darkroom help

[1930artdeco]

Hello all,

I am busy organizing my new garage which I absolutely love and has been worth every penny so far. Here is my dilema, I will be setting up a darkroom at some point this year-I hope. I can design a folding table for the enlarger and dryer. But I need a sink that needs to be foldable or at least portable to get it out of the way when I am not using it. I have a regular deep cast iron sink that the DKRM sink can drain into. If people could maybe post some pictures to at least get me thinking. Thank you.

Mike

 

[NitroPress]

Funny, this house had a beautiful professionally-built, pro-grade darkroom when I bought it... as I last touched silver about 20 years ago, I converted it to my basement office. Want the one remaining 6" safety light?

I'd suggest the shallowest stainless steel sink you can find, set in a board that either folds up against the wall or can be removed and stored. Use a shallow fixture and the best pull-out spray head you can find. Use flexible water connectors or quick-disconnects and a flexible drain hose (like for a washer) that can go to the fixed sink.

 

[rlitman]

A darkroom sink doesn't need any real depth. 2 inches is more than fine.
Heck, I used a drainboard from a commercial kitchen that I picked up as scrap metal, which drained into a more permanent sink.

You could build a folding table that meets one side of the sink (and slopes into it enough to drain). Wood would even be fine, if you built up a 1" strip around the outer edges, covered it in fiberglass, and let the glass hang as a "drip edge" into the sink.
Or, you could buy a stainless, or fiberglass darkroom sink made for just this purpose.

 

[formek]

Wow there is a dying art form. What are you developing. I thought they were discotiuing most fo the supplys.

 

[sberry]

My profession before welder was photag. Was a miserable tedious job most of the time. Might have still been at it if we had puters back then. Has really taken a lot of work out of it. I have darkroom in my parents basement. almost 30 yrs since used.

 

[Steevo]

I gave up my darkroom and sold the enlarger, trays, chemicals, film cameras, etc. when I upgraded my digital SLR from a Canon 10D to the original 5D, and was convinced that I could finally achieve high quality images from a sensor.
I still miss the good old Tri-X and Panatomic-X B&W for nice grain and smooth tones, respectively.

 

[1930artdeco]

I agree there is something to be said about digital and not wasting chemistry, paper etc. and being able to have a 'do over'. But then again there is no magic in electrons. That and this is just a hobby for so I won't get burned out on it. And, since I just do B&W it is relatively easy.

Mike

 

[formek]

there is no beter fealling than watching a print develop.

Tri X was one of the ones that I heard was discotinued.

 

[Skyline]

With the quality of some of the photo printers out today...it's pretty hard to justify building a darkroom. I recently bought an Epson 4880 off Craig's List, and as long as you use really good paper, the quality is amazing. I can print up to 17"x22". With the right paper, the prints are supposed to last 100+ years, so it's on a par with anything you can do in a darkroom in terms of archival quality.

I have all the equipment for a full color darkroom, but when I get around to packing it all up, I think I'm just going to donate it to the local HS.

 

[wssix99]

http://www.allportablesinks.com/portable-sinks.html

 

[sbhockey]

I'll be keeping an eye on this thread. I just finished building a permanent laundry room in the basement and plan on adding a dark room. I haven't developed film since I graduated in 99. I do a fair amount of digital when I’m at the track, but miss 35mm B&W. I look at digital as the machinegun of photography, accuracy trough volume. Film is more like a single shot bolt action, one chance to get it right.

 

[Mmfh]

If you have a nice large sink in that area can't you just use that. I use shallow trays for my black and white stuff and my Jobo processor for all the color. I would think just being near a sink you could make it work??

Mm

 

[Charles (in GA)]

In the 1950's my father was into photography. We had a darkroom above the garage in the house in Texas. He did only B&W but was pretty good at it. He made a sink from plywood and fiberglass cloth and resin. It was shallow, sloped bottom and had wood rails down the inside with wooden slats. He set his trays on the slats and allowed them to overflow onto the slats and into the sink. He built it from plans in a photog magazine and painted it with several coats of gray marine paint to seal the wood and did a fine job on the fiberglass bottom inside. I finally got rid of the sink but saved the frame/legs intending to put a solid workbench top on it. This thing was thin enough top to bottom that you could hinge it to a wall and allow it to pivot down against the wall when not in use, and raise it up and flip out supports to use it.

