World's smallest darkroom

jrong

jrong

Too many cameras
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Jun 20, 2005
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I'm thinking of temporarily converting one of my bathrooms to a darkroom. Not sure how feasible it is. Even as London bathrooms go, it's quite small.

The dimensions are approximately 3" x 7" but part of that space is taken up by a shower cabinet, a sink, a bidet and a toilet.

There are no electrical outlets and I will have to drag an extension plug underneath the door to power up the necessary components.

How realistic is this, really?

Jin
 
power is available from the light fitting, and bidets are good for washing your prints.....

Roger Hicks illustrated situations like this in his fairly recent Darkroom book, done in conjuction with Paterson.
 
jrong said:
I'm thinking of temporarily converting one of my bathrooms to a darkroom. Not sure how feasible it is. Even as London bathrooms go, it's quite small.

The dimensions are approximately 3" x 7" but part of that space is taken up by a shower cabinet, a sink, a bidet and a toilet.

There are no electrical outlets and I will have to drag an extension plug underneath the door to power up the necessary components.

How realistic is this, really?

Jin
Click to expand...


Why not.... mine is about double the size, but there's a full bath too. Cut a piece of plywood to about the size of 3 8x10 trays and fit that over the bidet or toilet, and that'll be your working counter/surface..I actually just lay out the trays on the floor or bathtub. I use an old Russian suitcase enlarger, but most 35mm enlargers are about the same size when setup. You can even eliminate the stopbath especially when doing test prints, just go directly from dev to fix.
 
Nova do a vertical tank with a small footprint (about the size of a shoe-box) that takes a litre each of dev and fix and does 10x8 sheets and washes as well.
 
Hey Nova do really cool "darkroom tents" - how cool is that??! :lol:

I wonder how effective their blackout material is for covering up windows. If it was as easy as drawing a blind (and taping up the sides), I might have more options, like maybe my spare room - except it has a large window. And no sink, although it is a only quick dash to the bathroom.

Jin
 
Hi, Jin,

blackout material is available from John Lewis at about a quarter of the price from Nova.

Nova tanks are great, but you need to leave them in one place when full. Mr Cad usually has used Nova Monochromes at less than half the new price.

Mark
 
Hello Mark,

Duh, edited to add: the blackout linings from John Lewis.. hmm will have to check them out. Thanks for the tip.:)

Jin
 
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markinlondon said:
Hi, Jin,

blackout material is available from John Lewis at about a quarter of the price from Nova.

Nova tanks are great, but you need to leave them in one place when full. Mr Cad usually has used Nova Monochromes at less than half the new price.

Mark
Click to expand...

If you use the Nova Quad tank, place it on a small cart, so you can wheel it away for storage. I use one for 11 by 14 prints.

My bathroom is larger than 3 by 7 feet. If your bathroom has a hallway leading to it, you may want to tent off a portion of it for more space. I rent my apartment and I installed a doorway in mine.

I typically use the older Nova 8 by 10 Pods. Each of which holds three removable 8 by 10 trays. I have two sets of Nova Pods so I can do two separate fix baths.

With one set of Nova Pods, you need space for the pods and an 8 by 10 tray of water to hold the finished prints in before your final wash.

Another thing about the older Nova pods is that a set of three fit into a large kitty litter bucket. With the litter bucket, you can pick them up and move them. Plus the bucket catches most drips. Dektol and carpeting are not a match made in heaven.
 
when I was a kid, i developed photos with my dad in the kitchen at night. A normal blanket over the window, and a normal lamp painted red (it stunk). my dad had this "enlarger suitcase" which was very handy. you could assemble it together and disassemble after you were done, and just stow away the suitcase.
 
A processor would probably save some space for me. I have a question - do you need immediate access to running water to use such a processor? I've never seen one first-hand and don't know how they work. So I apologise if this is a stupid question!
 
Nope - the processor is self contained. It's called a slot processor, but in practice it a series of veritcal trays. You will need a water source for the final wash, but you can do this in a separate room. The prints are no longer light sensitive once they've been properly fixed.

If you do find an older set of Nova Pods, their foot print is about a square foot.
 
I hijack the kitchen as a darkroom. Using blackout stuff I got from Jessops years ago velcro to the window frames. It sounds daft but I find the best blackout material is white, it reflects the dim light enough to able you to move around better without stepping on Fred the cat (black of course, see avatar)

To save space I also use the Nova slot processors, a 12 x 16 monochrome 3 slot and a 10 x 8 trimate heated for colour. These take up very little space and sit in the corner of the kitchen. A good plus here is that the chemistry lasts for ages as the slot processors have 'lids' that minimise the oxidation area.

The bit that takes up the room is the enlarger, an Opemus 6 but that's easilly taken apart or moved.

It takes about 20 minutes to get everything ready for an evenings printing.
 
Second what Fred said. With a Nova you can spend a productive half hour or hour printing. The set-up time is negligible. And I think mine has paid for itself in extended chemical life.

Mark
 
A good cheap economic print washer is a large seed tray from the garden store, they have some drainage holes in the bottom that lest the water run out. Just plonk it in the sink and turn on the tap to keep the print covered with water for the recomended wash time. Works a treat and stops the print wandering about the sink running away from the water. :)

A tall toast rack also makes a good natural print dryer on the drainer. :rolleyes:
 
Thanks, I never even thought of using print processors to save space. Now I see I can even fit them in my tiny bathroom.. whoops 3'x7' I mean... ;) and will have no need for blackout material. Will have to trundle down to Mr Cad one of these days to find some second hand processors... bearing in mind that I think it's probably worth sitting in one of Croydon's infamous traffic jams for. ;)
 
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