We loaded the 9.5 X 20 to 500 feet of film that we had exposed that day in total darkness, then did this routine in total darkness; Set chemicals to proper temperature,
pre wet,
develop by time,
checked with a very faint green light for overall negative look,
stop bath,
hypo cleared,
rinse from 20 min to 1.5 hours depending on film length, type & developer used
We then had a chain driven blow dryer to dry the film with. It could be a real keystone cops routine on real high humidity days... We would be constantly stopping the the chain to get sufficient drying time. We did B/W only. Had to send any color work out. Not much call for color anyway as the customers would not pay for it as they got what they needed with B/W. Color is still not the majority film for normal topographic jobs.
No job is too hard for the person who does not have to do it.
The ARMY Corps of Engineers wanted us to do some IR work hunting polution in Keystone lake and the
Arkansas river going through Tulsa.
We built the mount and hung the Bendix Scanner off the right strut and learned by mostly trial and error how to get the proper exposure on the 70mm film that they unit used. This happened in the 1969 to 1972 time frame IIRC. Dealing with the liquid Nitrogen was interesting in a bad burns kind of way.
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No job is too hard for the person who does not have to do it.
I used to go swimming in Keystone Lake a lot when I lived in Sapulpa. Thanks!