I have quite a bit of experience with Combi-Plan tanks. On the whole, I can't recommend them. If you use them as daylight processing tanks, they take far too long to fill and empty, and there are persistent flow patterns which _will_ show up on your negatives.
The best results I got with Combi-Plan tanks was when I used them for dark processing, using a series of tanks each pre-filled with the appropriate solution (for intermediate washes I used simpler and less costly containers), changing between tanks in the dark. You can fit the light-proof lid during each processing step for inversion agitation, as long as you transfer the film racks in the dark. Even when doing this, it is very easy to get tracks of flow patterns around the top and bottom clips, and along the sides of the film racks. I found the best way to minimize those was by using a pre-whetting bath containing a very dilute Photo-Flo solution prior to the developer (about 1:1000 for Photo-Flo 200).
The best small tank option I've used with sheet film is the Jobo 4500 series tank, used with a Jobo rotary processor. The pre-whetting helped there as well.
- The Horrible Helge On 13/10/2014 21:10, Richard Knoppow wrote:
----- Original Message ----- From: "shannon Stoney" <shannonstoney@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>To: <pure-silver@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Monday, October 13, 2014 7:52 AM Subject: [pure-silver] 4x5" daylight processing tank for saleHi, I have this listed on ebay. It's very clean but I use tubes now, so I don't need it any more.http://www.ebay.com/itm/HP-CombiPlan-T-4x5-034-Daylight-sheet-film-processing-system-/161450097406I am pretty sure this tank works the same way as the old time "Yankee" sheet film tank. Its agitated by shoving it back and forth. I never was able to get satisfactory results with a Yankee tank except by agitating the conventional way by lifting the film rack out and re-inserting it. Of course that must be done with the lights out. If this tank works in some other way it might be satisfactory. The only daylight sheet film tank I've had good results with is the Nikor tank. This is the one with the round "cage" inside to hold the film. There is another version with a square cage, I've not used one of those. There are some caviats with the Nikor tank: one is the same as with other Nikor tanks, namely that the tanks, lids and caps are all indiividually fitted. If you get the wrong combination they will either leak or not fit together. The other problem is that the stainless steel spring clip that goes around the center of the cage to hold the film in place is often missing. They are unobtainable so don't buy a tank unless its there. The cage is adjustable for any size sheet film up to 4x5. There are some tricks to adjusting it so that the film will insert easily and not buckle. Practice in the light a couple of times before using it. They are also slow to fill and empty so using developer witha fairly long development time is a good idea. When used with some understanding the results are very uniform and the tanks are pretty easy to use once you catch on to them. I have no idea of the current price or availability but if you need daylight development they are a good solution.-- Richard Knoppow Los Angeles WB6KBL dickburk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx============================================================================================================= To unsubscribe from this list, go to www.freelists.org and logon to your account (the same e-mail address and password you set-up when you subscribed,) and unsubscribe from there.
============================================================================================================= To unsubscribe from this list, go to www.freelists.org and logon to your account (the same e-mail address and password you set-up when you subscribed,) and unsubscribe from there.
