 sarah |
Starting a Home Darkroom Hi, I am thinking of starting a darkroom in my bathroom. I do not own the house, my mother does, and she is worried about the effect of the chemicals on the plumbing. Will there be any effects or problems with dumping chemicals down the regular drain? And if I intend to start with black and white but hope to eventually move on to color as well, what would be the best kind of enlarger to get? Thanks!
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- Gregory LaGrange Contact Gregory LaGrange Gregory LaGrange's Gallery |
The chemicals aren't that strong. They won't do anything to the plumbing. You'll have to worry more of developer leaving stains. You need to make sure you have enough room for everything. You may think that you can have one thing on a counter, one thing on the floor, put some trays in the bathtub. But once you actually start making prints, it can turn out to be more uncomfortable than you first expected. Doing each print by hand can take a long time sometimes. And if you have to have the enlarger on the floor, you may think it won't be much of a hassle until you start making a test print, do your final print, then find a small dust mark when you turn the lights on, then have to do it again. You can get tired of getting up and down if you can't have everything in a convenient place. A good black and white enlarger is a condenser enlarger. There are some called diffuser enlargers, but the condenser is supposed to be better.
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John Papandreou |
Hi Sarah, I started out like you My first Enlarger was a thing called a "Pennet" It could do both 35mm and 6x6 it came with a lens and a bulb I paid $15 at a camera flea market I used 3 Cat Litter trays to develop my prints I made up a board to go over the bath in the share house I was living in. This was darkroom "1". It was fine until I joined a Camera club and found that 8x10 couldn't wouldn't win in the comp's. I was in a second Hand Shop around a year later and found a LPL 5700 Enlarger color head 75mm lens, timer and a big box of goodies for $200.00! That became Darkroom "2" I also moved into a better house with a area that I made mostly light tight and set up a work bench. I could now print 11x14 and no more filter's under the lens and I had a Nikkor 80mm lens and a 50mm 2.8 lens. The enarger also came with trays and a timer that helped alot. I used this setup for around 3 years and could do most things I even printed color in drums(!) using Paterson chem and a thing called a unicube. Then I went to a thing called a Govenment surples Auction at that one they had lots of goodies but my eyes were on one enlarger there were 3 of them a Durst 659, Leica Focamat 3, and the big one a durst L1200 with a 150mm rodagon and 2 heads and a set extras. Well, I ended up with the L1200 for $600.00 because every one else thought it was too big! I had to transport it in bits and it came with half a Durst catalogue of extras. I sold my LPL for $200.00 but I kept the Nikkors and gave the pennet away to a friend. I set up the Durst in my make shift darkroom and found I could print up to 20x24 with very high quality. The colour head called a CLS501 is a dream to use. I had this set up for 2 years. I now have bought my own house and am setting up a PRO style Darkroom in the shed of this house after a year or hard work I am almost complete and my wonderfull Durst is mounted with big bolts wall mount Kit and all. That is enough about what I have done. Best enlargers are made by Durst, Saunders/LPL are also good 5700 and the 6700 are fine, any thing that can be had for $20.00 and has a lens and a Bulb would make a fine start. You can always buy something better when you have a real darkroom to put it in. Durst makes the finest Enlargers I have ever used. Most major lens makers make good lenses you will need a good 50mm lens as a start. My 50mm 2.8 Nikkor has served me for 8 years and always prints well. I hope I have been some help. It has taken me 10 years to get to this level - I am at Darkroom "6". As your printing skills improve so will your need for better Equipment. Don't buy what don't need and look at secondhand first - use the money saved on a good lens and a few boxes of paper.
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Dee Rogers |
Hi Sarah- Having a home darkroom is tons of fun and can be done well on a limited space and budget. One thing I might add however is that fix does NOT go down the drain. Because of the silver in it, it's harmful to the water. No it won't explode your sink and if you pour it down most likely noone will ever know. Most places where you buy chemistry will walk you through this and you just take back the used fix and either they will recover the silver or send it someplace that will. An excellent book I found that addresses among other things setting up your darkroom is Tim Rudman's The Photographer's Master Printing Course. It includes diagrams (including several home darkroom setups) and pictures (of printing techniques) (since photographers are visually oriented people). Also Bruce Barnbaum's The Art of Photography is a good reference although perhaps a little less accesible than Rudman. One other chemistry note selenium for toning can be somewhat noxious smelling. Please feel free to touch base if you have any other questions. Dee Rogers
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Dee Rogers |
PS if you want to print color seriously consider digital. Having printed both ways I will never print color again if I can avoid it. I can elaborate more if you are interested. -Dee
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sarah |
Thank you all sooooooo much. I really appreciate all the information and advice. I willl definetely be checking out some flea markets in the near future! And will also be picking up some books on the subject as well. Thanks again!
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Scott Pedersen |
Do you have a basement? Most basements have access to water like a spigot or laundry tub. You could cover up the windows, Have more room to work in depending on how the basement is layed out....Just a thought.
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