I hit a small photographic jackpot last night.

[ibcrewin]

I usually look through craigslist looking for gigs or cheap film etc. So I stumbled upon and ad for a full darkroom kit for 20 bucks. I looked at the date and it was posted 3 days ago. I thought to my self, "way too late". I sent him an email and 5 hours later, $20 poorer. I had a nice little kit on my hands.

I got a Vivitar Enlarger
1 and 2 reel stainless steel tanks
grain focuser
bogen easel measuring thing
4 Developing trays
2 100' rolls of old tmax from the fridge
a bulk loader with tmax 400 in it
10 metal cassettes
a stick type thermometer
a set of polycontrast filters

A bottle of old HC-110
an unopened bottle of Ilford rapid fix
an unopened bottle of Ilford paper developer
a bottle of photo-flo
a bottle of Kodak Stop bath
an unopened bottle of sodium sulfite.
1 jug for used fix

Now I have about 100 questions, I didn't have to think about before. Here are a few.

1. How do I test the HC-110 to see if it's still good? It looks like the bottle had been opened at some point and I am sure it's over a year old.

2. The Ilford Rapid fix, and paper developer is unopened.. Anybody know the shelf life of that? Also believe it's over 2 years old.

3. Anyone have a vivitar enlarger? Where do the contrast filters go?


Also, I usually use the Patterson tank and reels from the community darkroom, but I was playing with the steel reels and they are awesome!

 

[FPjohn]

You can do a lot with that kit.

If the HC 110 is not a wine or deep tan colour it is probably OK for a year or more. Sealed Fixer lasts a long time. It might be worth sacrificing a roll, perhaps a 12 exposure series of the Tmax400, and run it through the chemistry* to check it out.

The enlarger probably has a removable drawer/tray above the negative carrier. Pull it out and place the contrast filters there. If no tray exists, the filters can be placed atop the condensers.

Yours
FPJ

*Developer concentrates like HC110 and Rodinol have long storage lives.

 

[oscroft]

Very nice 😀

I agree about the HC-110 - it keeps well, and if it's still yellow and not too dark, it's probably fine (I used some only last night that's getting quite dark yellow, but it worked just fine). The only real way to be sure is to develop a roll.

 

[ibcrewin]

I was cleaning the box and everything that came in it last night. It was way late when I was done. So maybe tonight or tomorrow night, i'll sacrifice a roll of 12.

Oh I also got a nikkor 50mm f3.5 enlarging lens in addition to the vivitar lens.

What's the difference between the 50mm and 75mm lens when enlarging?


One more bit.. Anybody know where I can find a manual.. I've been scouring google and no luck. I've narrowed down to the Vivitar 34 or 36 model.

 

[FPjohn]

75mm = 6x6 or smaller

50mm = 35mm neg or smaller

 

[Murray Kelly]

There is so much of this sort of thing happening I am depressed. I have had to refuse offers of stuff that was really quite wonderful, in the hope that some newbie might take up the offer of free accumulations of darkroom equipment. Probably in vain, but how much gear can one actually keep and after all, use? One hopes it ultimately finds a good home. Kinda depresing, as I said.

Murray

 

[ibcrewin]

There is so much of this sort of thing happening I am depressed. I have had to refuse offers of stuff that was really quite wonderful, in the hope that some newbie might take up the offer of free accumulations of darkroom equipment. Probably in vain, but how much gear can one actually keep and after all, use? One hopes it ultimately finds a good home. Kinda depresing, as I said.

Murray

No Way dude! Look at it this way.. I just saved all this awesome stuff! There is one more Bulk loading , home processing, bw printer budding right here in NYC!

 

[FPjohn]

Photo equipment may be "superceded" but it seldom ceases to function! I just used my 150mm Tessar f4.5 to make a series of panorama shots yesterday. It and its Compur were made in 1913.

The Vivitar kit seems to have found its next user.

yours
FPJ

 

[ibcrewin]

Oh it sure has!

 

[oftheherd]

I have enough trouble with ebay. Now you tell me there is another place to look at when GAS attacks? How will my pocket book survive? Do you know what my wife will do to me when she finds me on another list? What will my therapist say?

Thanks

😀 😀 😀

 

[BigSteveG]

the trouble w darkroom stuff is there's so much availabel these days dirt cheap if not free. I've been like a kid in a candy store lately.