I still have his cold light enlarger (uses a circular fluorescent tube) which he did all his work with.

Charles

 

[c_mccann]

My darkroom sink was 3/4" plywood, with 4" plywood sides, wrapped in fiberglass and a drain. Loved that darkroom, best hobby ever.. Loved Tmax 100 and PXP 100 washed in cold D76- nothing could get tighter grains on the 2 1/4" film.. Digital is good, but film black and white cannot be touched.

 

[wssix99]

Making pictures with a digital camera instead of film is like making a statue out of plastic instead of marble.

 

[banzaitoyota]

Its like listening to CD's instead of vinyl

 

[formek]

its like listening to cd's instead of vinyl

x2 lol

 

[ddawg16]

Its like listening to CD's instead of vinyl

Woodworkers can relate.....

Yea...more work....but you do it for the love.....

Funny timing....I just found my Pentax ME Super 35mm camera....it was stuffed under some other junk......must be at least 30 years old...still takes great pictures...love my 35-70mm zoom lense....down to F2.....another 10 years and no one will be developing the film.....dark rooms may be the only choice.

 

[onething]

It may be a stretch, but is the garage air conditioned? My old b&w dark room had no running water and I kept the chemical temp where I wanted it by keeping the room that temperature.

 

[NitroPress]

Making pictures with a digital camera instead of film is like making a statue out of plastic instead of marble.

Ah, I'm going to throw out a BS on this and the similar comments... I've been in photography since I was a kid and have done it every way there is. Photography is about capturing light, and the technique is irrelevant. All digital did, once the quality came up past cartoons, is make it simpler and give photographers the capability to take an essentially unlimited number of shots. I don't think that making every single shot count produces better results than shooting three or ten shots of everything and weeding it out later. What make a better movie, shooting 2100 feet of film and editing it to 2000 or shooting 200,000 and editing it to 2000? The answer there is "yes."

The silver crowd that insists they have some ethical or artistic edge on the CCD crowd are, 99 to 1, just snobs who have too much money involved in film gear to admit they would be better off moving to the more efficient platform.

 

[formek]

Ah, I'm going to throw out a BS on this and the similar comments... I've been in photography since I was a kid and have done it every way there is. Photography is about capturing light, and the technique is irrelevant. All digital did, once the quality came up past cartoons, is make it simpler and give photographers the capability to take an essentially unlimited number of shots. I don't think that making every single shot count produces better results than shooting three or ten shots of everything and weeding it out later. What make a better movie, shooting 2100 feet of film and editing it to 2000 or shooting 200,000 and editing it to 2000? The answer there is "yes."

The silver crowd that insists they have some ethical or artistic edge on the CCD crowd are, 99 to 1, just snobs who have too much money involved in film gear to admit they would be better off moving to the more efficient platform.

It took me some time to swich. I am glad I did and my photo shop is an older virsin I am told the new stuf it does is amazing.

 

[fredd7924]

I took a photography course in high school and we had a pretty nice darkroom setup, but unfortunately they decided that film was too out of date and I took the last class before they remodeled the dark room into a video studio. I graduated in 2008 so it was only a few years ago.

 

[Skyline]

These days, if you go to a professional photo printer, and bring them a negative, and ask for a top quality large enlargement, they will probably scan the negative and print it on a digital printer. There are fewer and fewer places remaining that can even make a custom print in a darkroom. There simply is no need anymore.

I'm not talking about one of those photo printers you see at Best Buy or Staples. Admittedly, those are getting better by the day, but I'm talking about professional quality pigment ink machines. The kind you need to find at B&H Photo or Adorama or some other store catering to professional photographers. Here's one of the smaller of this class of printers:

http://www.epson.com/cgi-bin/Store/jsp/Pro/SeriesStylusPro4900/Overview.do?BV_UseBVCookie=yes

Looks can be deceiving; this Epson looks remarably like the little desktop inkjets we see all over, but this thing is 3 ft across and weighs about 100lbs. It will print 17" x 22". I can't see how you could expect to print larger in any home darkroom.

