum Dev't: Unicolor vs Jobo vs BTZS: Heelp!!

[gabriel_benaim]

Well, I'm trying to pick a dev't method, and am pretty sure I'll go

with a drum, so wanted to get pros and cons from users. Thanks.

[ronald_moravec1]

A Unicolor drum is probably the cheapest. My prefered methods ares in order of preference, a 4x5 Nikor tank, hangars WITH RACK and stainless tanks, Jobo 2500 tank used for inversion, Jobo expert drum, trays.

[mikem77]

I did not like hand-rolling BZTS tubes. Annoying and if you forget to keep one tube rolling for 15 seconds, you might get uneven development. And I think I also got uneven development when I emptied several BZTS tubes but it took a bit to pour stop into them. Little drops of uneven development. And if you empty developer and pour in stop to one tube at a time, it isn't easy to keep the others moving!! Frustrating.

 

Unicolor worked ok, but I think mine developed a light leak.

 

I now use trays. Simple and foolproof with good results. I think I've figured out the scratch issue. Keep those trays clean!

 

Never tried a Jobo.

[troyammons]

Jobo CPP is dead simple and with the lift its very easy. Expensive though, but once the film is loaded and the drum is attached, you dont have to touch the drum until its finished.

[diwan_bhathal]

I have an 8x10 Unicolor drum with the motor base. I had to make a separator so that the sheet film does not overlap while rotating.

 

To me this is the best and most economical, timewise and chemistry wise method of developing this format.

 

The JOBO seems too expensive for what it is. The little tubes make you a slave of rolling them on the counter top and the tray method is for the birds, that it, if you like to work in the dark and get bored to tears.

 

Unicolor is the easiest technique, because once you switch on the motor base, then go read a book or do something else. Due to the rotation it makes development more even.

 

Just my opinion. Other people have a different way of achieving the same results and their methods are also valid.

[beepy]

Yeah, the Jobo CPP 2 with lift is probably expensive? But it's pretty cool. Started teaching

myself 4x5 B+W development this week with it - making a few mistakes:-) But the CPP 2

seems to be a well thought out little device.

<p>

It would be a pain to use without the optional lift accessory!

<p>

You fill the thing with water, and you set the temperature setting to keep the bath at set

point. Too hot? If doing B+W development, freeze two of the chemical bottles full of

water and slap them in the last two slots. You can buy add'l bottles to add additional

cooling "ice" to

maintain temperature with higher ambient. (I keep rotating bottles through freezer).

<p>

Too funny.

<p>

I am using the Expert Drum - fairly easy to load. I had read that the standard drum

sometimes gave uneven development but the Expert Drum was foolproof?

[brian_ellis16]

I've used all three of the methods you mention. BTZS tubes are by far my favorite, I've been using them for about 10 years now, processed well over 1000 negatives in them. Jobo is a nice system and if you typically will be developing a lot of negatives at each session - say 20 or more - it might be the best system to use since you can develop ten at a time. But you need separate runs for different development times and that's kind of a pain if you only have a few negatives to develop at different times. Plus it's a fairly expensive system even used and takes up quite a bit of space. But there's no question it produces excellent results.

 

The Unicolor drum is o.k., I use an 11x14 drum for 8x10 negatives but even with that size I believe you can only process four 4x5 negatives at a time and the drum also has the problem of the Jobo in that everything in one run has to be developed for the same time. However, it's very inexpensive and that's nice, plus you can get a mechanized roller on ebay for about $15 if you don't like doing things by hand. The drums were originally sold with spacers to keep the sheets separate but the spacers are seldom still with the drum when you buy them today so you might need to fabricate spacers to keep 4x5 film sheets separate.

 

I prefer the BTZS tubes because they're relatively inexpensive (in between Unicolor and Jobo or even about the same price as Unicolor if you make your own, which isn't difficult to do) and easy to use. You can easily process six sheets at a time and probably could do more if you bought more tubes but I've always done six at a time with 4x5 film. I've had none of the problems somebody else mentioned with them and I think those problems are more illusory than real. Even if you have a 15 second variation or miss a turn here and there that's not critical with black and white film (though I don't have variations that long and I'm careful to use the same rotation system every time). I've never had uneven development caused by droplets and from his description it sounds like he wasn't using the tubes properly. You don't pour stop bath into the tubes, you just dunk the tubes in the stop bath so there are no droplets of developer on the film except for the second or two between emptying the developer from a tube and getting the tube in the pan of stop bath. Believe me, a few drops of developer on a sheet of film for a second or two isn't going to cause uneven development.

 

I usually don't have a lot of negatives to develop at each session so I like being able to process multiple negatives in a single run for different times with the tubes.

 

Any of the methods you mention will work, it's mostly a matter of what people get used to I think.

