articles/Film/supernova-page2

Film processing for large-format film - part 2 of 1 2 3

by Paul Gallagher Published

I contacted Nova Darkroom needing a shoulder to cry on and in their inimitable reliability they offered me the answer to my problems in the form of the Nova FP 5x4 Dip & Dunk film processing unit. This consists of a sheet-film holder borrowed from the CombiPlan system and five individual tanks each holding a little over a litre of chemical. Each tank is located into an overall temperature-controlling unit that holds four litres of water. It can maintain an accurate temperature within 0.2°C via its Nova Powerstat which is pretty impressive. Opening the delivery box, I was struck by how compact the system actually was, measuring in at approximately 46cm x 28cm x 17cm. So if, like me, you only need a darkroom to process films ready for a scanner, this was ideal.

Conditioning the Chemicals

I filled the processor with the volume of water required and all the other chemical tanks. I then placed the floating lids directly onto the chemicals to reduce oxidation and evaporation and fitted the tank lids. I then set the temperature to 23°C on the Powerstat (my processing temperature) and left it to its own devices. After about four hours (although the recommended time needed is two to three hours) I returned to find all chemicals at the exact temperature and ready to go.

Film Loading

I now had to learn how to load film into the negative holder that can hold up to six sheets of film during a single processing cycle. The holder is supplied with two ingenious negative guides for each side of the holder. These are surprisingly simple to use, and effective they are removed prior to processing. I began by practising in daylight with a "bad" negative (As mentioned by this stage I had many to choose from!) and then increased confidence by completing the task seamlessly with my eyes closed. After the film is loaded it is then secured by a film clip, which slides into place until it prevents the film from moving up and down during processing. I was now ready to process film. The beauty of this system is that you process using a very even and constant agitation. You are not throwing the chemicals "around" the emulsion as with a tank inversion agitation but simply lifting and replacing the sheets of film held in the negative holder from each chemical enabling a much more controlled approach to agitation very similar to that of tray processing where the film is moved "within" the static body of processing agent. As mentioned I regularly use two bath developer so with this processor I could have my first tank as a pre-soak, the next two designated as Bath A and Bath B developer followed by stop and fix.

• Film processing for large-format film page 1
  
• Film processing for large-format film page 2
  
• Film processing for large-format film page 3
  

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