Photography Info & Reviews.

Comment from anti_dbz
Time March 4, 2009 at 11:04 pm

For a black and white dark room you will need

- A good enlarger (300$ to 1000$ used - 600$ to 5000$ brand new)
- Lens for different sizes (100$ to 2000$ depends on the enlarger and the lens)
- Easel
- timer
- Focusing object
- Water in your room
- A fridge (to keep the paper cold and some cool water for developing film)
- I would buy in IKEA like an Aerocloset and have each tray in a “floor”
- The chemistry (developer, fixer, stop bath, etc, really cheap)
- A safe light (unless you want to work in total darkness)
- A tank for the reels
- The reels
- Paper.

This is at least for black and white. Color photography is not recommendable to do it on your home, because most of the chemistry may get you cancer. Even thought, if you have some money you can buy a decent color paper processor from 1000$ to 30000$

Comment from screwdriver
Time March 5, 2009 at 11:22 pm

There is a lot of very good darkroom equipment going for a song on auction sites, no need to buy new.

You may be better turning your bathroom into a darkroom as a supply of running water is invaluable. One proviso make sure the electrics are properly installed, water and electrics don’t mix.

Try not to use a changing bag they introduce dust which can be impossible to remove from negatives, better to make the whole room light tight.

Don’t make the mistake of thinking that a darkroom should be painted black, matt black is only needed in the light seals around the doors and windows, the rest of the room should be painted white to make the most of the dim safelight.

Chris

Comment from Galan F
Time March 7, 2009 at 2:10 pm

One thing I noticed that the others didn’t mention:

A Light Tight and DARK room. A closet does NOT stop light from getting in. You will need to assure that the door is both ventilated because of the chemistry you will be exposing yourself too and light proof (I used carbon filters to keep the light from passing through the ventilation system). and rubber bumpers on both sides of the door to prevent light leakage. Weather stripping works very well.

Then I went Digital (a much friendlier and environmentally safer darkroom).

Comment from Kodachrome 64
Time March 8, 2009 at 8:53 pm

Here are a few ideas:

Comment from gatewaycityca
Time March 10, 2009 at 10:07 pm

The answer from anti_dbz was good, but complete overkill. You do NOT need thousands of dollars worth of equipment to set up a simple darkroom. In fact, you can probably get started for about $100.

To develop film, yes you will need the tank and reel and a changing bag. Get the plastic kind of developing tank and reels, because they are a lot easier to use. You just insert the end of the film into these two big plastic tabs and then you turn the reel back and forth, and it will automatically feed the film onto the spiral. Also, be sure you get an adjustable reel so that you can develop either 35mm or 120 size film. You have to load the film onto the reel and put it in the tank in total darkness, so that’s what you need the changing bag for. You actually don’t even need a darkroom to develop film, since once you put it in the developing tank, you can do the rest in normal light. The tank is lightproof and it has a spout on top where you will pour in the chemicals.

To develop film, you’ll need a film developer and fixer. You don’t really need a stop bath, you can just use water. For the developer, I would recommend Kodak D-76. It’s a very easy developer to use. You can order it online or buy it from a photography supply shop (a REAL camera shop, not some place that just sells digital cameras). You can get it in a powder form or as a liquid concentrate. You just mix it with water and it will make a gallon. There are a lot of other black and white film developers you can use though. I just like D76.

You can use the same kind of fixer for film and paper. You can get it in either powder or liquid form, and you just mix it with water.

You’ll need to look up the development time for the particular film you’re using. The first step is to pour in the developer. Agitate it by gently inverting the tank a few times, once every minute. You will keep the developer in for the amount of time needed for your film. Once you reach the development time, pour out the developer. Rinse the tank thoroughly with water. Do NOT open the tank! Just run water through the spout, fill the tank, and empty it. Do that several times.

The next step is the fixer. The fixer will chemically stabalize the film so that the images are permanent and it’s not light sensitive anymore. Follow the same process. Pour the fixer into the developing tank. I usually fix film for 9 minutes. You can re-use the fixer, so when you empty the tank, pour the fixer back into another container and save it. After you pour out the fixer, rinse the tank very thoroughly with water.

You should wash the film one last time in distilled water, with a few drops of a rinsing agent to prevent water spots from forming on the negatives when it dries. You can use “PhotoFlo” or this stuff I use called “Spot Free.” There are a lot of different things you can use, just get it from a photo supply shop and be sure that it specifically says that it’s for film.

To develop the pictures, you will need an enlarger, photographic paper, paper developer, and 4 plastic trays. After you develop the film, you will put the negative on a tray on the enlarger, called the “negative carrier.” When you turn on the enlarger, it will project the image onto the paper and expose it. The exposure time you’ll need will depend on the negative, but usually it’s about 10 seconds. Then you just develop the paper, kind of like film. You put it in a tray with the paper developer, develop it for 1 minute, then put it in a tray with water to stop the development. Then put it in the next tray with fixer. I usually fix for 4 minutes. Then you can temporarily put the paper in a tray with water. As soon as you have a chance, wash the paper with running water. When it dries, that’s your picture!

email me if you have any questions. My answer is getting too long and there’s too much to cover. But developing black and white film and pictures is really not hard to do at all.