Help Me Decide: Get A Jobo CPE-2 Or Not...

[railhead]

I'd love to get some input from everyone, even though this subject has been talked over a

million times.

 

Here's the deal:

 

1. I do my own B&W in a Jobo 1540, manual, and scan the negs.

 

2. I shoot color film and take it to Walgreens (the only place around other than Wal-Mart

or Target) and get negs only -- then I scan those.

 

3. I'm starting to shoot more and more color -- right at a 36 roll every 2-3 days.

 

4. I don't like finishing a roll and having to wait until the next day to get the negs (if I

finish the roll at 8:00 pm I can't take it in until the next day).

 

5. I enjoy doing all the chemical changing, mixing, watching the timer, the temp, etc. My

brian just thinks it's fun. =)

 

 

All that said, let's now say money isn't an issue. Would you buy a Jobo CPE-2 so that you

could do C-41 at home (and B&W and E6), or would you just do it manually and save the

money for something else?

[mike_earussi1]

I had a CPP-2 with lift which was a great improvement over the Beslar motor base and drum I had been using previously. If I were going back into developing my own slides and primts again I would certainly want another. Once you get use to doing it automatically it spoils you. Also what you process becomes more consistant.

 

I haven't checked prices in a while but I assume that they have dropped along with everything else associated with film/paper printing so hopefully aren't that expensive, at least used, anymore.

[andre_noble4]

Absolutely not. Save your money. Get the Jobo CPP2 instead. Ebay if necessary.

[railhead]

I should clarify: money's not a factor in so far as buying the CPE. The CPP is twice that

amount, so it's out of the budget.

[mike_earussi1]

If all you're doing is processing film then the CPE-2 should be fine. But if you ever want to print color or larger B&W prints then you'd be better off saving up your money for the larger CPP-2.

[railhead]

Thanks. And yes, I'll I'm doing is developing so I can scan the negatives myself.

[discpad]

Hi Maury!

 

I haven't finished up my private reply to you.

 

In any case, the CPE-2 is only really good for B&W and C-41 -- Not E-6. Also, if you ever graduate to 4x5 (you will!) you'll REALLY want to use the 3010 Expert drum, as the 2509 reel is NFG

 

You'll want a used CPP with a lift; or ATL-2/2xxx or ATL-3/3000 processor. Just search eBay for Jobo; and if you're patient, you'll snag a CPP or ATL processor for a song.

 

Cheers!

Dan

[railhead]

Thanks, for the info. I have my eye on an eBay item, though it's missing some of the non-

essential parts. If it comes through, I'll be getting the brunt of the hardware and only have to

buy some bottles to fit, etc.

 

Do all CPE tanks ship with the magnets? Are they required for use?

[g._armour_van_horn]

I've moved on to a more automatic processor, although I have kept my CPE-2 as a backup, but I can tell you it's a great step forward from a manual tank. But note that that's with the lift, I wouldn't find all that much advantage to the base unit. (And you don't need the magnets for the tank bottoms, you need the geared top instead when you use the lift, but you only need one.)

 

As far as I know, the difference between the CPE-2 and the CPP-2 is just one of scale, there is absolutely no reason not to run E-6 through it. I can say that because the only process I've run in recent years has been E-6. I ran from one to five rolls of 35mm at a time without any problems that could even vaguely be attributed to the JOBO. Temperature stability was pretty much flawless.

 

I don't recall a JOBO 1540, I have a collection of 1510s and 1520s with the 1530 extensions. If you have one each of those three you can do any combination of one to five rolls, although you'll have to waste a little chemistry to run just three rolls because you'll be using the 1510+1530 which takes enough solution to run four rolls. But it sounds like you mostly want to run one at a time so you may not need all three. (Still, I recommend you grab them as you see them at good prices so you can run a bigger batch if you have a big weekend out with the camera some time.)

