Hamster
Member
- Joined
- Jan 5, 2006
- Messages
- 202
- Format
- Med. Format Pan
After moving to a new job in a new city, I am now rebuilding my darkroom. The problem I am having now is I don't have enough room to keep all my chemical, beakers, etc... I share my bathroom/darkroom with two other people! So I must find way to economise on space somehow, and keep things tidy enough to not annoy my housemates.
Now the most sensible thing to do is I would go and buy off the shelf concentrate developer, and mix my fixer from powder, however, I find out to my suprised that store-bought concentrated developer is VERY VERY expensive (a small bottle costs the equavalent to my co-worker's weekly wage!), apprantly due to high import tax in this country. So with D-76 being my usual developer, would any of you here know how to go about making a concentrated solution? Making regular strength D-76 is difficult enough as it takes a long time to dissole all the components, I would assume making concentrate would require a differnt solvent in lieut of water.
Another alternative would be to go with PMK or something like that but since my film supplies are very uncertain (the only BW film regularly available here is "Lucky SHD 100"), I need to use something that is tried and tested, so once again I am stuck with D-76.
Mixing from powder is also difficult, as I also share the kitchen and water here comes out of the tap in a green/orange colour (lots of iron in the pipes), so I must buy bottled water and dilute just prior to use. I rekon I will get the chance to mix chemicals once every two months or so and I developed ~2 rolls a week.
I know that darkroom practitioners have managed to get things done in very adverse conditions, so I am determined to get things going dispite difficulties.
Any suggestion would be appreciated.
Now the most sensible thing to do is I would go and buy off the shelf concentrate developer, and mix my fixer from powder, however, I find out to my suprised that store-bought concentrated developer is VERY VERY expensive (a small bottle costs the equavalent to my co-worker's weekly wage!), apprantly due to high import tax in this country. So with D-76 being my usual developer, would any of you here know how to go about making a concentrated solution? Making regular strength D-76 is difficult enough as it takes a long time to dissole all the components, I would assume making concentrate would require a differnt solvent in lieut of water.
Another alternative would be to go with PMK or something like that but since my film supplies are very uncertain (the only BW film regularly available here is "Lucky SHD 100"), I need to use something that is tried and tested, so once again I am stuck with D-76.
Mixing from powder is also difficult, as I also share the kitchen and water here comes out of the tap in a green/orange colour (lots of iron in the pipes), so I must buy bottled water and dilute just prior to use. I rekon I will get the chance to mix chemicals once every two months or so and I developed ~2 rolls a week.
I know that darkroom practitioners have managed to get things done in very adverse conditions, so I am determined to get things going dispite difficulties.
Any suggestion would be appreciated.