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Brush Development: Technique and Opinions??



 
 
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  #1  
Old October 2nd 04, 03:59 PM
Mark Baylin
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Default Brush Development: Technique and Opinions??


Hi there, I was just wondering if anyone out there has any
experience with developing 8x10 sheet film using brush
development. Shuffling the big negs in trays has proven
disasterous, and processing in a tube almost as bad. I have no
problem with the extra time it takes to process one sheet at a
time, but I'm hving a bad time finding a method that produces
even reasonably even negs without scratches... I've heard that
this type of development technique works quite well and just
before I give it a try, I was wondering if anyone has any tips.

I will be using Rollo Pyro as a developer if that makes any
difference...

Thanks for any help!!

Take care all!

Mark
--
p
  #4  
Old October 3rd 04, 07:11 AM
Stacey
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Default

Mark Baylin wrote:


Hi there, I was just wondering if anyone out there has any
experience with developing 8x10 sheet film using brush
development. Shuffling the big negs in trays has proven
disasterous, and processing in a tube almost as bad. I have no
problem with the extra time it takes to process one sheet at a
time, but I'm hving a bad time finding a method that produces
even reasonably even negs without scratches...


If you're going to do one neg at a time, now can you scratch it in a tray?
--

Stacey
  #7  
Old October 4th 04, 02:47 AM
Jorge Gasteazoro
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Default

(Mark Baylin) wrote in message ...
Hi there, I was just wondering if anyone out there has any
experience with developing 8x10 sheet film using brush
development. Shuffling the big negs in trays has proven
disasterous, and processing in a tube almost as bad. I have no
problem with the extra time it takes to process one sheet at a
time, but I'm hving a bad time finding a method that produces
even reasonably even negs without scratches... I've heard that
this type of development technique works quite well and just
before I give it a try, I was wondering if anyone has any tips.

I will be using Rollo Pyro as a developer if that makes any
difference...

Thanks for any help!!

Take care all!

Mark


I have been doing brush development for many years, I currently do
8x10 and 12x20. When done correctly ( and really there is not much you
can mess up) it is one of the techniques that produces the most even
negatives possible. It used to be the technique used by astronomers to
develop glass plates.

So here goes. Get a hake brush, these are camel hair brushes attached
to a wodden handle by string and many times metal ferrules (dont worry
if it is metal, the "no metal" warning with pyro is a myth, I have
done it with PMK, Pyrocat and ABC). I use a 5 inch brush. Place the
8x10 film on an 8x10 tray with developer. Push the film all the way to
the bottom with your left hand and with your right hand start
brushing. I prefer to brush up and down so I place the tray
vertically, but you can do it sidewise, or a mixture, whatever is more
comfortable for you. The one absolute thing you have to watch out for,
is that you brush with the SIDE of the bristles, not the tips, if you
use the tips, you will scratch the negative. So in order to avoid
this, make sure you start the brushing motion BEFORE the film edge and
that you end the motion AFTER the opposite edge. If you do this you
will have flawless negatives.
  #8  
Old October 4th 04, 03:46 AM
Gregory Blank
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Default

Jorge;

Out of curiousity , what does it do that normal
tray developing does not.

In article ,
(Jorge Gasteazoro) wrote:


I have been doing brush development for many years, I currently do
8x10 and 12x20. When done correctly ( and really there is not much you
can mess up) it is one of the techniques that produces the most even
negatives possible. It used to be the technique used by astronomers to
develop glass plates.

So here goes. Get a hake brush, these are camel hair brushes attached
to a wodden handle by string and many times metal ferrules (dont worry
if it is metal, the "no metal" warning with pyro is a myth, I have
done it with PMK, Pyrocat and ABC). I use a 5 inch brush. Place the
8x10 film on an 8x10 tray with developer. Push the film all the way to
the bottom with your left hand and with your right hand start
brushing. I prefer to brush up and down so I place the tray
vertically, but you can do it sidewise, or a mixture, whatever is more
comfortable for you. The one absolute thing you have to watch out for,
is that you brush with the SIDE of the bristles, not the tips, if you
use the tips, you will scratch the negative. So in order to avoid
this, make sure you start the brushing motion BEFORE the film edge and
that you end the motion AFTER the opposite edge. If you do this you
will have flawless negatives.


