film holder for processing

[garry_teeple1]

This is the first film holder I made to hold 4x5 film for processing.

It's kind of crude but it works great.<div></div>

[henry_a]

That film holder looks great to me! I've been thinking about how to make something like this. I bet you caould sell these.

[z_z1]

Pardon my ignorance, but just how does this work?

[garry_teeple1]

Eric, the holder allows a sheet of film to be snapped into the four post on the sides which have a slit 1/16" above the base to hold the film. The two post on the side keep the film from sliding out the end. I place the film face up and develop it in trays. The handle allows me to adgitate the film and still keep my hands dry.

 

I use the Ilford method of washing and therefore I can wash the film in the holder quickly. I also have holders for two and four sheets.

[dave_schneider]

Gary, How well does it work? I made a similar device some time back except instead of the rectangular pieces at the edges to hold the film in place I used round rods. Based on experience with other devices I thought the round rods would create less turbulence at the edge of the sheet. It turned out the round rods created a very noticeable pattern of turbulence that was apparent when critically evaluating negatives. It didn't show up on most photos but I began to notice uneven devlopment in clear skies. I did some tests and found the I did have a problem where the rods were located. Keeping the amount of sloshing to a minimum helped but it was a real fine line before the lack of adequate agitation caused different problems. I also made a 2 and 4 sheet version, same problems. In the end I scrapped the whole idea and made a set of tubes from CPVC pipe. Please let me know how this works out.

[garry_teeple1]

I have not noticed any problems but I am new to large format and have not done any criticle test. I only adegitate for five seconds every thirty seconds and I vary the way I move the holder. The only difference I noticed when using the holder is there are no scratches on the negative which I get if I don't use it.

 

The tabs are 1/8" thick on this holder but only 1/16" thick on the others but I haven't seen any difference even in the sky.

[z_z1]

That is just to cool! What kind of glue do you use so it doesn't

eventually come apart? I was looking at getting some film hangers

and using a tupperware box for the chemicals (so I could seal them

up after use). Are people having problems with using the hangers?

It seems they are easy to come by and cheap.

 

Eric

[garry_teeple1]

Dave, I did some very close inspection of negatives last night and found a dark halo around where the tabs are on most of the negatives. The subjects I shoot make it hard to see sometimes but it is definitly there. I am going to cut down the tabs to where they are only 1/32" above the negative and also cut them in half. I'll let you know how it works out.

 

As for glue, I made the holders out of PVC and use pipe joint solvent. The one in the picture is made from a piece of a 4" pipe. I cut a section out and placed it in the oven to soften and flattened it between some cutting boards. Poor boys have poor ways!