Would you give up rangefinder photography without BW wet prints?

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PATB

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I never thought this would happen this early. The local college darkroom where I print on weekends will not have weekend or after hours open labs due to budget cuts. Since I have a regular job, this means no silver gelatin prints for me. And I cannot find another public darkroom that is readily accessible on weekends.

Since I have a Nikon Coolscan V (I used it mainly for posting on the web), I started to do more scanning and photoshop. It only lasted three weeks until I realized how much I hate scanning (I am still trying to like it..., I may not have a choice in the end). I stopped using the MP and started using the D700 more. Then it dawned on me: I love the process of using an all mechanical rangefinder camera and printing the negatives in the darkroom. Without darkroom access, I don't have the same passion for photography. I will still do it, but not with the same intensity as before. Looking at silver gelatin prints of my family at home and in the office, I am actually sad I cannot find another public darkroom. If the next semester is the same way, I would probably (gulp) give up photography for a while.

How about you? Do you also feel that rangefinder photography is all about silver gelatin prints?

PAT
 
I love real photographic prints, and I too utilize my school's darkroom. We are also faced with budget issues, and so have instituted a $50 charge for 6 hours of darkroom time a week for a 4 month (er, 16 week) semester. That rate seems to cover the cost of running the lab (which includes chemistry, utilities and a student helper) just about right, so that the open lab does not impinge on the school's budget.

I have however, done some Nikon Coolscan 5000/Epson R2400 printing with good results. It's not the same though, and nowhere as fun. But give up RF photography? NEVER!
 
Time to set-up your own darkroom...that way it's FREE...The only other darkroom I have used was in high school...after that I got my own stuff...
Now the equipment is cheaper and the paper more expensive...
 
I think silverprints are not related to rangefinders, but to beauty.
I happen to use a rangefinder to try and produce some.

Try to setup your own darkroom, you will not regret it.
 
No I would not. As much as the beauty of film and silver wet printing are a part of my life, if they ceased to exist, it would not stop me from taking photographs, be they digital or otherwise.
 
I wouldn't either. I enjoyed photography before I ever discovered wet printing, and I'll continue to love it in whatever form it takes.

But it doesn't have to come to that. Watch Craigslist for somebody dumping their equipment for 100 bucks then go to town. I use a temporary setup in my bathroom, with the big window blacked out by cardboard. A B&W darkroom doesn't need to be fancy.
 
I wouldn't give up rangefinder photography without black and white wet prints. I would miss them greatly, but without wishing to offend, there's more to the medium of photography than black and white wet prints.
 
I don't use rangefinder cameras solely because they please me - I also use them when I think they are the most appropriate tool for the job at hand. I haven't done darkroom work, other than processing B&W film in my kitchen, in decades. I have no interest in or use for a darkroom, enlarger, and etc. I scan, and when I want prints, I upload to places where I can get them.

Therefore, I am not planning on putting away my rangefinder cameras.

And although I sense your post is sincere, there is a tiny bit of 'and if I don't get what I want, I'll take my toys and go home' in it. There is a part of me that wants to say man up and get over it.
 
Rangerfinder photography for me is not at all related to darkroom processing. Even though I'm not a big fan of scanning, it works quite well now for me. It has been much more than a decade I've used my enlarger the last time, and I don't look back often. If you will, I've started rangerfinder photography with a scanner.

Cheers
Ivo
 
I printed one silver print this year.

I scanned several thousand film negative frames this year and did post one a few hundred of those. While I love printing, its entirely for myself. If people cant see it on a monitor, in many cases they dont want to see it at all, so my work flow just leans in that direction making it very difficult to justify the time in the wet room. I wish more people (anyone) wanted wet prints from me.
 
Just to be clear, I have no problem with the aesthetics of digital or digital prints. What I am trying to say is that, for me, the purely analog process is a main part of the attraction. I am an amateur so I am in this for fun. And, for some reason, most of the fun disappears for me without silver gelatin prints.

On the other hand, using a dSLR is a revelation as it is very convenient. I shot some 6400 ISO images of my kids last night and I am constantly amazed at what technology brings to the table. No need for tripods or waiting for enough ambient light. Just shoot when the moment is there. I can send the files to Costco or MPIX to get my usual prints, like I always do for digital. Still, the passion is not there because I am not fond of the process.
 
I make wet prints because I like the way they look. If somebody wants one? Fine. I'm not making the prints for somebody else. I spent too many years doing photography to pay the bills. Now it's time to make ME happy. I do my "post processing" in the darkroom. Others are free to do what they like. Forty years ago I built myself a darkroom. Before that I had a temporaryset-up in the bathroom for a few years. Today the darkroom looks pretty much like it did then, same enlargers, easels, tanks, reels, tray, etc. I have no intention to go over to the Dark Side and learn photoshop. I don't need the "speed" of the digital work flow and I've got better things to do with my time than start learning everything from scratch.
 
I have never used modern rangefinders except with Kodak 400 UC negative film and lab processing.

My darkroom days were fun, but so far back ...
 
No, I would not give up rangefinders.

Anyway, though I like wet printing, I use my rangefinders more often for slides than for B&W

When doing B&W I tend to use my MF cameras Bronica ETRS and Rolleiflex TLR
 
No. I am into rangefinder-based photography until I go the way of all flesh. I have aesthetic and functional reasons for prefering the wet-darkroom. But if it had to go, I know photoshop and digital editing and printing well enough that it would suffice. I wouldn't want to give up my analogue printing methods, though. I recommend creating a home darkroom somewhere....that's what I am planning as annex to my shed ;)
 
I scrounged up stuff for my makeshift darkroom, so I have no knowledge of the "luxury" of using a public one :)

Digital printing is way less fun than wet-printing, but if that's *the only way* I can get a print, it certainly won't make me give up film photography. I get along with scanners just fine, it's the inkjet printers that I have a love-hate thing going :)
 
When I was going to university, I had a studio apartment with a bed that folded up into a walk-in closet. I left the bed down, made the doorway light-tight, and setup the closet as a darkroom, taking fixed prints and film across the hall to the bath for washing. Point is, there's surely a way to cope like this if it's important to you. Good luck!
 
I do love the complete process of photography. For me it's the whole thing from loading the camera to drying the print on my living room floor. I used to say I hated printing until I got a Leica and really got serious about it. Now my wife has to drag me out of the darkroom. I would lose interest pretty quickly if it was in any way a digital process. The computer is the tool I use at WORK! Ugh!
Vic
 
No I wouldn't give up rangefinders. While I really enjoy the darkroom, if silver-based paper and chemicals went away, I'd just scan and print on in ink-jet.

Jim B.
 
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