--
LF Website @
http://members.verizon.net/~gregoryblank

"To announce that there must be no criticism of the President,
or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong,
is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable
to the American public."--Theodore Roosevelt, May 7, 1918
  #9  
Old October 4th 04, 09:37 PM
Jorge Gasteazoro
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Default

Gregory Blank wrote in message ...
Jorge;

Out of curiousity , what does it do that normal
tray developing does not.



Just like everything in photography it has it's advantages and
disadvantages. Specially now that we have rotary development.

The advantage over tray developing is that you constantly replenish
the developer in contact with the emulsion, so results are very close
to those with rotatry development, with the advantage that you dont
suffer from laminar flows, which in many cases cause the streaking
with stainning developers in rotary and tray situations. Another
advantage is that you never take the film out of the soup, once again
diminishing the risk of getting streaking by oxidation of the
developer, a common problem with stainning developers ( with some more
than others, ABC is very suceptible to this, even with brush
developing I was unable to obtain consistent results)
You can use same size trays to develop the film, unlike tray film
where you need double the size tray to avoid uneven developing,
specially on the edges of the film. This might not seem to be a big
consideration if you are doing 4x5, but move to 8x10 and larger sizes
and all of the sudden you are wasting a lot of developer and space.
If you are doing 8x10 and bigger, shuffling is not as easy, try
shuffling 6 12x20 negatives on a 20x24 tray.... ;-)

The disadvanatge is that you can only do one at at the time, and that
is a lot of wasted time when you have 10 negatives. Frankly IMO I
would not do this for 4x5, I would get the BTZS tubes, they produce
just as good a result and with a little practice you can do 6 at the
time. It is what I do now for my 8x10`s. I bought the containers used
for storing welding rods, they are aweseom for tube developing, and
they only cost like 8 or 10 bucks each. 12x20 I still do by brush, I
cannot afford a Jobo, but I dont have more than 2 or 3 per developing
session, so it is not a big deal.
  #10  
Old October 4th 04, 10:49 PM
Gregory Blank
external usenet poster
 
Posts: n/a
Default

In article ,
(Jorge Gasteazoro) wrote:

Just like everything in photography it has it's advantages and
disadvantages. Specially now that we have rotary development.

The advantage over tray developing is that you constantly replenish
the developer in contact with the emulsion, so results are very close
to those with rotatry development, with the advantage that you dont
suffer from laminar flows, which in many cases cause the streaking
with stainning developers in rotary and tray situations. Another
advantage is that you never take the film out of the soup, once again
diminishing the risk of getting streaking by oxidation of the
developer, a common problem with stainning developers ( with some more
than others, ABC is very suceptible to this, even with brush
developing I was unable to obtain consistent results)
You can use same size trays to develop the film, unlike tray film
where you need double the size tray to avoid uneven developing,
specially on the edges of the film. This might not seem to be a big
consideration if you are doing 4x5, but move to 8x10 and larger sizes
and all of the sudden you are wasting a lot of developer and space.
If you are doing 8x10 and bigger, shuffling is not as easy, try
shuffling 6 12x20 negatives on a 20x24 tray.... ;-)

The disadvanatge is that you can only do one at at the time, and that
is a lot of wasted time when you have 10 negatives. Frankly IMO I
would not do this for 4x5, I would get the BTZS tubes, they produce
just as good a result and with a little practice you can do 6 at the
time. It is what I do now for my 8x10`s. I bought the containers used
for storing welding rods, they are aweseom for tube developing, and
they only cost like 8 or 10 bucks each. 12x20 I still do by brush, I
cannot afford a Jobo, but I dont have more than 2 or 3 per developing
session, so it is not a big deal.


Sounds interesting enough for me to give it a try, Thanks!!

--
LF Website @
http://members.verizon.net/~gregoryblank

"To announce that there must be no criticism of the President,
or that we are to stand by the President, right or wrong,
is not only unpatriotic and servile, but is morally treasonable
to the American public."--Theodore Roosevelt, May 7, 1918
 




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