Do you have the smallest darkroom on RFF?

[John Noble]

I keep reading posts from people who say they'd like to try wet printing but don't think they have enough room, so let's have a friendly little competition to see who has the smallest darkroom on RFF.

Photos of my three foot wide by six and a half foot long "darkroom" are below. Note the very stable ceramic enlarger stand and efficient "wet" side. Actually, both sides are "wet", but pay no mind. Another nice feature is the dual-purpose safelight/tissue dispenser.

I made the tray rack from some 1x2 oak. The crosspieces just sit in slots in the side frames; the whole thing comes apart and the frames stow under the vanity with all the rest of my darkroom gear ... yes, including the enlarger, which just clears the plumbing under the sink.

I added some extra wood trim to hold foam weather stripping to the door frame, and I just throw the bathroom rug across the bottom of the door to complete the light seal.

Except for the fact that there's nowhere to sit and my enlarger's size limitations (max is effectively 8x10), I'm pretty happy with this setup. It takes less than five minutes to set up and about ten clean up and tear down.

 

[ZeissFan]

That's one of the coolest setups that I've seen in a while. I love the rack. Nice work. Great ceramic enlarger stand. And it can serve as a latrine when you're not using it for its intended purpose. 🙂

 

[trittium]

I am jealous. I found a really good enlarger in the trash at my collage about a year ago. Its a durst professional model. The problem is that its so big an heavy and hard to move, but your right. If I put my mind to it, I could make it work.

 

[sienarot]

Ingenuity at its finest! I love it! Do your prints go into the bowl for washing afterwards? I'm guessing the Sesame Street ring is for burning? 😀

I was gonna turn my downstairs bathroom into a darkroom, however when I thought about it, my mom's sewing room hadn't been used for years other than a very large storage room, so I turned that into my darkroom. It's about the size of a bedroom, so it's not exactly small.

 

[Keith]

I don't quite have one yet but when I do hopefully it will look like this .... :angel:

 

[mbisc]

That's about the size of my darkroom, too, except that the counter of my sink is large enough to put a Omega D-II (for 4x5 printing) on it -- so I can use the "ceramic stand" for its original purpose. I even have the same 8x10 tray limit 😀

 

[ruben]

............. so let's have a friendly little competition to see who has the smallest darkroom on RFF.
................

Hi John,
I have no words to praize the bottom line behind it all, how to make the most out of the less. Here is where imagination, rationalization, practicability, etc. all start. Keep it going maximazing the potential of everything in life.

Now just as a small contribution to your darkbath, you seem to have a narrow space to seat. This means the best place to put some pressure rods to hang from them films to dry. This as for the higher heights. At lower heights you may fix some metal angles at both sides, to enable you move a wooden table, to adjust your enlarger at different heights, according to the size of the paper, and your own comfort.

Just don't forget that the enlarger lens, should have the shortest time within humid (water) surroundings.

Good luck and continue !
Ruben

 

[John Noble]

Thanks for the kind and funny comments, everyone. I somehow knew RFFers would enjoy pictures of a stranger's apartment bathroom if only there was some photo gear in it. 🙂

Ingenuity at its finest! I love it! Do your prints go into the bowl for washing afterwards?

No, that's where my numerous mistakes go. :bang:

I'm guessing the Sesame Street ring is for burning? 😀

Ever wondered how the old timers got such nice oval vignettes on their portrait prints? Now you know.

I don't quite have one yet but when I do hopefully it will look like this ....

You might want to include a safelight in your plans. 😛

That's about the size of my darkroom, too, except that the counter of my sink is large enough to put a Omega D-II (for 4x5 printing) on it -- so I can use the "ceramic stand" for its original purpose. I even have the same 8x10 tray limit.

My turn to be jealous: large format has been singing its siren song of late. No way could I have an enlarger that big around here, though. Maybe I should just get a 8x10 camera and do contact prints...

-----

I left out my print dryer AKA the dining room table plus some towels and a couple of 12x18 wire racks that look suspiciously like the racks I have in my kitchen for cooling cookies and such. Freshly washed prints go onto the wire racks. When they're dry enough, I move them to the towels where they dry overnight. Given how hard the water is around here, I'm surprised that flat drying like this has worked so well.

Now, how about some pictures of those miniscule darkrooms? I just know someone is making do with even less!

 

[ChrisN]

My darkroom is very compact - it's still in my head. But I do have the space set aside for it, inside my 9m x 7m workshop/shed. I just need to decide how big I want it to be, and the layout. It will have its own water heater, running water, fridge, electricity, all dedicated and permanently set up. I have four weeks holidays in September/October and hope to start building then. Has anyone got a suggested layout and plans?

 

[RML]

My (upcoming) DR is in our laundry room. The enlarger is on top of the washing machine. I need to get a decent plank so I can create a work top, but that will by around 1.5 meters long, so not reall that small. 🙂

You can see the basic set up here: http://shardsofphotography.blogspot.com/2007/08/darkroom.html .

 

[cmogi10]

That's a shot in the Color printing darkroom I use..
The entire floor below it is for black and white printing and the processing rooms are on the second floor.

 

[stuken]

My old bathroom before I moved back home. Unfortunatly, for processing only.

 

[Anupam]

John,

That is almost exactly my first darkroom - Durst F30 on the toilet bowl. I don't have a pic of it but I remember that it took me about 7 minutes to set up and about the same to tear down. I didn't have a timer though - kitchen timer and manual switching on and off. Great fun.

-A

 

[Roger Hicks]

42 inches square: a Nova darkroom tent. There are pictures in http://www.rogerandfrances.com/darkroom.html. We used this in three countries (USA, UK, France) and produced a LOT of our prints for publication in it. We still have it.

For converting a toilet to a darkroom, try http://www.rogerandfrances.com/photoschool/ps how loo.html

Cheers,

Roger

 

[feenej]

That's really cute. My darkroom is big. (I can print 11x14 with the trays I own now)

 

[Finder]

I guess I win! My entry: Polaroid camera.

Apart from that, I don't have the smallest darkroom on RFF.

 

[shadowfox]

John, you are an inspiration.

Say, if the toilet bowl can be made light-tight, wouldn't it make a good place for the stop-bath? 😀

 

[David Goldfarb]

Here's my previous dark/bathroom--

http://www.apug.org/forums/forum43/10966-darkroom-portraits-6.html#post93420

If you look at the whole thread, there are darkrooms of every shape and size in there.

Notice the enlarger on the typewriter table, so it can be wheeled in and out and fit over the commode. It was a one bedroom, one bath, so we had to be able to use the bathroom for its intended purpose as well.

We moved a few months ago, and I think I'll have more space, but some things I'll be restricted to doing at night. There's a hallway off the bathroom that naturally becomes pitch black at night, so I think I'll set up the enlarger out there to have more room to move around. So far I've blacked out the window in the bathroom, so I've been able to load sheet film and process film there during the day.

 

[pesphoto]

That is a great thread on APUG! Darkrooms of every shape and size!
Im really jealous of anyone with a darkroom right now as I havent had any time in months with the new house to print and even start to put a darkroom together. I have an unfinished basement and was thinking of starting a thread showing my darkroom build from start to finish. When I get to it that is.

 

[jack palmer]

"Small rooms or dwellings discipline the mind, large ones weakens it"

Leonardo Da Vinci