Michael Keller (keller@wvinter.net)
Sun, 21 Mar 1999 12:25:05 -0500
Steve Shapiro wrote:
> Never shake like a coctail. Agitation is a gentle motion for film
> developing.
I can't speak for large format shaking, but a test done in Darkroom Techniques
magazine some years back, comparing Patterson plastic tanks vs stainless steel
and focusing on even development, showed that vigorous, random agitation gave
the most even development. The Patterson tanks with the funnel-like lid that
creates a large airspace, gave even development thanks to the fact that,
during inversion, the developer dumps into that holding area and creates a big
volume of air to rise up through the developer. The second best method was
using a stainless steel tank and putting an empty reel in the top, thus
creating a similar airspace. The same test showed that vigorous agitation was
better than gentle inversions. I recall Ansel Adams touting the "torus"
inversion, where you inverted and gave a twist to the wrist at the same time.
I don't shake like a cocktail, but there's nothing gentle about my inversions
using the P tanks on small and medium format films. The only time I shake like
a cocktail is per Kodak's instructions on Tech Pan developed in Technidol
liquid.
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