See what you get? A simple question and half a dozen answers.
That's because the answer depends on what you want.
You *can* start with one tray, as has been pointed out. One tray is something of a pain in the posterior, but it works. More trays (up to six, as has been suggested,) is more convenient. I have the proverbial six 8x10 trays for 8x10 and smaller (film and paper,) I have four 11x14 trays and have never felt deprived, and I have one 16x20 tray for large prints and it works. I put up with it because I very rarely print that large and my darkroom is very, very small. A washer would be very convenient but I'm not sure that it would be $200+ convenient. I don't put out 150 prints a day for commercial customers, or even a dozen prints a day for some gallery. If I get five good prints out of an evening's printing I feel that I have accomplished something and my setup works for that. (Then, of course, a couple of weeks later I look at the older prints and think, 'what was I thinking?' and tear them up, but that's a hurdle you'll have to deal with on your own!)
There is quite a bit of discusson on the web concerning the merits or faults of this or that enlarger. I tend to think that much of it is the splitting of downy hairs; any enlarger is better than no enlarger and from my perspective, an inexpensive enlarger is better than an expensive one (since my funds are limited and the more I have for paper, film, and chemistry the happier I am.) That said, a decent four-bladed easel to hold the paper under the enlarger is just incredibly convenient and I actually paid money for one of those in the 11x14 size. I couldn't afford one for 16x20 but I bought a used fixed-size easel for $20 and that is sufficient for a size I rarely use. On the other hand, I started with a used Bogen two-bladed easel and it worked all right for years. Ditto on the lens with the caveat that I agree whole-heartedly about the suggestion for Minolta enlarging lenses. Minolta is the Rodney Dangerfield of photography: they produce excellent products but don't have the cachet of the big names and get no respect. That makes many of their product less expensive on the used market and they are often very good buys. You need a decent lens and someday, when you are turning down gallery invitations and trying to juggle your workshop and speaking schedule you may actually care which lens is mounted on your enlarger but many of us wouldn't be able to tell the difference between one of our prints made with the latest multi-coated aspheric wonder and one made with an old single-coated Wollensak from 40 years ago. Sure, there are folks who can (or claim they can, anyway,) but for black and white I don't actually know any of these people.
I forget (I'm at work and have been composing this, in betwixt random help line calls, for a couple of hours now,) whether you are a real beginner or not. Sorry. In either case, recall that RC paper takes *much* less washing than does fiber paper. On the other hand, there are those (and I am one of them,) who dislike RC paper immensely. I don't care for how it smells, feels to the touch, or for how the light reflects off of that polyethelene coating. That said, multi-grade or variable contrast paper is a valuable tool: one box of paper, one set of filters and you are all set. Personally, I like Forte's paper but that's a *very* personal choice: some folks actually like Ilford Multigrade IV, if you can believe it! (That was a joke, don't go all flaming on me here.) I suggest that you chose whatever variable contrast paper you can buy locally and use it for a while. Ditto on the chemistry: differences between most paper developers are very subtle and you probably won't notice them for a while. Buy what is conveniently available to you and get to know it. For places carrying Kodak materials, Dektol is the most common paper developer. Other places carry Ilford and they have some good developers, too. If you are fortunate enough to live in an area giving you an extensive choice, go with the least expensive. Me personally, while I do have a slight preference for glycin based developers, they are expensive and I have to mail order them (intolerable when you've settled in for a nice Sunday afternoon's darkroom session and discover that you're down to your last ounce of developer. Where's the convenience of mail order then?) So I mostly use Kodak's Dektol, since I can get it quickly from one of several local sources, including one open on Sunday afternoon.
Darkroom doesn't have to (and shouldn't, these days,) cost very much. I wish I had heard your question earlier this year: I just gave away three darkrooms. The problem is, I just can't walk away from a good deal and neither can my wife. Over time we had collected a couple of Omega enlargers and one other (can't remember who made that one,) along with misc. trays, thermometers, timers, measuring cups, safe lights, etc. from auctions and garage sales. I have a couple of Beseler enlargers I use (an old 23c for small negatives and a 45 for 4x5,) so I didn't need them. They've taken up room in the attic and garage for some time now so when someone local asked for them for a school project, I gave them to him. The point is, even here in the wilds of Indiana, I run across this stuff all the time and you ought to be able to do so, too. I got my first darkroom from a garage sale for $25: enlarger, trays, etc. Ok, that was a while ago but I've seen them since. Shoot, I passed up a nice (and reasonably modern) 6x7 enlarger with the fancy color head at a garage sale a couple of weeks ago. I didn't need it. He had an ancient old 4x5 Solar enlarger in the basement he wanted to dump, too, but what the heck am I going to do with that? He probably still has them. My Beseler 45 came from an auction and I won't tell you what I paid for it 'cause you'd cry. Hook into the auction scene in your area (there's always a little newspaper or web site all the auctioneers list with. Around here the little newspaper is called the 'Farmer's Exchange'. Look for auctions mentioning cameras and photography equipment. You should be able to fit out a complete darkroom about twice a year if your area has activity comparable to around here (and this place is pretty rural.) Camera shops also often periodically clear out their back rooms: great places for trays, thermometers, etc. Or, what the heck, this is APUG. You must be nice people or you wouldn't be here. Let me look around and see what I can come up with. Even having given away three darkrooms this year, I've probably got some bits and pieces you can have.
mjs
