I need moral support and hints to set up a darkroom!

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matti

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So, I just figured out I can not really print my pictures digitally in a convenient way without upgrading my printer. My Canon printer prints b&w in pink and the printer labs say they don't print b&w pictures without color cast either.

Anyway I am getting a bit bored with scanning all my films and just looking at the computer. Looking at computers is something I do quite a lot in my life anyway and the photography part is supposed to be about something else. And after I started developing my films again, I find it is much more fun than scanning it later.

so... as the title says, I was thinking this small room in my basement where we just store stuff anyway might be converted to a darkroom!

The problem is I feel like a lunatic installing a darkroom in my house in the year 2006... It was maybe 15 years since I used one in my small bathroom. But you can give me some moral support, can't you? Please?

I found three quite similar cheap deals on enlargers, including timers, focuscope etc:
1. LPL Color Enlager C7700 with Rodenstock 50/4
2. Durst Modular 70 with El Nikkor 50/2.8 and El Nikkor 75/4
3. Durst M805 with Rodenstock Omegaron 50/3,5

Are all these good alternatives? As I want to be able to print from my Iskra as well as from my Leica, I will need to buy new linses for offer 1+3. I don't need really big prints but want good quaility.

/matti
 
Do it! Don't hesitate; you're not a lunatic, and it's a good idea. 😀

I can't comment on any of the enlargers, but I'm sure they're all of good quality, and they can always be improved with better lenses. If you plan to print MF, just buy the enlarger with both lenses and save yourself the trouble of finding a second lens later.

Have fun!
 
I want that Durst 805M. How long does it take to drive from Austin, Texas to Stockholm?

I live in an apartment, which thankfully has a walk- in closet. About four years ago, my B&W habit became a bit too expensive to maintain by using a commericial shop.

So, I took the plunge. I found a Durst 601 that came with an easel, plastic storage bottles, a couple of graduated containers and some metal developing trays at local yard sale. Everything needed cleaning up, but for 50 buck I was a happy camper. Over the course of year I upgrade the lens and added various Durst accessories, such as negative carriers whenever a bargain arose.

I like to shoot 6x9 negs in medium format. So, buying a second enlarge, a Durst 609 for 12 bucks, was a no brainer.

Once I started printing after a 20 year hiatus and began posting the prints on bulletin boards at work, a funny thing happened. People came out of the woodwork offering me their old darkroom equipment.

Anyway, back to the bathroom. It's the only bathroom in the apartment and it is my water source. By putting my developing trays, which are now Nova vertical slots and enlarger on separate wheeled carts I can push the entire set up into the closet in less than a minute and wheel it out again when needed. Very cool.

In the time it takes to scan a negative strip on a multipass scan, I can usually pump out a two or more frames on B&W paper and have them wased then drying. Setting up the chemistry is faster is you use liquid develper and fixer.

My costs of developing and printing a roll of 24 exposure B&W is about 10 bucks, including the price of film. I expect that price to go up, as my stocks of film, paper and chemistry needs to be replentished.
 
My name is pablo and I'm a darkroom holic!
The options you mentioned seem to be all good.
Look for one that has the negative carriers for both sizes, and lenses for both.
The DURST modular is a very decent home enlarger and comes with great lenses, I'd get that one.

If you want the Kodak home darkroom construction pdf let me know so I can email it to you....

Best of luck!!!
 
Do a search on photo.net and APUG.org for good enlarging lenses for your desired film format. Generally, go for the six-element lenses from either Nikon, Schneider or Rodenstock. Here's a useful thread: http://www.photo.net/bboard/q-and-a-fetch-msg?msg_id=009i6K. The EL-Nikkor 50/2.8 you mention seems to be a rather good lens from all accounts.

The enlargers themselves don't really matter all that much; what you're looking for is something that isn't rusting, and that is as stable as possible. Those that come with VCCE or Colour heads allow you to dial in the filter settings required to take advantage of multi-contrast paper and split-grade printing, so I guess they are to be preferred. But even those 'normal' enlargers that require you to manually use gelatin filters are good enough - I use a basic Meopta Opemus enlarger that works like that.

I'd encourage you to go for it 🙂 Darkroom work, in my experience, is a very pleasant relief from the monotony of computer-centric day jobs, and making your own prints (instead of seeing them roll out from the printer) provides a unique sort of satisfaction.

I've found that APUG.org is an extremely helpful resource in this area. Its like the RFF of darkroom stuff, imho.
 
So much old stuff on sale at camera shows and online, shipping stuff may be the hardest part. I use trays right now, that is to say if I went back to wet prints I would, but I think the vertical slot systems look pretty cool.

If you do it right, I think the cool thing about wet chemistry is that when you are in that zone between exhausting the chemicals and having them go bad, the first roll or print is expensive, but the rest are a lot less expensive. That is just a great excuse to shoot more!

I wish there was a cheap automated film developing set-up. Developing film is boring, and frankly a bit messy with out a big sink to work in.

Can't wait to see the pics you produce, and the pics of your set-up.