Professional photographers are using this class of printers to print photos in galleries all over the world. $1,800 may seem like a lot for a printer, but that's probably less money than a large stainless darkroom sink, (not to mention all the other gear you need to print with chemicals). You probably will also want a fast computer with a big hard disk or two, a current version of Photoshop, add a Color Munki; then you're set.

 

[wssix99]

Ah, I'm going to throw out a BS on this and the similar comments...

There's a place for both, just like there is a place for plastic in the modern world. Every professional photographer I know that does film also has digital and I have both, as well.

Taking pictures of a wedding or the family, digital for sure. If you want to create art, then film says a lot more about the technical skill of an artist. Those skills also translate over to the digital world - a better original digital image requires less work on the computer.

Time will tell what film's place is. Kids still learn how to do woodwork in shop class even though they could build the same stuff faster and more accurately with a CNC mill. We still learn to do math by hand even though a calculator can do the same thing better. Learning photography with film can have the same benefits.

 

[trainer]

20 years ago my darkroom turned into a nursery. I ended up throwing out my enlarger last year after i couldnt even give it away. For a sink i used a plastic dishpan with a hose glued an inch or so from the top to act as an overflow.

Wouldn't it be great if someone started making digital cameras that actand feel like a classic SLR
My favorite camera was an olympus OM-10 with 28,50, and 135mm zuiko lenses. A big
part of photography was understanding how to manipulate arpeture and shutter speed to work with the particular film and lens you were using.

 

[Skyline]

A big part of photography was understanding how to manipulate arpeture and shutter speed to work with the particular film and lens you were using.

What do to mean "was"? It's just as important today with a good digital SLR as it ever was. Sure, the automatic expose modes are more capable now than ever, but the basic principles of aperture vs. shutter speed are here to stay for the foreseeable future.

 

[trainer]

The problem I find with any SLR that i've tried lately is that they function very well in automatic, but are awkward to use in arperture or shutter priority modes. Same with trying to pull the focus manually.
By the time I get through the menus to the setting I want, the shot is gone.

My old OM was a cheap outfit at the time, but i never felt i needed to upgrade. Unfortunately that camera and lenses were destroyed during a canoe trip.

 

[garboui]

The problem I find with any SLR that i've tried lately is that they function very well in automatic, but are awkward to use in arperture or shutter priority modes. Same with trying to pull the focus manually.
By the time I get through the menus to the setting I want, the shot is gone.

My old OM was a cheap outfit at the time, but i never felt i needed to upgrade. Unfortunately that camera and lenses were destroyed during a canoe trip.

PREFACE- Im using Canon equipment in the following comparison as im most familiar with their product. Though the argument is really brand independent.

On the more consumer level SLR's, like the Canon Rebel series and entry level lenses, this may be the case. On the bodies i find a shortcoming of tactile knobs which make aperture, shutter and other setting quick and intuitive to use. On the lenses the focusing ring is usually obscured and not the most ergonomic. Im not saying that this makes a bad camera but its tailored to its market of people that want a high quality camera but in all reality are going to spend 99% of their time in some automatic mode to just capture their kids hockey game or the dinner party.

Moving up the the pro-sumer and professional level of cameras like the Canon 20D(what im using) or a 5D Mk3. These cameras are slightly bigger but have a few extra dials to make things like shutter, aperture, exposure,
af point settings capable with just a flick of a finger and no menus to navigate. Moving up to the lenses too like Canons L series the focus ring becomes much more of a predominant feature and is functionally smoother. This difference in features in the higher end cameras contrary to the pro-sumer lines also reflects its market as the people using this equipment will be spending lots more time in a mode that will be manually operating the camera to some extent.


If you really do want to get back to the old lens feel on a new digital body you can get adapter rings that you can mount your old lenses then pretty much any digi SLR still gives you a single wheel for shutter speed.

 

[onething]

Focus.

I think we lost sight of the OP's question.

 

[formek]

Focus.

I think we lost sight of the OP's question.

Great reading in this thread but I was thinking the same thing (way off topic) lol