2023 was the year when I purchased a couple of Jobo 8×11 developing reels for Minox film, from an online shop called Film Stuff Lab. These reels are 3D printed, and of good quality, sturdy and from good materials (to not be mistaken for the Marcus Dunkmann’s own Minox dev reel). As one who shoots Minox film for over 25 yrs, I never developed my film in anything but the classic Minox daylight tank. I always thought it proper to do so, not for the lack of other developing implements for 8×11 film, but because I felt that using the Minox tank, I pay my respects to the brilliant inventor Walter Zapp. Besides, what’s more classic than using a Minox AND its original accessories, right? Well, for a good while it was. Then, this 8×11 reel happened.
Once received, I had a look, studied them for a while and gave them a try; my initial review was published shortly after. Not a comprehensive one, just my view on the thing, you understand. The review was received well by the Minox community and dare I say, had a useful impact on the good people using Minox out there.
That said, after a couple of films developed with this reel, a few things became apparent: my films were coming out with severely under-developed margins, 1mm each side, length wise of the negative. Try as I might, I could not figure out what the heck was happening. Camera fault could not be, developer was always fresh, agitation was done properly, fixer cannot be at fault here, so wtf gives here? By the second film or so, I narrowed it down to the reel, but I could not see the reason. The film was loading properly, it stayed put onto the reel, and so forth. It drove me crazy for a (short) while. At a complete loss, I even gave the tank a more violent agitation, thinking that perhaps those margins will get enough developer for them to be properly developed. Nah, no difference.
Notice the two undeveloped areas, left and right of the frame.
Then the penny dropped: upon close(r) inspection with a loupe, I discovered the grooves are in a right angle on the reel. And when the film is naturally pushed towards the centre of the reel, hugging the groove’s separators, it sticks to the said separators and is being deprived of developer. Situation does not change if the film is loaded in reverse (against the natural curvature), because then the film will be pushed towards the opposite margins of the reel. Bad thing here is that no matter how one loads the film, it will always be pushed to the separators, emulsion face. Either way, you end up with the film (emulsion side) stuck on the separators. The two drawings here show both of the situations, with which I was confronted.
Loading the film emulsion side outwards (against the natural curvature)
Loading the film emulsion side inwards (natural curvature)
For a good while, I could not find a solution to the problem. Was I still interested in this 8×11 dev reel? Of course I was, if only for the blessing of developing two Minox films in the same time. Theoretically, using a reel solves quite a few of the issues that plague the Minox tank processing: small dilution, agitation almost impossible, separation of developer in the tank (upper half too diluted versus the bottom maintaining dilution), and others such like. So, something had to give here, me or the reel. I had no intention to lose face in front of a piece of plastic.
Solution came recently: a stopper shoved between the grooves, to stop the film and force it to bend outwards, when loaded on its natural curvature. Simple, yet effective. A silicon sliver did the job nicely, stopping the film, leaving a leader out of the reel (3-4 cms). This leader (or tail) has to be folded and inserted into the slot where the film enters the reel. This is done in order for the film strip not to force itself back out.
Reel loaded , emulsion side towards the centre of the reel – notice the silicon sliver stopping the film and the foldout of the film’s end.
Setting this up is really simple, just know the length of your film and have the reel prepared prior to using it in the changing bag. All my films are cut at 58-60 cms length, which give me roughly 36-40 usable exposures. I always use the length of my arm, when cutting the films, and that is an easy way of measuring in the dark. Take an exposed strip and feed it onto the reel; leave some 3 cms of the film. Check the reel to see where the film stopped into the grooves, and insert a silicon sliver into the grooves. Push further the film to check if it stops there; when you see the film curving outwards, hugging the outward separator, fold the 3 cms of film left and push it into the feeding slot of the reel. It should stay there. That’s it, you’re done.
Film strip stopped, no more advance, film loaded emulsion side towards the centre of the reel (natural curvature). Notice how the film sits now, emulsion side is free of the separators.
Now, you may end up with a longer film than you have measured initially. Even 1 cm extra length and will leave you with a longer end out of the reel. Just cut the excess and you’re good. True, you may lose a few frames, but you know what they say about eggs and omelette. I just noticed that if the film is too long, you can just push the sliver along the groove, you will gain some 2 cms worth of length by sliding it further away of the film.
Next step, the actual development of the film. Put everything in your changing bag, the reel with its sliver already in place. Load the film as per above and put in your Jobo tank. Develop as per your own usual procedure. You may even want to use two reels, so you develop two Minox films at once, which is a luxury, I guess. Word to the wise: do trim ever so slightly the corners of your film leader. It’ll make it easier to push the film onto the reel.
Of course this is a crude solution to the issue in hand; but then again, if it works, it works. Perhaps now, that the principle is known, some of you will devise even a better solution of taming the 8×11 Jobo dev reel.