JOBO 2521 tank and 2509 4x5 reel

rramig

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A technical question for the 4x5 affectionados.

Can the JOBO 2521 tank and 2509 4x5 cut film reel be used for inversion processing or only for rolling in the JOBO apparatus?
 
Hello, If I am not mislead that this is exactly the combination I am using (The drum is short and has a "normal" lid). As the drum is rather full - there is not much space left for inversions - the chemistry can not move much. Also - one would have to do the inversions very carefully as not to disturb the film (not to move it out of its position). Also - you need much less chemistry when rolling the drum.

I was first rolling the drum on the kitchen working desk and later got the hand roller from Jobo - only to discover that the drum is too short to be comfortably rolled on the roller, but it can be done. Optimal would be to get one of the longer drums (like 2551) with two 2509 reels and a motor base (which I have to yet find one). The reason is - I quickly realized that rolling the drum is more time consuming as one has no time left to prepare subsequent chemicals (stop, fix, etc..) what in the case of inversion technique could be done (especially the semi - stand methods where one has intervals of several minutes)
 
The previous generation Jobo tanks with oval-shape sheet film "spiral" seems to be more tolerant with hand processing and inversion agitation; the new series 2509 is better at rotary processing, as the sheet films, apparently, are not held as securely. You can of course use the clip-on plates but for me I have some misgivings about them, at least when I do rotary processing as they actuallly cause uneven development, which, of course, would not be a factor if you try hand processing.
 
I have a 2521 and a 2551 but I've only used them for rotary processing. The 2521 uses 270-300ml of chemistry for rotary processing 6 sheets of 4x5, but would use on the order of 1200-1500ml if you wanted to do inversion processing. Do you really want to use that much more chemistry?
 
Optimal would be to get one of the longer drums (like 2551) with two 2509 reels and a motor base (which I have to yet find one).

Those are actually fairly trivial to find; Durst and later Ilford mass-produced one (called Comot) for the Ilfochrome process. You can regularly find them on eBay for less than 20 EUR. I have two and I think I paid 1 EUR each plus shipping.
 
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