Zebra Kickstarter

Marley's Ghost said:
I just started using my Stearman 10x8 daylight tray to four 4x5s at the same time - I got it as it can do two 5x7 or a single 10x8 ... one of the most practical designs out there ... basically a light trapped dev tray with dividers. Works a treat with 500ml of chemicals and no scratching.
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That's a coincidence, I just got one too. I've got a Paterson Orbital but it's not good for 3x4 or glass plates.
 
Nas said:
That's a coincidence, I just got one too. I've got a Paterson Orbital but it's not good for 3x4 or glass plates.
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I find the Stearman can be dried out quickly too ... so that you can be ready to process multiple times in a developing session. It's a bit disconcerting at first as there is nothing physically holding the lid on as you are using it ... but you soon get used to it.
 
Like some have stated, this looks very similar to
The Stearman tank. Im Currently using Patterson tank with a mod54. Holds 6 sheets but I need to use 1 litre of development. I need to find something that uses less
Developer.
 
I am another using the stearman 810 , because of its flexibility format wise , and its simplicity. Actually I went all out on the simplicity and used a mono bath last time I used it for 5x7 all done on the kitchen sink drainer , I think I will look at the Zebra in the future if I feel the need to dev more at a time but I do not expose enough to need it.
I use a large popup etone to make dark transactions which is completely essential once you go bigger than 4x5 but completely defeats me when it comes to a tidy fold up and does require a proper table space to sit on.
 
HowLarge said:
I am another using the stearman 810 , because of its flexibility format wise , and its simplicity. Actually I went all out on the simplicity and used a mono bath last time I used it for 5x7 all done on the kitchen sink drainer , I think I will look at the Zebra in the future if I feel the need to dev more at a time but I do not expose enough to need it.
I use a large popup etone to make dark transactions which is completely essential once you go bigger than 4x5 but completely defeats me when it comes to a tidy fold up and does require a proper table space to sit on.
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Ha ... another kitchen sink drainer worker!!! Me too. I use a Calumet pop up dark box for loading ... a little cramped for 7x5 :)
 
Nas said:
That's a coincidence, I just got one too. I've got a Paterson Orbital but it's not good for 3x4 or glass plates.
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I think I have at least one Quarter plate developing tank (for glass plates), I will never use it. I desperately need to do a sort out.

Ian
 
Nas said:
That's a coincidence, I just got one too. I've got a Paterson Orbital but it's not good for 3x4 or glass plates.
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That's interesting - I've used an Orbital processor for 5x4 film - what's the reason it's not good for glass plates? Will they simply not fit in it?
 
I think the corners of the glass plates will scratch the plastic during agitation.

Ian
 
Soulstar89 said:
Like some have stated, this looks very similar to
The Stearman tank. Im Currently using Patterson tank with a mod54. Holds 6 sheets but I need to use 1 litre of development. I need to find something that uses less
Developer.
Click to expand...
I started with the MOD54, then went to the Jobo 2509n tank and reel with a roller base but a Jobo Expert drum showed up at a decent price so I got one of those too. Overall I like the Expert drum the best but it's not easy to dry if I've got more than 6 sheets to dev.
 
Ian Grant said:
I think I have at least one Quarter plate developing tank (for glass plates), I will never use it. I desperately need to do a sort out.

Ian
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I've got a bunch of old tanks for glass plates but I've found the development is uneven if you have a few plates loaded. There doesn't seem to be enough space between them to avoid tide marks. Two plates seem to be ok.
I've got Envoy bakelite quarter plate tanks along with the adapter which helps you line up the plates so they load squarely into the tank. This is usually missing, one of mine came in the original box and looked unused. Of course I've used it :D
 
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Ian Grant said:
I think the corners of the glass plates will scratch the plastic during agitation.

Ian
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Maybe. I can cut some sheets of junk x-ray film and lay that underneath the glass.
 
Nas said:
Maybe. I can cut some sheets of junk x-ray film and lay that underneath the glass.
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You’ll need to put something under the plates that doesn’t float (I figured this out the hard way).
Do have plates fast enough that you need a daylight tank? One reason I like them is working in trays under safelight.
 
I love my combi tank for smaller sized film. Getting rare now and the styrene/brittle plastic film holder cage on mine is getting very fragile.
Wish someone would copy that one . . .
 
AnalogueWendy said:
You’ll need to put something under the plates that doesn’t float (I figured this out the hard way).
Do have plates fast enough that you need a daylight tank? One reason I like them is working in trays under safelight.
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I think it's becoming more and more common that folks simply don't have darkroom space. A kitchen or bathroom can be pushed into service for daylight operations when worked with a loading bag or pop-up, but many of us have to use a hybrid workflow: daylight tank to scanner. Until I retired as a pro I used labs for all my paid work processing - then moved to digital, so a darkroom was never really needed. In a first floor London flat - space to share with a wife, three cats and two double basses is at a premium :)
 
Marley's Ghost said:
I think it's becoming more and more common that folks simply don't have darkroom space. A kitchen or bathroom can be pushed into service for daylight operations when worked with a loading bag or pop-up, but many of us have to use a hybrid workflow: daylight tank to scanner. Until I retired as a pro I used labs for all my paid work processing - then moved to digital, so a darkroom was never really needed. In a first floor London flat - space to share with a wife, three cats and two double basses is at a premium :)
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Lots of community darkrooms in London too, so yes I can see the appeal of daylight tanks to keep the initial stages on the kitchen sink.
 
AnalogueWendy said:
You’ll need to put something under the plates that doesn’t float (I figured this out the hard way).
Do have plates fast enough that you need a daylight tank? One reason I like them is working in trays under safelight.
Click to expand...
Hello Wendy, some of my plates are panchromatic which I need to develop in complete darkness.
 
AnalogueWendy said:
I love my combi tank for smaller sized film. Getting rare now and the styrene/brittle plastic film holder cage on mine is getting very fragile.
Wish someone would copy that one . . .
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This is the first tank I bought to develop sheet film. I just need to find it.
 
Just developed a couple of 8x10 negs. I made a mistake in that I didn't increase the volume when just one slide was used (for 2 negs). Ideally you should be using 2 litres of fluid for this tank instead of the 1.8 litres I used here. I did stand development in 510 Pyro at 1:500 for an hour. The development seems fine. I was also testing my mixed up 510 Pyro as I wasn't sure if was going to be OK due to the age of the chemicals. I measured the small quantity of Pyro by weight (1.22g per cc) to get it accurate for such a low dilution.
 

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