Best of luck,
Mark
 
I'm glad I read this thread. If you are crazy, then I am too. I have been gradually gathering supplies to begin printing my own photos in the darkroom. I've been developing my own for a year now, and I'm missing the payoff of printing.

Solinar, I'll be moving to Austin soon and I'd love to get together with you and talk shop. Other than Camera Co-Op (like it okay), and Precision (don't like), are there other local places to hunt down darkroom gear? Also, are there affordable community darkrooms?
 
Thanks all for the support! Just what I needed! (If you continue, it might even convince my wife!)

I really want to do this. Total cost of equipment will be about $200 so it wouldn't be a disaster if it didn't work out. The small room is actually perfect for this. Right now half the room is used by my wife for cultivating plants but that's just springtime. If I find out I really print a lot it would even be really easy to install a zink, as the pipes runs through here.

So the Modular 70 is a good one? It is in very good shape. But will it be complicated finding spares, like lamps if I need to?

titrisol I pm:d you my e-mail adress for the Kodak pdf, thanks!

/matti
 
IIRC the Durst lamps are the same ones used in projectors so it shouldn't be extremely hard to find.
If you can buy 2 spares.
Tetenal has a page on this one, with modules and spares:
http://www.tetenal.co.uk/acatalog/Modular_70_Pro_System.html

matti said:
Thanks all for the support! Just what I needed! (If you continue, it might even convince my wife!)

I really want to do this. Total cost of equipment will be about $200 so it wouldn't be a disaster if it didn't work out. The small room is actually perfect for this. Right now half the room is used by my wife for cultivating plants but that's just springtime. If I find out I really print a lot it would even be really easy to install a zink, as the pipes runs through here.

So the Modular 70 is a good one? It is in very good shape. But will it be complicated finding spares, like lamps if I need to?

titrisol I pm:d you my e-mail adress for the Kodak pdf, thanks!

/matti
Click to expand...
 
You have my support too! This is great--once I get out of my crammed-in appartment, I will be doing exactly what you are doing. I would also recommend that the condition of the enlarging equipment is important--make sure it feels sturdy, which will equate to consistency while printing and lack of problems with alignment. I've used both those Nikkors--they are great and will serve you well. Getting a decent easel is also important--want to make sure the blades don't creep in and mess with your clean cropping (you'll notice it if you try to include the black margins of the neg or if you try to float the images when framing). Good luck and have fun!
 
DO IT!!! Although I don't have much time to print right now. My darkroom stuff gets a light stroke every now and then. Don't be ashamed, be proud. I too have tried digital printing, and frankly I don't like the results. I would much rather spend the extra time to do wet process. BTW I really like my Nikor (sp?) enlarging lenes.
 
Matti,

You sound just like me about six months ago. I couldn't even find any of the equipment second hand and had to buy it new (I live in Malaysia) and even that wasn't easy. But I love it. The prints are so much better than anything I ever achieved with an inkjet and a scanner. And it's so much more pleasureable to spend the evening in a red room ineptly waving my hands in the light than it is to spend it, as I spend my days, in front of the computer. So please go ahead and do it, if only so that I won't be the last lunatic.

Oh, sorry, I can't, wouldn't presume, to give advice on what equipment is the best. I've only got what I could get. Much of it is probably 'below par' but I don't know any better and love it all.

My one suggestion would be to get your hands on some semi-matt fibre-based paper sooner rather than later. It's so much more trouble than RC paper that I only used it because it was all I could get. But when you hold that perfect print in your hand...

Best of luck, and enjoy,

Hywel
 
pesphoto said:
Oh yeah for focusing on the fgrain of your neg try a MagnaSight. Nice and big view and easy to see through.
Click to expand...

Actually the focusing aid included in the Durst Modular 70 is called "MicroSight" but it is from Bestwell like the MagnaSight, supposedly.

Thanks for the support and hints everyone! Now I must decide if I tell my wife before or after I come home with the stuff 🙂 .

/matti
 
That Kodak .pdf is interesting. I had a dark-room right next to a laundry room, and I can't imagine having a dryer and a darkroom in the same space. Way to much dust and lint to deal with.

You need a deep sink/or high necked faucet to get tanks and trays under it to wash and rinse them. That is why I don't like most bathroom set-ups.

Another name for a dark room is a time-machine. It is amazing how time just melts away while you are in there. That's part of the reason I went digital for printing. My brother-in-law actually gave me good advice when I was getting ready to have my first kid. He said, "Have hobbies that you can do in 15 minute chunks, and get rid of the rest." He was right.
 
I have all the equipment, including a home made enlarger timer / photometer to determine exposure times. As soon as my current health issues become stable, I plan to set up a home office / darkroom in a spare bedroom.

I have not printed B&W in some years and have a lot to re-learn, but I am looking forward to it.

I set up my first darkroom when my oldest daughter was born 34 years ago. Now with 3 grandchildren and another due in October, I should have a lot of models to photograph and print.

Matti, all I can say is go for it. You will enjoy it and good luck.

Regards to all,

Bill K.
 
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