Confessions of a #darkroom #junkie (part 1 of ♾️ many).
For my #BlackAndWhite neg developing, I've mostly used tanks and trays (for #LargeFormat), but also used a #Jobo #CPE2plus processor.
The problem: it was an old machine and the motor was struggling, only capable of running a couple of minutes at low torque and then stopping 😞.
So I tried to cash in on my #RightToRepair.
Maybe the motor brushes were ruined? Maybe a new motor was needed? (it's in fact a car windshield wiper motor)...
🧵1/ 5
So the problem was elsewhere.
Carefully checking the circuit board with a multimeter revealed another suspicious component: the diode rectifier, whose DC output was wild. These things don't age well, and this one was about 30 years old...
🧵 3/5
After a quick intervention with the soldering iron, #RightToRepair wins the day and my old #Jobo #CPE2plus plus friend is as good as new!
It's just great to get such an old beast in proper working order again, without having to break the bank buying a replacement!
This is now my standard dev method for #35mm, #6x6, #4x5 and #11x14.
My beloved home-brewed #510pyro works beautifully, with super-consistent results with all my standard films.
So if you *can* repair, *do*!
🧵 5/5
@s2art nice; indeed #Jobo tank hand processing w/o the machine is something I've also done a lot (before repairing the beast).
#Xtol is great, on my side I've used lots of different things but converged on #PMK and now #510pyro which I consider the best film dev I've ever used. Superb highlights, deep shadows, and great for both normal silver as well as carbon printing.
For paper dev, for environmental reasons I've shifted to Vitamin C-based ones like Moersch 4812 https://www.moersch-photochemie.de/content/shop/positiv/110
@s2art for #PMK and roll film in a tank, my experience was that I would get streaks if I machine processed, but not if I hand processed. For #4x5 in a tray, I could limit the streaks.
With #510pyro my experience is that the streaking is just completely absent, even if I machine #Jobo it. So now everything #35mm, #6x6, #4x5 and #11x14 gets the same treatment, and my calibrations are holding.
@s2art a good starting point with #510pyro is Jay DeFehr (the "inventor")'s description of it at https://sites.google.com/site/jaydefehrsdevelopers/home/510-pyro
You can also find more at John Finch's page at http://pictorialplanet.com/advanced_photography/510_pyro.html
There are also lots of other sources on the web, but those are the ones I started with.
Jean-Sébastien Caux
s2