Godfrey
somewhat colored
There was a thread about the Ars Imago "Lab-Box" project on Kickstarter some ages ago, but I cannot find it. The campaign started in February of 2017.
It's been a long, long haul but my Lab-Box has been delivered and is ready for me to test and use.
It looks good, the pieces feel good too. I look forward to learning how to use them and seeing how well they work.
Finally a modern replacement for my 'always getting more ancient' Agfa Rondinax processing tanks ...
onwards!
G
It's been a long, long haul but my Lab-Box has been delivered and is ready for me to test and use.
It looks good, the pieces feel good too. I look forward to learning how to use them and seeing how well they work.
Finally a modern replacement for my 'always getting more ancient' Agfa Rondinax processing tanks ...
onwards!
G
robert blu
quiet photographer
Interesting! Please keep us informed how it works, thanks
robert
robert
Godfrey
somewhat colored
I just loaded the Leica M4-2 and Voigtländer Perkeo II with some HP5 so I can test both the 35mm and 120 processing modules. It will take a few days to shoot some decent photos now ...
G
G
Huss
Veteran
I want one! How cool.
charjohncarter
Veteran
Godfrey, please keep us posted. I'm always worried that I'm losing my touch when loading may reels. So, I trust you to give us the straight scoop.
jnalepa
Member
I also ordered this with both 35mm and 120 modules. I just got the email asking to confirm my shipping address on Friday. So hopefully mine will arrive soon as well! Looking forward to hearing your experiences with it, and seeing some results!
B-9
Devin Bro
Sweet! +1 for updates when it’s time.
Solinar
Analog Preferred
Bravo Sir! Let's us know how it performs.
Out to Lunch
Ventor
Where to buy?
madNbad
Well-known
Freestyle Photo has them listed but not available until after August 1st.
madNbad
Well-known
Godfrey, are you going to use the same developers and times that you have been using with the Rondinax?
Godfrey
somewhat colored
CineStill Film is another US supplier that is selling them, once supply catches up. Ars Imago is still fulfilling the Kickstarter community pledges at the moment, I believe.
The Lab-Box has the ability to be used like the Rondinax (250ml of chemistry, continuous agitation) but it also can be used like a standard tank (500ml of chemistry submerges the entire processing reel) so you can do different variations on agitation, chemistry, etc. For simplicity's sake, I'll start with shooting HP5 at the same EI that I adopted for Rondinax and processing that way. Then later I'll play with other workflows to see what works best for me.
I do like to keep it as simple as possible, and don't want to stock more than one developer at a time ... I don't use enough and don't want to constantly throw it away needlessly. HC-110 concentrate is very very good that way ... I'm only a third down on the big bottle I bought more than a decade ago, and it's still quite fresh, works as if I bought it yesterday.
G
The Lab-Box has the ability to be used like the Rondinax (250ml of chemistry, continuous agitation) but it also can be used like a standard tank (500ml of chemistry submerges the entire processing reel) so you can do different variations on agitation, chemistry, etc. For simplicity's sake, I'll start with shooting HP5 at the same EI that I adopted for Rondinax and processing that way. Then later I'll play with other workflows to see what works best for me.
I do like to keep it as simple as possible, and don't want to stock more than one developer at a time ... I don't use enough and don't want to constantly throw it away needlessly. HC-110 concentrate is very very good that way ... I'm only a third down on the big bottle I bought more than a decade ago, and it's still quite fresh, works as if I bought it yesterday.
G
Larry Cloetta
Veteran
Was debating whether to post this at this time or not, but processed a 36 exposure roll of 135 in mine this afternoon, and there were “issues”.
First the upside: The unit is very well made, as are the packaging and instruction materials. Everything fits together very well, much nicer than my Rondinax. Chemistry pours into and out of it cleanly, no drips. Gasketing around the knob used to rotate the film in solution is well thought out and appears to be of high quality..again, seems nicer than the Rondinax. It doesn’t leak through there, and I was using a 14 minute development cycle. Not a drop of liquid escaped, and I was using the full tank option with intermittent rotations. Reel looks to be well designed and solid.
