I recently bought an Albert Adjustable Roll Film Tank at a garage sale in the hope that it would allow me to develop 120/220 roll film. I think the film will fit - but the design of the tank baffles me. The tank is made out of plastic or Bakelite, and has a top that does not screw on. It has a hole in the centre of the funnel-shaped top, obviously to pour in liquids. It further has an opening at the side of the top, apparently to pour out the liquids. The whole thing leaks liquids like a sieve when inverted. Questions: 1. is this thing supposed to be light tight? 2. How does one agitate if not by inversion? 3. Is this tank designed to be used in a darkroom, where the liquids can be poured in with lights on, and agitation is supposed to occur with lights out and tank top off by turning or lifting the spool? 4. Is this tank a waste of my $5? (It seems to require about 750 ml of soup!) Any help will be greatly appreciated! Paul

-- Paul Oosthoek (pauloosthoek@hotmail.com), June 03, 2000

Answers

This design sounds like the daylight processing tank my Dad used for 6X9 and 4x5. As I recall he would adjitate with a rocking motion. I guess that would work for roll film as well.

-- Robert Orofino (rorofino@iopener.net), June 04, 2000.

It sounds like a tank I bought recently and took right back because the amount of chemistry would have bankrupted me for my one shot tastes. What are its dimensions? Does it have a bunch of long comb things in the inside? If it is what I think it is it has a second inner lid that keeps it light tight, and it has a very forma hold the top down and push-pull agitation thing to it. Is it about half the size of a loaf of bread and with lots of slots or indexes in it? If it is it is probably a 4X5 adustable down like Robert said -- but it is suposed to be light tight so why couldn't you drop reels in it?

Dean

-- Dean Lastoria (dvlastor@sfu.ca), June 06, 2000.