Darkroom portraits

Hi Dave,

Great question as to condensation with the gas heat, and one I can't answer offhand. I will find out though. Propane is somewhat popular with backcountry cabins up here, and nobody mentioned that aspect of things, so I never thought to question it. The heater serves a secondary purpose as well. If we ever lose electrical power, it is backup heat for our house. It doesn't happen too often, but we probably lose power once a year for an extended period (more than 6 hours). When that happens during a cold snap in the winter, it can get awful cold inside the house. So if I have a condensation problem, I don't consider that to have been wasted money. It is made for residential application, so we'll see.

I expect to have good ventilation regardless. I get a pretty strong eczema reaction to the chemical vapors, so I intend to set it up almost like working in a fume hood in a lab. I plan to hang clear polyethylene from the ceiling down to 18 inches above the sinks, and have the vent directly above the sink. This should make the ventilation much more efficient, as it is like venting a much smaller room than the full size of the room. I think I'm going to get a system that's rated to the full size of the darkroom anyway, though. But something that has variable speeds so I can adjust the ventilation level based on my experiences.

I appreciate the advice about finishing it first. I hope I work fast enough to make that a reality. I took a permanent job here, in past the end of nowhere bush Alaska, before I finished my dissertation. I only had about 6 months work to finish, so I figured it would be no problem. Well...I did finish, but it took me three years while working full time to figure out how to fit it in. It finally happened because we (my wife and I) decided it needed to be the number one priority, so I would come home and eat then go back to the office and work on it (away from distractions). So I have some experience with why it's best to finish before you move on to the next phase...

Nice to see it is up and running Dave. How have you found it in the changing weather we have had lately? Hope you have a good alarm system on it!

Cheers, Bob.

Hi Troy
If you have a good pressure in the darkroom (200) gallons of water, can you not put a small water heater (home depot) version to run off the water line and forget about bringing the hot from your home. I think it would be a no brainer?
Saves a lot of digging 10ft to bring the line overu.

Hi Bob,

My post wasn't as clear as it should have been. I'm not going to install any water lines to the darkroom. I'm going to install a 200 gallon polyethylene tank that will be filled by attaching a garden hose to a fitting on the outside of the shed that will fill the tank. This way, I don't have to dig any trenches to depth, and can minimize those costs (since the buried line is not worry-free anyway).

Your proposed solution has come to mind before. In fact, there are some in-line hot water heaters commonly used for car-camping that run off propane (same as the heater) and might work beautifully. For the short term, I'm going to use the microwave oven to heat water when I need it. Whether I try to install a water heater, as you suggest, will probably depend in part on how well the microwave solution works and whether it is a big hassle. The advantage it has is that there is no maintenance burden added, so it already wins that hassle factor. But we'll see...

Happy Shooting.

Troy

Bob F. said:

Nice to see it is up and running Dave. How have you found it in the changing weather we have had lately? Hope you have a good alarm system on it!

Cheers, Bob.

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Because of the thick insulation the internal temperture is stable. The problem starts when I go in and the vent fan starts, as it's quite a small volume and the fan of course pulls in outside air, which on a hot day is; suprise, suprise - hot air. (and no quips about there being enough of that) To keep the temperature down I have an airconditioning unit installed - because, as I tell myself, I deserve it.

I just got my new - to me - D5 up and running!!!! So, I thought I'd post these in light of that milestone and to encourage several APUGers who have darkroom projects going right now (you know who you are).

The first pic is me about 20 years ago in my employer's darkroom. This is where I maintained 100's of bank cameras, did all the set up and testing, and processed any film after "incidents". The DR is spartan, but served the purpose. One film, two developers, one paper, etc.

The next two are my current home DR viewed from each end. It's 7 1/2 x 9 feet. Small, but I get 'er done. The 19mm lens makes it look bigger - not to mention slightly distorted.

Flanking the D5 are the old B22 and its Chromega B cousin. I could never decide between dicroic and condensor and just kept both. (I bought the Chromega new 30 years ago and the B22 cost $25 about 10 years ago!) One will eventually come down, probably the Chromega B (seems redundant to the D5) .

The wet side is an 8' Delta 1 sink. I built the stand myself. (Actually, I built the room myself, but that's another story.) At the end of the sink by the door is the print washer. There's a "dorm" refridgerator and a microwave in there under counters. And a lot of stuff accumulated over 35 years of doing this. I've had this DR about 10 years.

It's in a constant state of "improvement". I have a new faucet that I haven't installed yet, for instance. Oh, well, it's a hobby.

I may as well add mine to the collection

Here's mine. It's not ideal, but it beats what I was using. Go to
www.destarr.com and click on notes. There's a link on that page to the darkroom.

Dave Starr said:

Here's mine. It's not ideal, but it beats what I was using. Go to
www.destarr.com and click on notes. There's a link on that page to the darkroom.

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Very informative David, looks like a very workable layout.

Exciting times Cynthia, keep us informed of progress.

Here's mine.

hortense said:

Here's mine.

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Where?

David Brown said:

The next two are my current home DR viewed from each end. It's 7 1/2 x 9 feet. Small, but I get 'er done. The 19mm lens makes it look bigger - not to mention slightly distorted.

It's in a constant state of "improvement". I have a new faucet that I haven't installed yet, for instance. Oh, well, it's a hobby.

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Hey David, missed this when you first posted...who's the young guy in the first picture?

