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It takes 30 - 40 mins to make a hologram.
settle plate, fix, water, dry.

settle a good 20 mins, fix 1 min, water 5 mins, dry, 3 -4 mins, evaluate 5 mins

Of course once you dial in variables, thne down but research takes long

Patients takes longer than settle time, exposure, fixer. water and processing combined

If your are just looking for testing John and trying to get as many iterations in for one session perhaps a 2x2 inch plate set up might be best. Also if you use an object like metal and have it in a shape where you can place the plate directly on top of the object you could reduce you exposure time and settle time quite a bit. Also, 5 mintes in water seems high, perhaps as Joe stated in a few post ago a little warmer water (guessing 80F) could bring it down to just 2 minutes (which is what I use). All that said, with a 5 minute settle, and less exposure along with a 2 minute bath is a fair amount of time.

I know if you have a lot of testing to do or if you need to quickly home in on some exposure settings this works for me.

Great to see you in the lab again John!

I'd say that a 20 minute settling time indicates the need for more enclosure and/or baffles around the set-up. Takes a plate only 30 seconds to stabilize after being put into a plateholder (unless something needs improvement there). Vibrations coming through the floor or air aren't decreased by settling time.

I would have to agree with Tony and Bob, both my settling times and water baths are usually two minutes or less.

The long settle time is to insure the plate temperature has equalized to the environment. I am keeping the plates in the fridge. When I take them out I blow dry them on both sides to diallow condensation to form. But unsure of the temp of the plate, I allow a nice settle, when actually "equalizing" time.

If your goal is to test frig to finish then I guess your right.

I am sure that is enough time for temperature to equalize but not sure about RH. I prefer like 20-40 minutes to allow the plates to acclimate only because I store them in a dry environment. Who knows though, everyone has their own way and if this works for you then who can complain. The results should tell you if your doing it right. If the hologram looks nice then great

Good Luck John