Keith
The best camera is one that still works!
It's looking good Chris ... when you've finished can you pop up to Brissy and build one for me? 😀
Building a darkroom
- Thread starter ChrisN
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ChrisN
Striving
Finished? It'll never be finished! I hope to get it to a workable stage in a month or two. 🙂
Besides, the photos you showed of your darkroom/shed looked pretty good.
Besides, the photos you showed of your darkroom/shed looked pretty good.
shadowfox
Darkroom printing lives
Chris, are you planning to install a darkroom revolving door?
The door opening seems a bit narrow for the ones I've seen (at least here in the US).
The door opening seems a bit narrow for the ones I've seen (at least here in the US).
ChrisN
Striving
Hi Will - for a door I'm using a standard interior door, about 800mm wide. I'll use some timber strips and foam sealing around the edges on the inside to exclude light. I've seen the revolving doors on ebay occasionally, but for a one-man darkroom I think a normal door will be better (and cheaper!).
ChrisN
Striving
Time for an update. I now have a big white cube! Four walls and a ceiling, paint, a door, electricity, and the top part of the extractor fan/ventilation. As you can imagine this is hard to make an impressive photo of! Next step is to paint the concrete floor with an epoxy-based paint, then I can start on the bench and the sink. At least now I have it to the stage where I can run the air-conditioner. It was 43 degrees celcius in the shed today by early afternoon, and I was able to take breaks in the "cool room". The building project has been good for me - I've lost 5 kilograms since Christmas!
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skibeerr
Well-known
Looks mighty fine Chris, I will be upgrading my makeshift darkroom end of february once the heating boiler moves out. I will have 10 square meters al to myself and the clothes washer.
Solinar
Analog Preferred
Chris - So far that looks like to be capacious darkroom by my standards. I hope you insulated the walls well for the air conditioning. The temps here in tropical Central Texas have been hovering around or below the freezing mark for three days.
dfoo
Well-known
I built myself a new darkroom over Christmas too 🙂 I bought a 4x5 enlarger and I just couldn't get it in the old darkroom. Hence, contrary to my wife's opinion a new darkroom was order! The old one was about 9 feet by 5 feet. The new one is 10x12. Its not finished yet (always listen to Tom's advice), but its usable now and man, I'm loving it. The only bad news is that it still has no water as I'm not willing to go to the expense of installing a pump for drainage. I'll post some pictures later of the setup.
robklurfield
eclipse
wow! wonderful set-up.
ChrisN
Striving
Thanks guys! Andrew, yes insulation was a priority as I expect to want to use this year-round. Dfoo - congratulations on your new space - bigger too!. Mine is basically designed around my 4x5 enlarger and the bench height I wanted - the ceiling is a bit taller than domestic standard to allow the enlarger to reach full height. And Skibeerr - ten square meters will make a fine darkroom - good luck with your project too.
ChrisN
Striving
Hi Charles. The black thing is the top part of the extractor fan and its vent pipe exiting through the ceiling. Below the fan will be another 500mm of vertical pipe meeting a horizontal section along the bottom of the splash-panel above the sink. So yes - both the air-con and the extractor vent to the outside. The air-con pumps out so much air that the extractor fan can't fight it, and when the air-con is running the extractor fan runs backwards! No matter - fresh air is coming in and room air is being pumped out - that's ventilation. 🙂
MartinP
Veteran
An easy alternative to the revolving door is two doors - one opening inwards and one opening outwards. Between the two you can have a piece of framing, painted black, to make a couple of 90 degree light-traps. The doorway was made like that in the printing darkroom I used to work in and, even with slightly wide doors, it took up less wall space than the revolving doors of the dip-and-dunk rooms while being easier to get stuff in and out of the room.
It looks a very good project.
🙂
It looks a very good project.
🙂
sepiareverb
genius and moron
A Pocket Door is my entrance. I have a very good light trap in the trim and transom.
ChrisN
Striving
A little more progress to report!
Safelights are hung. Dry bench almost complete but still need to add a shelf below. After I fitted the top I could not stop myself lifting the enlargers into place. 🙂
The stand for the wet bench / sink is almost complete. Again I need to fit a shelf below and supports for drying frames. The sink itself is made but I need to apply a few more coats of epoxy, and some paint to the external surfaces. Still thinking about a colour for the internal surfaces.
After that comes plumbing, and some more shelving. I need to build a light-proof drawer for paper, below the enlargers. Getting close now. 😀
Safelights are hung. Dry bench almost complete but still need to add a shelf below. After I fitted the top I could not stop myself lifting the enlargers into place. 🙂
The stand for the wet bench / sink is almost complete. Again I need to fit a shelf below and supports for drying frames. The sink itself is made but I need to apply a few more coats of epoxy, and some paint to the external surfaces. Still thinking about a colour for the internal surfaces.
After that comes plumbing, and some more shelving. I need to build a light-proof drawer for paper, below the enlargers. Getting close now. 😀
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dfoo
Well-known
Looks excellent. Really coming together now!
ChrisN
Striving
Time for the last report in this series, I think. I now have the darkroom to the stage where I can make prints! There's plenty of finishing to do which will keep me going for a good while, but it's perfectly functional and indeed luxurious compared to some.
I have a good little sound system that I can plug my MP3 player into for continuous music (love the random play feature). The two enlargers are both working ok albeit I still need to tame the brightness of the Lab 1200/CLS 450 head. The drainage from the wet bench works, and the plumbing is finished inside the darkroom, but the water feed to the pipes is a temporary feed via a garden hose. I have an inspection light over the fixer tray. There's only cold water at the moment, but it's still a warm summer so the cold water is a pleasant 23 degrees celcius. I need to add some more shelves and storage, drawers and especially a lightproof drawer for a paper safe (have already ruined a few sheets by forgetting to turn off the white light!).
Thanks to all for your encouragement, and very especially to Al Kaplan who was a big inspiration for this project with his many stories and ready advice, over several years. Thanks Al, we'll keep the memory and darkroom printing alive.
I have a good little sound system that I can plug my MP3 player into for continuous music (love the random play feature). The two enlargers are both working ok albeit I still need to tame the brightness of the Lab 1200/CLS 450 head. The drainage from the wet bench works, and the plumbing is finished inside the darkroom, but the water feed to the pipes is a temporary feed via a garden hose. I have an inspection light over the fixer tray. There's only cold water at the moment, but it's still a warm summer so the cold water is a pleasant 23 degrees celcius. I need to add some more shelves and storage, drawers and especially a lightproof drawer for a paper safe (have already ruined a few sheets by forgetting to turn off the white light!).
Thanks to all for your encouragement, and very especially to Al Kaplan who was a big inspiration for this project with his many stories and ready advice, over several years. Thanks Al, we'll keep the memory and darkroom printing alive.
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ChrisN
Striving
__hh
Well-known
Well done Chris.
You may want to rent out your darkroom for the aspiring local photographers who want to have a go at printing 🙂
If/when you decide to do that, I'll put my hands up first.
You may want to rent out your darkroom for the aspiring local photographers who want to have a go at printing 🙂
If/when you decide to do that, I'll put my hands up first.
ChrisN
Striving
Thanks Hung - you're welcome to come over any time for a visit. Cheers!
shimokita
白黒
Thanks for sharing your experience.... I have watched the progress and could enjoy each step. Many happy hours ahead...
Casey
Casey