The load of photo gear I picked up last week included some Paterson developing gear — a tank and three adjustable reels. I have two rolls of 120 to process so I figured I’ve give them a shot.
I looked up how the Paterson reels work, and it seemed quite an advance: they use a ratchet system to load the film from the outside in, as opposed to the old-fashioned way, from the center out. You feed in a couple of inches, and then just crank the reel halves and wind in the film.
Works great in daylight, but not so well in the changing bag.
As I learned from a little research, Paterson reels are a little touchy. The reels have to be dry, the ratcheting components — a pair of ball bearings, one on each side — have to be free to move around, and the plastic can’t be gunked up with old chemistry. I can attest to 2 out of 3, and since they work in daylight, I guess they’re not in too bad of shape. One reel seems quite worn and wants to come apart, so perhaps I’ll put it aside until I understand them better. They come in two parts, and the spindle has two interlocking sections that allow it to expand and contract for different film widths.
But as it happened, I got nothing done with the Paterson stuff. I ended up using my stainless steel reel and tank and it took just a couple of minutes, even doing it twice. As this page points out, an elegant tank and reel design that uses a lot more chemistry might not be all that efficient.
If it takes more than, say, 18-20 ounces to fill up a two-35mm reel plastic tank, start asking yourself if it’s really a good tank or is it bad engineering?
So my money might might be better spent on one more good quality stainless steel reel: I already have a large stainless tank.
More as events progress.
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