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#1
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B&W: Film Roller/Unicolor/Agitator
At school when I need to leave my developing film somewhat unattended I
rig up a unicolor roller to accept our tanks. It's supposed to do Foward-Reverse, but it just goes in one direction. I get good results with it, even if the tank gets a snag for a minute or two i just add some time onto that process to ensure "even" results. I know the B&W process doesn't need to be constantly agitated, and to some extend I think the silver halides need to sit? Not sure, but, my film comes out contrasty and as expected with manual agitation. Is it okay to use an agitator (film roller) with B&W chemistry? [Forward/Forward-Reverse] Thanks, Jeff |
#2
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Film Roller/Unicolor/Agitator
I've used a Uniroller system for many years at home and processed
commercially with a couple of different rotary rigs at various jobs. Rotary film processing just plain works. I personally like the reversing action of the Unicolor base though I'm not sure it's completely necessary, in my mind I feel it's better to break up surge. (There's a switch arrangement in the box that regulates the reversal, perhaps it's repairable?) The reversing action is really only "needed" when doing paper in a tube. When doing paper in a tube on my old Simmard-type base I would manually flop the tube end for end every few rotations to simulate the tube-reversal from a Uni-roller. Some developer rotation combinations are not so good, my first rotary experience was with an Imagemaker, high speed, one way rotation, no presoak and D-76 caused all kinds of grief. I switched the lab over to HC-110 (at a non-standard 1+9 as I recall) and the surge marks, etc. went away. But I didn't like the short developer times so finally said to hell with it and processed the b&w by hand while continuing to use the Imakemaker to process 40+ rolls of 'chrome (process E-6/4--E-6 developers and E-4 Bleach and Fix, recommended at that time by King Concept for low volume users since the bleach didn't need aeration) for some time. -- darkroommike "Jeph" wrote in message oups.com... At school when I need to leave my developing film somewhat unattended I rig up a unicolor roller to accept our tanks. It's supposed to do Foward-Reverse, but it just goes in one direction. I get good results with it, even if the tank gets a snag for a minute or two i just add some time onto that process to ensure "even" results. I know the B&W process doesn't need to be constantly agitated, and to some extend I think the silver halides need to sit? Not sure, but, my film comes out contrasty and as expected with manual agitation. Is it okay to use an agitator (film roller) with B&W chemistry? [Forward/Forward-Reverse] Thanks, Jeff |
#3
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Film Roller/Unicolor/Agitator
"Jeph" wrote in message oups.com... At school when I need to leave my developing film somewhat unattended I rig up a unicolor roller to accept our tanks. It's supposed to do Foward-Reverse, but it just goes in one direction. I get good results with it, even if the tank gets a snag for a minute or two i just add some time onto that process to ensure "even" results. I know the B&W process doesn't need to be constantly agitated, and to some extend I think the silver halides need to sit? Not sure, but, my film comes out contrasty and as expected with manual agitation. Is it okay to use an agitator (film roller) with B&W chemistry? [Forward/Forward-Reverse] Thanks, Jeff It should work OK. Development time will have to be adjusted for the continuous agitation. Kodak and others have drum times, or, liu of these, use tray times. I use a Unicolor drum for large format and find that I get directional "bromide" streaks unless I take the drum off and agitate it sideways occasionally. This effect may not happen with tanks with reels. Reversing the direction may also cure some directional effects if you get them. -- --- Richard Knoppow Los Angeles, CA, USA |
#4
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Film Roller/Unicolor/Agitator
"Jeph" wrote in message oups.com... Is it okay to use an agitator (film roller) with B&W chemistry? [Forward/Forward-Reverse] Thanks, Jeff been doing it for years. just adjust for contrast, and maybe give a side to side manual slosh once a minute. |
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