lamiaceae Loc: San Luis Obispo County, CA

Yes, I'll scan any new negatives I make. Still have several 35mm film cameras and two 4x5" View type cameras. I'm hoping to find a new home for my two enlarges that are now stored in pieces. I too plan to keep all my film processing equipment. But would probably never use the enlarges again.

Blair Shaw Jr Loc: Dunnellon,Florida

I still have everything....spotlessly waiting for the day I return. So clean that you could eat off of the stuff and sad to think how much effort & cash I put into it so long ago. I call it the Museum now and that's about what it is I guess. A Monument to Gadgets & Gizmos from the 60's.

wingclui44 Loc: CT USA

I'm still keeping my two enlargers and the other darkroom accessory for collecting item, but I adapted the enlarger lenses for macro photo on my digi. cam.

JayRay Loc: Missouri

You are brave! I am still hanging on to my enlarger and B&W dark room equipment. Can not let go, too many fond memories! Have not used the enlarger (as an enlarger) in many years. Probably the pack rat in me! Still scanning some of my old B&W negatives.
I did remove the enlarging head from the enlarger stand, made an attachment with an arca-swiss plate that I can attach a camera to and use it as a copy stand.

lamiaceae Loc: San Luis Obispo County, CA

That's cool. I actually have a huge vertical Polaroid copy camera that also can shoot regular 4x5" cut sheet film. I drilled an extra hole in it so I could attach a tripod head and smaller (35mm/digital) camera.

zebra 357 Loc: New Hampshire

Think I'll invent an air spray which smells like darkroom chemicals. Use it around your computer during photo processing.

Silversleuth Loc: San Francisco Bay Area

After just finishing a B&W film and darkroom class at local city college, I'm setting up a basement darkroom. Already have all the gear and chemistry for wet work and an old Beseler 23C all tuned up and ready to go. Putting together a DIY print washer and finishing touches on blackout window coverings. There is just something very appealing to me about the whole process of reverting back to film for personal satisfaction after producing digital forensic images for clients for the past decade and a half.

::Ed::

TriX Loc: Raleigh, NC

Excellent! Normally I would have suggested the Kodak book “Building a Home Darkroom”, but sounds as if you’re almost done. The 23C is a good enlarger and will serve you well. Good luck - when the first print appears like magic in the developing tray, it will be worth all the effort.

BebuLamar

I had almost all Beseler enlargers. The 67, 23c, 45mx and my last one is my favorite the CB-7.

Silversleuth Loc: San Francisco Bay Area

Thanks for the encouragement Trix. In A. Adams book "The Print" there is an exquisitely detailed section on setting up a dark room and processing film and printing images. It did serve me well in a few details that were missed in the college course.

jackm1943 Loc: Omaha, Nebraska

My 4x5 enlarger (Omega) has been sitting on the darkroom floor for the past 2-3 years. I've given all my trays to a local community college and will probably end up donating the enlarger, lenses, sinks, timers, etc. to any student who will be willing to remove it all from my basement darkroom (unless my granddaughter wants them). I replaced the enlarger space with fly tying equipment for a couple of years but don't even fly fish any more, just one too many hobbies.

wrangler5 Loc: Missouri

When we bought our house in 1975 I started building a basement darkroom while my wife was still unboxing the few things we had brought from our apartment (no kids yet.) Developed several thousand rolls of B&W film and made tens of thousands of prints (gave 'em away to family in books every Christmas.) After ~30 years I rented a digital camera outfit for a weekend. After shooting one of my daughter's horse shows and having digital contact sheets ready to print in about 20 minutes (a job that would have taken 3-4 nights standing up in the darkroom) I never took another shot on film.

I sold all my film cameras and the enlarger equipment (carriers, lenses, timers, focusing aids, etc.) on ebay. The local high school took my developing tanks and trays, but it took me a year to find somebody to take the Beseler 4x5 enlarger chassis. I had to give it away, and he would only take it if I delivered it to his house.

I started "helping" in my father's basement darkroom in the early 1950s, and remember the whole process fondly. But I produce better B&W prints (for my purposes, not for gallery display or sale) much more easily with digital equipment and processing - sitting down, in the light, whenever I want, etc. I kept a Paterson developing tank and a couple of reels for old time's sake, but have never once had a hankering to go back to film and wet processing.

pappleg

In the early 90's I wanted to know just where digital imagery was headed relative to film. I had a well equipped darkroom in my home with Beseler 4X5 enlarger, a Zone VI cold light head with stabilizer, six foot fiberglass sink with Calumet temp control and lots of stainless trays, tanks etc. I took a local class with a Comm College professor specializing in Photoshop. Digital cameras at the time were 4-5 megapixel and pricey. Most of us taking the class (five of us as I recall) were film folks looking to learn what digital was all about and when , if ever, it would overtake film. Knowing how to maximize my educational opportunities I brought some negatives with me and the instructor who had not worked at this particular facility before noted they had a scanner that would take anything from half-frame 35mm to 4X5 film. Of course, I just "happened" to have a 4X5 negative and he was intrigued as he had never scanned a negative that size so he did it. The resulting file was so large that it would not fit on any of the "floppies" of that era so it only lived on the computers hard drive and he did not know at that time how to resize it. Based on what I learned from that class I immediately listed my entire darkroom on eBay selling roughly $3,000.00 worth of gear for $1,250.00. Good move actually as within a year photo chemistry was getting difficult to find and I could not have given away that gear. Though I enjoyed the darkroom I never looked back.

Crad1998

I am recently retired and am taking a film class at the local community college. I am starting to really like developing film. Of course we have only developed one roll. The college is giving away some of its old film equipment. Is it worth it to take the enlarger and buy the other equipment and set up a small darkroom my house? I think I would enjoying shooting and developing film.

carl hervol Loc: jacksonville florida

I just sold 3 of my enlargers in the last 2 months but kept my bestler 23c with the color head just picket up all the chemistry and getting ready to go back to the old school digital is to easy film processing is more challenging that way I like it .