Re: [Leica] plastic or metal tank

[Charles Babington <cbabing3@swbell.net>]

In case anybody's keeping a tally, let me cast a vote for plastic reels,
or at least plastic tanks.  Like Randolph Carlisle, I've been using
Paterson tanks since about 1970 without any breakages. You can't load a
wet plastic reel, but the secret is to have enough on hand to always
have dry ones available.  I've accumulated about 25 over the years, and
since I can only hang about 16 rolls of 36 exposure at a time, I have
dry reels by the time the negatives get cut down.

For me, the real benefit is in the rapid filling of the plastic tanks. 
I frequently use my 5 and 8 reel tanks, and I can fill the 8 reeler in
just a few seconds more than it takes to fill a 2 reel stainless tank. 
If you never do more than 2 rolls of film at a time then I'll admit
there's a certain elegance to the stainless reels and tanks that the
plastic don't have, but when I come back from vacation with 20 rolls to
process I'd probably go nuts if I could only do 2 at a time.

BTW, I have the impression that you can use stainless reels with certain
of the Jobo plastic tanks, which might give the best of both worlds. 
Anybody ever use this combination?

Cheers,
Kip Babington