Everything seemed like it was working perfectly, film fits nicely in the funneling device with no binding. Get it started onto the reel, then snap the lid on. Continue rolling film onto the reel until the knob stops turning, meaning you have reached the end of the film in the canister, then push the blade up to sever the film (which also works very smoothly and cuts cleanly), then roll the last bit of film onto the reel and pour in the developer. Pour out developer when done, pour in stop, etc, as per usual. There are not that many places for user error to intrude.
This first roll, however, was ruined because the film wound into the reel, one circumference worth, then the rest of the roll just piled onto the top of that first bit of film, around and around, tightly lumped together. There was no way to know this was happening from the outside, as it all felt pretty smooth, turning the knob on the outside. If I am loading a plastic Patterson reel in the darkroom, and it binds, I can tell, and just pull it out and start over. Here, it all felt fine, rolling it on, but the film was just piling on top of the first layer of film, outside the reel, so only the first 12 inches or so of film actually fed into the channels of the reel, so that is the only part of the film that ever got developer, etc, onto the emulsion. So, I got maybe 9 shots, and the rest was a mess, basically, with no images.
What I did get looked excellent, and I just used the same intermittent agitation scheme and times as I usually would.
So, what went wrong? I am guessing, hoping, it was due to a less than optimal amount of curl on the end of the film which caused it to bind once it got part way into the reel. This film was from a Nikon F2, which like a Leica may give you a film end which curls “the wrong way” or has a kink at the end. I tried to cut most of that off, but I didn’t cut the leader back far enough into the film strip that it had a nice gentle curl to allow it to slide into the tracks in the reel smoothly. (Though I would have had no trouble, as it was, loading it onto a Patterson reel.) They do make allusions to being careful about this in the manual, so am hoping that is it, as I am not sure how many shots I am willing to lose until this works itself out.
Not wanting to be unnecessarily negative here, just reporting. I will double check the reel tomorrow to make sure there are no burrs along the tracks which might have caused the film to stop feeding in. Will just run an exposed roll of dry film into it by hand and see if anything binds.
Looks like a nice, well thought out, and cleanly manufactured system, if it works. Seems a lot nicer than my Rondinax, I can say that much. And the results were nice on the frames that the chemicals could reach, though I haven’t scanned them yet.
Hoping Godfrey and others have better luck with their first rolls.
I will post later with further results as they happen, one way or the other.
First the upside: The unit is very well made, as are the packaging and instruction materials. Everything fits together very well, much nicer than my Rondinax. Chemistry pours into and out of it cleanly, no drips. Gasketing around the knob used to rotate the film in solution is well thought out and appears to be of high quality..again, seems nicer than the Rondinax. It doesn’t leak through there, and I was using a 14 minute development cycle. Not a drop of liquid escaped, and I was using the full tank option with intermittent rotations. Reel looks to be well designed and solid.
Everything seemed like it was working perfectly, film fits nicely in the funneling device with no binding. Get it started onto the reel, then snap the lid on. Continue rolling film onto the reel until the knob stops turning, meaning you have reached the end of the film in the canister, then push the blade up to sever the film (which also works very smoothly and cuts cleanly), then roll the last bit of film onto the reel and pour in the developer. Pour out developer when done, pour in stop, etc, as per usual. There are not that many places for user error to intrude.
This first roll, however, was ruined because the film wound into the reel, one circumference worth, then the rest of the roll just piled onto the top of that first bit of film, around and around, tightly lumped together. There was no way to know this was happening from the outside, as it all felt pretty smooth, turning the knob on the outside. If I am loading a plastic Patterson reel in the darkroom, and it binds, I can tell, and just pull it out and start over. Here, it all felt fine, rolling it on, but the film was just piling on top of the first layer of film, outside the reel, so only the first 12 inches or so of film actually fed into the channels of the reel, so that is the only part of the film that ever got developer, etc, onto the emulsion. So, I got maybe 9 shots, and the rest was a mess, basically, with no images.
What I did get looked excellent, and I just used the same intermittent agitation scheme and times as I usually would.
