NEVER trust a garage sale film processor. Learned the hard way

Picked up a Jobo processor from a sale in Portland last month for $40. Ran my first roll of Portra through it and the chemicals cooked the film because the temp gauge was off by 15 degrees. Has anyone else gotten burned buying used developing gear from random sellers?

3 comments

3 Comments

roberts9516d ago

Ran my first roll of Portra through it and the chemicals cooked the film" - that's rough, but at least you didn't pay full price like I did for my last bust. I grabbed a "barely used" enlarger off Craigslist and found out the lens had a scratch the size of a fingernail after my first print came out looking like a Jackson Pollock. Guess we both learned that "as-is" really means "your gamble, your pain.

barbarah1916d agoTop Commenter

Is a scratched lens really that big of a deal though, @roberts95? I've heard you can sand down tiny scratches with some cheap polishing compound and a microfiber cloth. Might save you from dropping cash on a new one.

faithcampbell16d ago

Your gamble, your pain" really sums it up, @roberts95. I tried that polishing compound trick once on a vintage 50mm f/1.4 I found at a garage sale (looked like it had been dragged behind a car). Spent an hour buffing it, and the scratch got less visible but I introduced this weird haze that made every shot look like I was shooting through a foggy window. Ended up just buying a cheap UV filter and leaving it on permanently as a crutch.