Tray processing

[Ian Leake]

Darkroom timer with luminous hands. I count the number of minutes in my head and only follow the second hand so it doesn't have to be very bright.

[Thomas Bertilsson]

I don't develop in trays anymore, but I used to use a metronome. Counting seconds is your best friend... It gets to become a habit and second nature after a while. Some people can't stand it.

If you have trays anyway, learn how to develop by inspection with a dark green safelight. Time development can, and is in many ways, very precise. But as an extra safety measure I used it to turn on the lights for a brief moment at about 75% of my normal dev time. Have a look, then either dunk the film into the stop bath or let it continue developing as needed. It's pretty slick, if you can avoid all other problems such as scratches and uneven development.

Re: Metronome. It's a brilliant tool for me since I print in silver. This way I can get very precise dodging and burning done by just letting the enlarger lamp continue to illuminate while I do my thing with various tools, so if you print in silver it could be worth it for that reason too. Then if you decide you don't like it for film developing, well, you can still use the metronome.

- Thomas

[ntenny]

Thanks everyone - I was thinking of recording an audio signal on CD using the metronome or drum machine in studio software but it starts to get complicated when you need to distinguish between minutes and parts of minutes.

This has been done too, certainly, and I remember reading a post once (probably here) where someone said their development timer for their usual film/dev combination was a particular recording of Satie's "3 1/2 Gymnopedies"!

I bought a GraLab timer that doesn't glow in the dark, but does click when the hands pass each other (every 6 seconds), and some glow-in-the-dark paint. The results are just barely bright enough to see, but I rely first on counting the clicks and just peer at the dial for confirmation that I haven't lost count. I don't think I could fog film with it if I tried.

-NT

[MartinP]

There is software available for most Palm (I use FotoTimer) or Windows 'personal-assistant' mini-computer things to make them bleep in different ways at the appropriate times. You just put the thing in a film box or a drawer, so the light isn't a problem, with one or two extra timing periods at the beginning so you can get set up before starting the film off.

Alternatively, making a recording on cassette or MP3 is also a well tried and tested method - especially as you can speak reminders for agitation or whatever you need, without having to remember what different bleeps mean in the 'modern' version.

[tiberiustibz]

you can set my ipod to beep after so many minutes.