 

The 1500 series tanks are workable for 120/220 as well, although there are a few tricks to getting two rolls of 120 on one reel. Comments about the 2509 being a rotton solution for 4x5 are common, and now that I have one (but haven't ever used it) it looks like there is a good basis for that. But if you don't expect to need to run 4x5 in the next year or two, I wouldn't hold back on getting the CPE-2 now and looking at upgrading if you ever move to large format.

 

I predict your brain will lose some of its affection for the mixing and timing after you've gone through several of the 5-liter kits. On the other hand, you'll get good enough at it that you'll hardly think about it anymore.

 

Van

[pics]

If you do alot of color, JOBO's are great. I do my own E-6 manually in a small tank but I'd seriously prefer a JOBO since it becomes a chore after awhile and I often try to think of other things to do besides process my slide film. Personally I'm not too keen on the idea of a JOBO and constant agitation for B+W so I would always use manual processing for that. Machine processing may give highly consistant results, but for B+W this isn't nearly as critical and if you have your manual processing routine down pat your results will be just as consistant. I also like the sharp negs that come with minimal agitation and highly diluted developer. JOBOs aren't really the best way to get sharp, high acutance B+W negatives, but this may or may not even be your goal. Just my opinion since I know other people use them and do just fine.

[grinder]

I have a CPE/2 Plus with lift and it does everything I need I only shoot 35mm and MF 6x6. The lift is a definite must have I cant imagine not having it. As i told you in another post I have a 1520 and 2 1530 extensions. I use tetenal 5L kits for C-41 they work great. I do not do E-6 so I cant comment on that. You will love the JOBO I would like an atl-5 auto processor but I cant justify the cost and would never use enough color film to justify it. The CPE2 was the right price and does everything I need. If you plan on doing LF it would be wise to buy a CPP but if MF and 35mm are all you do save your money and buy a good used CPE2 plus if you buy the older non plus CPE2 and it has been ran without water the heater is shot. they did not have thermal overload breakers.

[richard f harris]

I use a cpe2 and now I get along very well but; The CPE2 has no water circulation pump so suffers with temperature stratification. (You think everything is right and then the temp suddenly moves by around 1 deg centigrade when the drum movement agitates the water. Just forget consistent results for E6 or Ra4. C41 is a little more tolerant.

The other problem is the inaccuracy of the basic thermostat mechanism on Cpe and I think cpa models. The switch on and switch off temps are about 2 degrees C apart. The stratification effect helps here but the whole thing is just rubbish without some mods. My answer is a small fish tank circulation pump, the smallest you can find and a light dimming rheostat in the thermostat circuit which switches the heater from full on to reduced power. I find this works great, I can keep temps within 0.1 degrees and I get bang on results. But, forget Jobo and RA4, either get a roller processor or use room temp in trays. One last thing, I don't use a lift, it is not needed but I'm sure it would make things a little less messy.

Hope this helps,

Richard Harris

[walterh]

I am no regular visitor to this forum - so please excuse me if this has been suggested 100 times. I use a small and cheap aquarium pump to circulate the water in the JOBO CPE-2 machine (I keep no fish in there though ^^). I gave it a tiny filter at the inlet. Works well, cost is less than 20US$.

 

Cheers

Walter

[g._armour_van_horn]

I have to say I consider the comment about the temperature suddenly shifting 1C because of drum motion rather bizarre. The drum is always in motion. Because the heating elements do not cover the entire bottom of the tank, convection moves the water from left to right at the top of the tank and from right to left at the bottom whenever the heater is on. As you remove the solution bottles the water moves lateraly to fill the void. In other words, the water in the tempering bath is constantly in motion. Because the JOBO tanks are heavy plastic which doesn't transfer heat quickly, transient temperature variations make little or no difference anyway. The crucial period for temperature control is only about 16-18 minutes, and the CPE-2 has no problem keeping the bath stable for this period.

 

Unless you make a habit of dropping chilled solutions back in place, early in the cycle, there aren't any sudden temperature changes with a CPE-2 in normal operation. As Maury is planning on only running one batch at a time (as opposed to trying to get five batches through in one night, as I have done) there won't be any problem at all.

 

Van