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  #1  
Old 16th February 2010, 05:41 PM
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Default Which 35mm developing tank to use?

Can anyone give advice on a good quality 35mm developing tank?

Preferences are 2 film size minimum and good quality.

I've looked at the Jobo 2400 which you don't need darkness for but apparently it swallows up developing solution. I guess this is because of the film load and wash bay design as if I know what I'm talking about!

Mossy.
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Old 16th February 2010, 06:08 PM
Richard Gould Richard Gould is offline
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Either patterson or ap make very good tanks, I use patterson universal tanks which take either 2 35mm spirals or 1 120, and you don't need a darkroom, a good changing bag to load the films is all you need,I personally would suggest the patterson, good quality and british made,Richard
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Old 16th February 2010, 06:26 PM
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Ah, one of those: "how long is a piece of string" questions ...

Two basic types: those meant for stainless steel spirals and those intended for plastic spirals. If using steel spirals you have the choice of plastic or stainless steel tanks to go with them.

S/S spirals only take one size film, and the tanks tend to do so also, so if you want multi-use then you are looking at plastic. Traditionally, the favourite here is Paterson (the ball-bearing ratchet mechanism makes loading the spirals easy-peasy) but some prefer AP. The spirals twist and extend to take film between 135 and 120 and both will fit the tanks. The tanks come in several sizes to take from a single spiral to several.

Personally, I started with Paterson 25 years ago and have yet to find any reason to stop.
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Old 16th February 2010, 06:38 PM
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Bob, Richard, thank you very much. That's as much as I need to know to make my decision.
I'll let you know how I get on and which choice.

Mossy.
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Old 16th February 2010, 06:41 PM
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After many years of using old tanks and spirals I decided to buy something new. I ended up with a Kaiser tank and two plastic reels from Silverprint.

The Kaiser reels have large tabs on the spiral entrance making film loading very easy - even when I load two 120 films taped together. I used to invent new swear words whilst doing this!


Steve.
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Old 16th February 2010, 06:43 PM
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I'm using Kindermann stainless steel tank with plastic lid.



It takes four 135 or two 120 spirals and 1L of developer.
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Old 16th February 2010, 06:43 PM
Mike O'Pray Mike O'Pray is offline
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The Jobo 1520 will do 2 x 120( both films on same reel) and 2 x 35 on two reels. With inversion agitation it uses 485 mls of chemicals but if you have a rotary processor then as little 240mls will do.

Durst do tanks but the ones I have are for either 35mm or 120, using about the same volumes but of course you can't rotary process with Durst.

Be aware that the Jobos have a large "well" on top of the tank for easy pouring but unless the red plastic tank top is a very tight fit and with most secondhand tanks this won't be the case then inversion agitation results in a very small loss of fluid. Keep you hand on the red top on inversion and press as you invert and the loss will be very small.

Mike

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Old 16th February 2010, 06:44 PM
Dave miller Dave miller is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Steve Smith View Post
After many years of using old tanks and spirals I decided to buy something new. I ended up with a Kaiser tank and two plastic reels from Silverprint.

The Kaiser reels have large tabs on the spiral entrance making film loading very easy - even when I load two 120 films taped together. I used to invent new swear words whilst doing this!


Steve.
These sound exactly like the AP reels that have been discussed in another thread here recently. They also fit the Paterson tanks.
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Old 16th February 2010, 07:53 PM
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I hadn't heard of AP reels or tanks before so I did a search and found this picture: http://www.khbphotografix.com/Images/eBay/AP_tank.jpg

My Kaiser reels and tank are identical.

When I first saw this picture I thought to myself that it looks the same except that mine has a blue lid. I went to the cupboard and found out that the lid of mine is actually red.... just like the AP picture!

If you have either the AP or Kaiser version of this and you plan on using just one reel, it's a good idea to wrap an elastic band around the clip which is supposed to hold the reel at the bottom of the column as I found mine would move up during inversion.


Steve.
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Old 16th February 2010, 08:58 PM
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I've used both Paterson and Jobo tanks and like both systems.

The Jobo 1520 will allow you to do 2 rolls of 35mm film, and this can be increased by adding the extension module 1530 which will then allow you to process 5 films together. There is a 1540 tank which accommodates 4 films, and again you can add the extension to this which will allow 7 films in total.
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