Darkroom set up help (Page 3): We always painted our walls with gloss white, your safe light will make your darkroom brighter with white walls. Also, I strongly suggest an exhaust fan.

billnikon Loc: Pennsylvania/Ohio/Florida/Maui/Oregon/Vermont

35mmnow wrote:

I'm looking for help to set up a darkroom in a small (6x10) basement bathroom. I have a small sink, no windows and a viewfinder that will barely fit on a short table (7' ceiling) when installed. I also need to purchase an amber light, chemicals etc. I use a 35mm. I'm about an hour out of Mpls., MN.

We always painted our walls with gloss white, your safe light will make your darkroom brighter with white walls. Also, I strongly suggest an exhaust fan.

wmurnahan Loc: Bloomington IN

In college I had a dark room in a janitor closet. I went vertical. Enlarger on top (shelf above enlarger with enough room for paper safe) with shelves underneath with trays and sink for wash.

AzPicLady Loc: Behind the camera!

I loved working in my darkroom to the point that I built a shed with sufficient space to have three enlargers, two sets of trays and a large sink. Unfortunately, when the scorpions found it, it was no longer safe to work in, so I've had to abandon it. But I wish many times I could return to it. It's that vision of the print coming alive that's so exciting and so gratifying. Staring at a computer screen doesn't hold a candle to that! Good luck with your plans.

Zone-System-Grandpa Loc: Springfield, Ohio

camerapapi wrote:

I cannot remember if since 2001 I ever heard of an... (show quote)

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Strange, indeed ! Wasn't Jeffrey Dalhmer from the Minneapolis St. Paul area too ?

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

billnikon wrote:

We always painted our walls with gloss white, your safe light will make your darkroom brighter with white walls. Also, I strongly suggest an exhaust fan.

Absolutely (and strongly) agree with your recommendation to use an exhaust fan, especially if using chemicals such as ferrocyanide for toning, since you would likely also have an open tray of dilute glacial acetic acid (stop bath), and inadvertently mixing the two could liberate hydrogen cyanide gas.

bwilliams

I painted my walls pink so under amber light they look white.

CPR Loc: Nature Coast of Florida

A lot of good info. One thing that always amazed me was how hard it was to get the room actually dark. More than once I thought it was really dark but if I sat in there for 10 or 15 minutes with no light there was almost always some light coming in that I missed the first time.

Carl D Loc: Albemarle, NC.

Paint the walls a light/medium grey semi gloss. It helps absorb tramp light rays.

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

camerapapi wrote:

I cannot remember if since 2001 I ever heard of an... (show quote)

Absolutely no problem finding film or printing paper or chemicals. One of our local photo stores (Peace St. Camera) carries a complete selection. Developing B&W film is trivial in cost and easily done at home (even without a darkroom) - the only cost is a roll film tank, thermometer, clothes pins or film clips and chemicals - D76 (or your favorite developer), stop, fixer and Photoflo (and of course, a church key). Color requires more care, but both E6 & C41 chemicals are available (last I looked, B&H stocked both). Printing does require a (small) darkroom and further equipment, but my guess is, if you shop carefully, you can set it up for several hundred dollars. Less than the cost of a good "kit" lens, and as others have said, nothing digital (which is the majority of my work) compares to seeing the print appear in the developer. That's why, when I changed residences a few years ago and lost my old darkroom, I assembled another at my new house and still use it. The beauty of medium format film (or 35mm, 4x5 or 8x10) printed on silver-based paper cannot be replicated with an ink jet printer in my opinion.

GoofyNewfie Loc: Kansas City

CPR wrote:

A lot of good info. One thing that always amazed me was how hard it was to get the room actually dark. More than once I thought it was really dark but if I sat in there for 10 or 15 minutes with no light there was almost always some light coming in that I missed the first time.

Ideally, a darkroom should be totally light tight.
From my experience, in practical use, it would not affect film or paper of you had to wait that long to see light leaks. (Unless you were pushing the film a lot). In the camera, the film is exposed with light focused directly by a lens. In the darkroom, the light you see is not foucused onto the film and you're not going to have it out very long ....unless you were very slow loading a reel.

wmurnahan Loc: Bloomington IN

TriX wrote:

The beauty of medium format film (or 35mm, 4x5 or 8x10) printed on silver-based paper cannot be replicated with an ink jet printer in my opinion.

Agree 100%, the richness of a silver black with its metallic appearance cannot be replicated with an ink jet or any other print medium.

jeep_daddy Loc: Prescott AZ

35mmnow wrote:

I'm looking for help to set up a darkroom in a small (6x10) basement bathroom. I have a small sink, no windows and a viewfinder that will barely fit on a short table (7' ceiling) when installed. I also need to purchase an amber light, chemicals etc. I use a 35mm. I'm about an hour out of Mpls., MN.

It's too bad you didn't need this stuff about 2 years ago. My sister had a complete darkroom setup with everything and I mean EVERYTHING! We couldn't get anyone to buy any of it for cheap; we couldn't find a college or high school that wanted it free; so she gave it to her gardener free. Enlarger, special sink designed for darkroom, trays, chemicals, light, fan, table, tongs, sticks of some sort, adapters; I bet she had close to $10k tied up in stuff.

tmehrkam Loc: Houston,Tx

I got lucky. I found a photography student to take one of my film cameras, 50mm 1.8 lenses and darkroom equipment. I moved into a new house I did not have room because I had two exchange students and my mother living with me. The darkroom equipment was in the garage. I was glad to find someone who would use it. I gave it to him for free.

I still have my two favorite "MANUAL FOCUS" film camera bodies and plenty of lenses if I ever decide I have to go back to film. I will get darkroom equipment off of eBay and or Craig's list. I am retiring in a few years maybe then.

Photocraig

I'd add a good timer. The one I used was about 12 inches in diameter and you could see it from every angle--even in a small room that's a PLUS. My guess is that today you could find one very inexpensively. My Bathroom (not needed when the dudes flew the nest) had a skylight. I taped 2 layers of Black Leaf bags behind the grate. I built a marine plywood "6 foot Sink" and painted it wity epoxy paint. Rab a tube from a drain I drilled down tot he bath tub drain. Tapped the water from the pipe leading to the (removed shower head). Added a tube/hose with a hose valve to do all my washing and mixing. I also covered the dual sink lavatory side with plywood. Duct taped the edges and corners to prevent scraping and splinters and debris..

I miss my film and darkroom. Not quite enough to build one but..................................

Remember, a bathroom is a precious asset from a spousal point of view, and a definite value determinant from a real estate resale point of view. So, keep in mind reversing and rehabbing the space when the home needs to be re-sold. I used the toilet for disposal of some of teh chemicals. They stained the bowl and had to replace the toilet when the time came.

rlscholl Loc: California

One more thing if you will be printing glossy prints: a "ferrotype tin" (i.e., a polished metal surface, often part of a print dryer).