Consistency was Re: [Rollei] More OT Jobo advice

[Daniel Ridings <daniel.ridings]

Jeffery,
I'll reply to you and John Hicks at the same time. It'll become clear in a 
minute.

Months ago I suddenly started getting problems with consistency (uneven 
development) with 120 film. It was so bad that I simply rejected a whole 
handful of shots that would have been keepers otherwise, good one too.

I searched the net and found John's advice on another list. I think the 
archive went back a couple of years. Anyway:

Use tanks to hold twice as much film as you're going to process.
Put film on reels in the bottom half of the tank, and fill it out with 
empty reels.
Use enough developer to cover the reels with film, no more.
Agitate 5 seconds every 30 seconds by inverting the tank a couple of times.

That will let the developer drain off the film and then it will be covered 
by fresh developer when you finish your inversions.

You might have to change your times, I don't (to adjust for contrast). If 
you are using Xtol, at least, they expect you to be using vigorous 
agitation. This is it.

No "spoke marks", no uneven development, just consistently good negatives 
roll after roll, 35mm and 120. I develop all my film this way: Agfa APX 
100, Fuji Neopan 400 and 1600 and Tri-X (the new one).

You might want to give this method a try. It works best, for me, with 
stainless steel tanks ... but that's what I've always used anyway, maybe 
I'm partial.

Try it! It might save you some money. This is one of the benefits that JOBO 
gives you, I think, ... a good supply of fresh developer on the film all 
the time.

I'll take this opportunity to thank John. The answer to this problem is old 
and was on another list, but it cured my problem. Thanks.

Daniel

At 22:56 05.05.2003 -0400, you wrote:
>At 06:15 PM 5/5/03 -0500, you wrote:
> >I need greater consistency in my B&W film developing.
>
>   I recommend the CPP-2 or CPA-2 w/lift. The reason for this rather than
>the smaller machines is that often I found that the smaller CPE-2 seriously
>limited how much film I could develop at once because it could handle only
>500ml volume in the tank.
>   Also, I very strongly recommend the use of #2500 tanks and reels for
>120/220 film; the #1500 reels often cause excess or uneven edge density
>with 120 film.
>
>                                                                         jbh

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