JOBO Daylight Tank?

[StephenPG]

Do any of you know if there is someone making a single reel developing tank similar to the one JOBO made?

It was a tank that could be loaded in full daylight. I had one and it work well for one roll processing. It appears that JOBO no longer makes it.

 

[venchka]

How did that work? I own several Jobo 25xx tanks and the 3010 Expert drum. They all require darkness for loading. I use a Harrison Changing Tent. Once loaded, they are lightproof and I develop anytime.

 

[bolohead]

The Uniroller tanks are adjustable. If you get one you can use 1 to 6 35mm reels or 1 to 3 120/220 reels or a combination of the two. Somewhat hard to find and prone to small leaks. They show up on Ebay once in a while. With a little work, the leaks can be fixed.

You load them in the dark, but do your developing in daylight.

 

[StephenPG]

It was kind of interesting. The tank was loaded all closed up. You started with the film end out of the casette. It went into the center of the reel and then the tank was closed. The lid moved back and forth causing the film to load onto the reel. Once it was done, you screwed down a center column and that cut the film off the casette. Granted, the last time I did this was over 20 years ago.

 

[sevo]

How did that work?

You threaded the start of the cartridge into the perfectly dry and clean spool, inside a small compartment at the centre, closed the lid, span the knob at the top back and forward umpteen times, cursed that the leader had not caught on, repeated the process a few times, and eventually had the film threaded in full daylight if you had not in the meantime made some fatal error in your state of despair and bewilderment. The mechanism caused plenty of extra carryover between process stages - making colour kits pretty much one shot.

In other words, that thing did not perform too well - I always was faster and more reliable with the regular Jobo tanks and changing bags.

 

[StephenPG]

Just did some more digging... JOBO 2400

 

[StephenPG]

LOL Sevo. Yeah, now I remember. I only used it for B&W and THINK I had good results. Maybe I'll just get a changing bag this time around.

 

[lawrence]

I have a couple of these and they are excellent. You rotate the spindle back and forth seventy-seven times to load an entire roll of 36 exposures however a downside, if you like one-shot, is that they take 450ml of solution. They give very even development and are less hassle than a changing bag for single rolls. I have never used them for colour development.

 

[gliderbee]

I'm still using one from time to time, mostly for stand development, when I don't need the Jobo processor to do the rotating 🙂. I like it, and IF the reels are dry, works every time for me !
Anyway, reels should be dry before loading with "normal" tanks also, or you'll be in trouble ...

Stefan.

You threaded the start of the cartridge into the perfectly dry and clean spool, inside a small compartment at the centre, closed the lid, span the knob at the top back and forward umpteen times, cursed that the leader had not caught on, repeated the process a few times, and eventually had the film threaded in full daylight if you had not in the meantime made some fatal error in your state of despair and bewilderment. The mechanism caused plenty of extra carryover between process stages - making colour kits pretty much one shot.

In other words, that thing did not perform too well - I always was faster and more reliable with the regular Jobo tanks and changing bags.

 

[venchka]

Interesting. I would have to program my old brain to leave a stub of film out. What are the chances of getting that right every time? I can program some of my cameras to do that. The Pentax & Nikon P&S cameras won't do it.

 

[StephenPG]

When I was a stringer at the Miami Herald I learned a trick for getting the leader out using a piece of filmstrip and saliva. Lick the emulsion side of the film strip, thread it back into the casette, slowly rotate the spindle until the inside film sticks to the strip and starts to drag it in, pull out fast and out would come the leader end. Worked every time.

 

[venchka]

I think Fuji makes a tool for it. The P.C. Nanny Police would have a coronary if we advised folks to lick old film ends. EWWWWWW!!!!!!!!!!
Grinning. I'll stick to my Harrison tent and Jobo 25xx/3010 kit.

 

[StephenPG]

F the nanny police I say!

 

[tofagerl]

Or just the nanny...

Anyway, what's wrong with a darkroom bag? The Jobo 2400 system sounds like an overengineering only the Navy could pull off!

Edit: For the record, I just put a towel under the bathroom door and do it blind.

 

[B.J.Scharp]

I have two of the Jobo 2400 tanks, they work extremely well, and use hardly any more developer than a `normal' tank (450cc vs 400 for my other tank)

They show up on Ebay pretty regularily, so if you want one, look there.

 

[robklurfield]

Freestyle sells tools to pull film leader out of cassettes. Of course, that would spoil all the fun of licking film and f'ing nannies, now wouldn't it.

 

[StephenPG]

Finally found one of these on ebay.... will report on how the first roll goes.