[Leica] <OT> Darkroom testimonial <long>

[Jim Brick <jim_brick@agilent.com>]

My darkroom has been mainly color oriented since the 70's. Somewhere back
there, I bought a temperature control water valve. A Leonard, but they all
work the same. A bi-metal coil expands or contract with a change in the
water temperature and attempts to adjust the hot/cold flow just enough to
keep the temperature constant. This almost works. It takes a long time to
get the water to the correct temperature to start with (adjust, wait,
adjust, wait, adjust, wait, etc... over perhaps fifteen minutes.) Once set,
it is reasonably good, providing someone does not flush the toilet or run
the dishwasher.

E6, C41, RA4, Ilfochrome, all require stringent temperature control in
order to produce consistent results. In a rotary processor, it is very
important because the volume of developer used for a print is very small
and will change temperature very rapidly. When printing multiple 20x24
Ciba's of a single transparency, they all need to come out the same. A
slight temperature change will cause the color/density to drift. This is
not good. And it is very expensive to ruin large Ciba prints.

My JOBO processor uses two water supplies, cold and temperature controlled,
controlled to the temperature of the process. The tempered water is used
for preheating the film/paper, rinse between steps, wash, etc. And various
processes run at different temperatures. The cold water is for cooling the
water bath if it rises more than .2 degrees above the set temperature.

I run E6 at 100 deg, RA4 at 100 deg, Ilfochrome at 86 deg, C41 at 86 deg,
and B&W at 70 deg F. It is a royal pain-in-the-arse to get a mechanical
temp control valve to get to the exact temperature and then remain there.
Over the past decades, I have probably wasted a year of time futzing with
the bloody valve. My Leonard was due for a rebuild (I have done this twice
before.) I used to hate going into my darkroom and starting a processing or
printing session simply because IT WAS SO DAMN DIFFICULT TO GET THE WATER
TEMPERATURE STABILIZED!!! And to change processes in the middle (E6 - 100
deg. to Ilfochrome - 86 deg. to B&W - 70 deg. to C41 - 100 deg.) forget it!
This was my biggest darkroom headache!

But no more!

In sheer frustration, I bought a Hass "Intellifaucet," computer controlled
water control valve.

http://www.hassmfg.com/cgi/search.pl/979749690-53309?keyword=1092&submit=Search

This is the slickest color darkroom piece of equipment since color film itself!

The Intellifaucet has indeed made it a joy to start work in the darkroom
and to change processes as often as I wish. And it costs about the same as
a new mechanical bi-metal valve. It is truly a zero frustration device. You
set the dial and within TWO SECONDS, the water is locked at that
temperature! And it does not stray. Water temperature has now become
something that I do not think about any more. Just set it and it is there.

Last night I e-mailed Hass manufacturing with a few questions and comments.
This morning I had an answer from Dave Hass himself. One question was that
I wanted to be able to use the faucet at a very low flow rate. Less than .5
gal/minute. So he is sending me a new EPROM tailored for very low flow
rates. Free!

Super device, super service!!!

If you do color and/or a lot of different processes in your darkroom, I
highly recommend the Hass D250 Intellifaucet.

Jim