So, what went wrong? I am guessing, hoping, it was due to a less than optimal amount of curl on the end of the film which caused it to bind once it got part way into the reel. This film was from a Nikon F2, which like a Leica may give you a film end which curls “the wrong way” or has a kink at the end. I tried to cut most of that off, but I didn’t cut the leader back far enough into the film strip that it had a nice gentle curl to allow it to slide into the tracks in the reel smoothly. (Though I would have had no trouble, as it was, loading it onto a Patterson reel.) They do make allusions to being careful about this in the manual, so am hoping that is it, as I am not sure how many shots I am willing to lose until this works itself out.
Not wanting to be unnecessarily negative here, just reporting. I will double check the reel tomorrow to make sure there are no burrs along the tracks which might have caused the film to stop feeding in. Will just run an exposed roll of dry film into it by hand and see if anything binds.
Looks like a nice, well thought out, and cleanly manufactured system, if it works. Seems a lot nicer than my Rondinax, I can say that much. And the results were nice on the frames that the chemicals could reach, though I haven’t scanned them yet.
Hoping Godfrey and others have better luck with their first rolls.
I will post later with further results as they happen, one way or the other.
alexandru_voicu
Established
For those living in Europe, macodirect (Germany) is a good place to buy from:
https://www.macodirect.de/en
Regards,
Alex
xjonstars
Newbie
My lab-box showed up yesterday and I was really excited to try it. I pre-ordered mine in 2017 so it’s been quite the wait. At the time I had never processed any film before so the lab-box seemed like the perfect introduction. The wait was so long I ended up teaching myself how to use a Paterson tank and have since moved to SS tank with hewes reels.
Anyway, I did run a roll of 400tx with acufine through the lab-box yesterday according to the directions (490ml, agitate 30s then 5s every 30s) and it worked perfectly. No issues getting the film to load, no leaks, and a really nice and even development. It’s designed and made well, as I’d hoped considering the wait. But I’m still going to sell mine.
My problem with the lab-box is the same problem I had with the plastic Paterson tanks and reels - they have to be completely dry to load the film, otherwise they’ll bind up and ruin the roll. Not a problem if you only do a roll here and there but I shoot a bit more than that.
I’m going to sell my lab-box to a friend who’s just getting started processing at home. I think it will work really well for him, or anyone that’s looking for a simple no fuss setup to process a roll of film maybe once or twice a week. Great product, just not for me
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Anyway, I did run a roll of 400tx with acufine through the lab-box yesterday according to the directions (490ml, agitate 30s then 5s every 30s) and it worked perfectly. No issues getting the film to load, no leaks, and a really nice and even development. It’s designed and made well, as I’d hoped considering the wait. But I’m still going to sell mine.
My problem with the lab-box is the same problem I had with the plastic Paterson tanks and reels - they have to be completely dry to load the film, otherwise they’ll bind up and ruin the roll. Not a problem if you only do a roll here and there but I shoot a bit more than that.
I’m going to sell my lab-box to a friend who’s just getting started processing at home. I think it will work really well for him, or anyone that’s looking for a simple no fuss setup to process a roll of film maybe once or twice a week. Great product, just not for me
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
Keith
The best camera is one that still works!
The more I read about these things the more I realise how ideal they are in the extremely small space I now live in. When they become readily available I may make the plunge!
Beemermark
Veteran
Same issues with SS reels, I always use a hair dryer to dry them out between loading. Don;t know if you can do that with plastic reels (hair dryers can really deliver heat).
David Hughes
David Hughes
I'm curious as it says on the box that it is the first multi format daylight loading etc. But what are the formats, bearing in mind that only 120 and 35mm exist plus home cut 127 and perhaps others I've not come across?
Regards, David
Regards, David
Mcary
Well-known
The more I read about these things the more I realise how ideal they are in the extremely small space I now live in. When they become readily available I may make the punge!
Check the link below.
https://www.freestylephoto.biz/search?q=ARS-IMAGO+LAB-BOX+
Keith
The best camera is one that still works!
I already checked freestyle before
... I used to get film off them. I don't thing this is all that expensive considering the convenience.