Dear Contributors, collegues and friends,

I bought a Doran tank some time ago and yesterday, I finally got to test it. Well there are many good points to it but I was not impressed by a couple of things and I would like to exchange Ideas with other users before I decide what to do with the damn thing! The tank appeals to me for a number of reasons, to start with the number of films (12) and the adjustable capabilities which allow its use with any size of cut film. When I developed my films I found that the chemicals are bound to leak out the tank because of the very method of agitation unless this has to be carried out with micrometic shifts of the tank.By the way, the instruction aren't really clear about this because I understood I had to move"energically"(I took this "cum grano salis", about 20 agitations per cycle, since the chemicals would have been everywhere otherwise)the tank for 10 seconds per minute horizontally(left-right-right-left) and not vertically(away fromyoursef-toward yoursef) as this would have(according to the instructions) dislodged the films inside the tank. In any case my negatives were well developed(density-wise) but on the sides(long side) show one or two darker irregular(+ -) stripes, indicating uneven developement.I don't think it could be light streaks even though the constuction of the tank doesn't make me feel so very sure about it. I already had the plesure to receive instructions about how to use this tank from two contributors. Now I would like to learn how to use it properly. Thank you for your help. Andrea Milano w.f.p.a. see the W.F.P.A. site at http://www.johndesq.com, ENJOY!

-- andrea milano (milandro@multiweb.nl), July 14, 1999

Answers

hi andrea; that was a long time ago. I'm setting up a darkroom after 40 years away from the hobby. I'm using most of my old equipment in the 4x5 cut film format, and debating what to use for cut film development. Did you ever solve the problem of the Doran tank? Was it the45-cpf model or the cf.45? Or did you find a better way? Would appreciate advice.

Monty

-- monty simmonds (monty@medshire.com), May 18, 2002.