[dirk-san1]

I built my own insert for an old Cibachrome drum. Worked very well.

 

I have since bought the Jobo 2551, works a treat, but costs. Also it takes me a while to get 12 sheets for one processing session :)

 

Just got the Uniroller base which I will try in the next few days. I did 18min in Rodinal 1+100 the other day and handrolling for that period is a little boring.

 

Plenty of choices... enjoy.<div></div>

[michael_briggs2]

I've tried several methods and my favorite is the BTZS tubes. I haven't used the Jobo system -- I expect it works very well. The full Jobo system with the machine processor is expensive and only makes sense if you have a lot of film to develop or a lot of money. Some people use the drums without the machine.

 

No matter how careful I was with tray development, a small fraction of the sheets end up with scratches. Of course, this is the favorite method of other photographers.

 

I get perfectly even developement with the BTZS tubes, and with minimial handling of the film. It is also easy to give different sheets different developing times. I start the tubes at times such that pairs end at 30 second intervals.

 

There is no problem from 10 second pauses in spinning the tubes as you transfer one pair of tubes to the stop bath. Once the sheets are coated in developer, a few seconds with part of the sheet immersed in developer and part coated has neglible effect on uniformity of development. I think Mike has the wrong diagnosis for the spots of uneven development that he observed -- such spots happen when one splashes drops of developer on dry film. You have to be careful moving the tubes before starting development. Like Brian I do six sheets at a time.

[paul_ewins]

Jobo is expensive new, but a lot cheaper second-hand. Go to a few swap meets and keep an eye on eBay and you'll probably score a CPP with lift for less than $300. An expert drum will cost about $150 on eBay and they show up regularly. $450 is a lot more than the other methods, but less than the cost of a new lens or camera.

 

The whole point of the Jobo is that it allows every step of the process to be repeated precisely. I set mine to 20 C and it varies by .4 C at the most (typically from 19.9 to 20.3 as it goes through the cool/heat cycle). The film gets exactly the same agitation every time. Loading the expert drums is quick and easy (unlike the 2509 reels). The end result is evenly processed films with no scratches.

 

Once you find a film and developer combination you like you can experiment with times and temperatures confident that you are getting a meaningful result. Get that nailed and you can then process every batch after that with EXACTLY the same results.

 

The other methods may well work to your satisfaction, and hell, I was getting satisfactory results from B&W in a Yankee tank, but the Jobo is simply a better way to do it.

 

Is $450 too much? Maybe, if you're just starting out or your budget is pretty tight. Given the cost of pretty much everything else in LF it really isn't unreasonable.

[edward_richards]

I use an expert drum with an old bessler base. The bases are cheap and work well. You flip the drum every so often, depending on how long you are processing - you do it more often for short times. Works great, and the drum is double walled so it stays at a pretty consistent temp. I just pour the chemicals in with drum on end and go, and blank skys are perfectly even.

[glenn_thoreson]

I am not a high volume photographer so this may not answer your question. I often only have a sheet or two to process. I usually use my Paterson style 35mm/120 tank without the reels. It will handle up to 4 sheets of 4X5 if folded into a "taco" and held with a ruuber band. Normally, I only have one or two sheets and just stick one at a time in there without having to do anything. I also use homemade BTZS tubes. Dirt cheap to make and you can make them as big as you think you can handle. Rarely, I use a Unicolor drum and motor base. I use the print drum for doing 4X5 sheet film. They all work well and are very inexpensive. I just can't keep from scratching the film using trays. I'm too old and clumsy now to work in total darkness.

[jmw__]

I've used BTZS and Jobo. I greatly prefer the Jobo on a mechanized Unicolor base-- aside

from loading film, the entire process can be done in daylight, and setup and cleanup are very

quick. All in all you need nothing but about 2 feet of counter space. I've gotten excellent,

even development. Only drawback is that you have to gang up films with the same

development time to process in batches, whereas the BTZS gives you flexibility down to a

single sheet.

[mbrianmills]

I hand-agitate my film and have found that the Nikor 4x5 tank is great. They are only available used now and eBay was my source. It holds 12 sheets of film and requires very little chemistry. I have also used a JOBO drum and hand-agitate by reversing the drum. I can do 6 sheet at a time in my drum. As far as developer goes, I use about the same amount between either system so it is more efficient to use the Nikor tank because I can do twice as much film as the JOBO. Either system is about the same cost-wise at around $150 for the used Nikor or a new JOBO drum/reel.

[ifleming]

I have just bought the BTZS tubes,done my first 6 negs,had some trouble getting neg. out of tubes between stop and fix,any tips from the long term users would be welcomed.

The negs came out well ,I scratched the emulsion on one edge getting some of them out.

I found it easy,uses less chemicals than the Yankee Tank I used before,though my only probs with that was loading 2 negs. in the same slot.

Ian