Good luck! Take your time and enjoy the process.

Curious why you would put only one sheet per frame in the tank. I've watched a video made by the developer of the tank and he puts two per frame, therefore, four in each tank for developing.

It really is a lot of fun. Relax and take your time, and start out with film you can practice on, so you're not stressed about perfect results. Good luck!

Hi Glenn, you are right, the correct dilution for Ilford Rapid Fix is 1:4. If I'm making 1 liter of Fixer, I pour in 200 ml of Rapid Fix into my measuring cup and then fill it with water to the 1 liter mark. Good catch! I'll fix it in the video.

@@vdonovan Thanks Vince...otherwise a brilliant clear video..which I’m going to follow at the weekend as my Ilford chemicals arrived in the post today, cheers

HI KG, I'm so glad you are up and running! As you shoot and develop more film, you can refine the process to really suit the way you like to work. Developing color film is a little more complicated, but it can definitely be done with the SP-445. Maybe I can do that as a future video.

@@vdonovan That would be great. Thanks.

Not necessarily. You don't want your wash water to be super hot or super cold, but anything close to room temperature is fine.

Yeah the notches need to be upper right or lower left

Hi Michael, I'm glad you enjoyed the video. Your questions are good ones! IMHO: 1. Stop bath is a good thing. I didn't use it in my video because I was trying to put together the bare minimum setup one would need to process 4x5 at home and (IMHO) it's not absolutely necessary. 2. Fix time based on fixer freshness is the absolutely correct way to judge fix time. It's a little more complicated so I didn't put it in my video. A simple way to judge based on fixer freshness is "twice the time it takes for the film to clear." Check the film during fixing, and if it loses all cloudiness after 2 minutes, then fix for two more minutes. 3. I do not recommend putting wetting agent into the SP-445. Photo Flo is really just soap, and soap can build up even if you rinse the tank. Having soap build up might prevent developer from reaching parts of your film. This has never happened to me (and I'm not 100% sure that it actually does happen) but I've heard it from other photographers whom I respect, so I just avoid it. Fill a tray with water, add a TINY amount of Photo Flo, and then just swish each developed negative in the tray and hang it up.

Thank you so much for replying. I just received my new 4x5 camera, so I am watching your video again. and as you've instructed, I've taken the SP-445 System out of the box and am practicing with it. I plan to shoot 4 sheets of film over the next day or two and then develop with the SP-445.@@vdonovan

Hi Tom, that's a good question and I can see how what I'm doing in the video may be a little confusing. The basic idea is that you always want the emulsion side of the film facing out, away from the developing frame. When you hold up a sheet of film, the emulsion side is always facing you when the notch is at the upper right ... or bottom left. In the video, I'm sliding the film out of the bottom of the film holders and then sliding the sheets over and into the top of the SP-445 developing frames. I know the emulsion is facing me when I slide it out of the film holder, so I just go ahead and slide it right into the SP-445 developing frame, but it means that the notches, which were in the upper right in the film holder, end up on the bottom left of the SP-445 (relative to the tabs on the top) It's easier than it sounds. Practice with a few sheets of spent film (it's worth ruining some film just for this purpose) and you'll see how easy it is.

I haven’t had that problem. Always make sure that the emulsion side of the film is facing out, away from the plastic struts. You can check this by making sure the film notches are on the upper right once it’s in the holder.

Hi Norman, it is a standard that the emulsion is facing you when, with film in portrait mode, you can feel the notch in the upper right hand corner (or lower left). en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Notch_code

The developer I use in the video (Ilford's Ilfosol 3) is a one-shot developer, so you use it and dump it. Mix up another batch for your next round of 4 sheets of film.

Ilfosol 3 is really a one-use developer. The 500ml bottle makes 5 liters of developing solution, which is good for 10 batches of film using the SP-445 tank. Since the SP-445 holds four sheets at a time, you can develop about 40 sheets from a bottle of Ilfosol 3. That comes out to about $.25 per sheet.

@@vdonovan Thanks! But i will use xtol, not ilfosol. Do you know about reusing xtol developer?

@@isgwoowf2i1 I really love Xtol, it's an excellent developer. It is also intended to be a one-shot developer, not for reuse. The Xtol package makes 5 liters of solution, which you can use full strength or (I prefer) dilute with water 1:1. Using full strength will develop 40 sheets of 4x5 film, using 1:1 will develop 80 sheets.

@@vdonovan 40 sheets with 5L full strength xtol developer? Thanks !!!

probably nitrogen gas (inert gas). same stuff used to keep partially used wine from oxidizing.

I omitted stop bath to make the process as minimal as possible. In practice, stop bath will indeed "stop" development quickly, but with normal processing your film isn't developing very quickly at the end of the cycle, so the few extra seconds that a water rinse will take to stop development won't matter. Using a stop bath will help extend the life of the fixer. So I feel that stop bath has its role, but it can be omitted and still get good results.

Hi Neil, I agree with you, 5x7 (as we call it here in the US) is a great format. 5x7 contact prints are really nice. Anyone looking for a daylight solution (meaning, without a darkroom) for processing 5x7 or larger, I can recommend the new Stearman product, the SP-8x10.