Nice looking space, about like mine...but yours is much neater...hmmmmmmm

Here's another. This is my second at this house. It is 9 wide, 12 long, and 7.5 feet high. It may look larger, but this pic was taken on a 57 with a 58mm lens. Sink is only 8feet long and 3 deep. Another sink, a smaller, lower wash sink, is scheduled to go beside the first. The dark color is a deep purple and the light is white.

Dark Purple; is this the new “in” colour for darkrooms? Nice set-up, just don’t let Seadrive see it.

Dave Miller said:

Dark Purple; is this the new “in” colour for darkrooms? Nice set-up, just don’t let Seadrive see it.

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I don't understand. Where does the fabric softener go???

You guys are killin' me!

Dave Miller said:

Dark Purple; is this the new “in” colour for darkrooms? Nice set-up, just don’t let Seadrive see it.

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Dave, I wanted something dark around the enlargers to reduce stray light, but I didn't want black and I didn't want red either. I suppose those would have made more sense. I didn't want the paint job to be 'linear' or boxy either, so it is a great elipse that is painted on the wall. Why not?

here tiz

It's a darkroom / recroom / all my crap room

A darkroom with a fireplace. I like that.

vet173 said:

It's a darkroom / recroom / all my crap room

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No need to agitate the prints in the trays... Just get those speakers thumpin' and you're all set!

joe

Here's a couple pics of my newly constructed portable darktent for doing wetplate collodion in the field.

The tent frame is constructed of inexpensive pvc pipe and the fabric is lightproof blackout curtain material. Lots of Velcro surrounds the removable inner and outer front doors. I've included an optional shelf scavenged from a cheap modular shelving unit and also have rigged in a paper towel rack. Since these pics were taken, I've also added a removable 12" x 18" red acrylic window in the ceiling. It is very bright inside due to the light tone of the fabric. I can also cover the window with a small piece of the blackout fabric and it becomes a nice darkroom for loading ULF film holders in the field. It also makes a nice big reflector for doing portraits.

The tent measures about 45" wide x 45" deep x 75" high, and eats Harrison changing tents for breakfast. It is roomy and comfortable to stand in. It takes about ten minutes to set-up or tear down. Several of the frame pieces are different diameters and nest inside one another for transport. The disassembled frame fits easily within a Calumet light panel frame bag and the fabric fits a small duffle. For transport, the window (and an 8x10 tray) velcroes to the lightweight shelf.

I used it two days ago for the first time on location and it functioned well. I will probably add a large zipper to the front door to make access a bit easier.

Joe

Loose Gravel said:

A darkroom with a fireplace. I like that.

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I wonder if the light from a small fire in the fireplace would function as a safelight? Hrm...

-KwM-

I don't think it would be a problem when I'm printing carbon. Tha lights in the cealing are already yellow bug lights cor carbon already. It might even help when drying tissues. Just too much trouble to move everything to build one, besides I have one in the livingroom and bedroom if I want one.

Just don't try to do wet plates when there's a fire in the fireplace...

Hey, Smieglitz, has it occurred to you that you could probably sell portable darkrooms like that one for several hundred dollars apiece? Not to me -- I don't got that kinda money, and I'm on a first name basis with PVC anyway (right, Poly?) -- but there are lots of ULF photographers who a) find a Harrison too small, and b) seem to have far too much money they're trying to get rid of...

Oh, and what I came here for. I finally managed to remember to take a few pictures of my darkroom when it was set up.

I use the larger bathroom (we have 1 3/4 baths in the house we rent), with a simple slip-in window cover, weatherstrip and matt-board baffling around the door, and a towel to cover the gap under the door. A piece of scrap "engineered lumber", lifted from the dumpster during construction of the house next door, converts one of the twin sinks to counter space for three 8x10 trays, and another tray under the bathtub faucet provides print holding, then in rotation with a second, washing.

The Omega D2V (pictured here with 50 mm f/3.5 El Rodagon installed) sits on a kitchen cart and wheels nicely in and out of the narrow bathroom door, as well as snugly fitting the space between the commode and bathtub. Safelight is via a 50 year old red bulb in a brand new (as of a few weeks ago) reflector clamp fixture attached to one of the shelves I put in to clear bathroom stuff of the counter around the sinks (no medicine cabinet?!); not bright, but adequate most of the time (and, I've recently discovered, bright enough to very lightly fog my RC paper if I have it out for a long time while recutting to smaller sizes, with the light shining directly on the work area so I can read a ruler).

Under the enlarger, on the lower shelves of the cart, you can see my paper safe (3-shelf 8x10, will hold 100 sheets on each shelf -- cost me $10 when a local camera store closed the lab, but the paper inside was thoroughly fogged, panchromatic, or RA-4 type -- turned black in the Dektol). Below that is a snap-lid storage tub the holds negative carriers, lenses on boards or cones, spare cones and boards, etc., and leaves room for trays to stack when stored. Behind the paper safe are my two contact printing frames, set of Kent Printing Masks (about 50 years old, precision cut red construction paper to make neat, even borders on contact prints of various sizes), and storage for the safelight and extension cord.

There are two power strips; one distributes power to the cold light head heater and the other power strip, the second acts as an accessible switch that can handle the current draw of the cold light. Exposure timing is by counting seconds (one-thousand-one, one-thousand-two, etc.), or by stopwatch if longer than about a minute, while hand holding acetate lighting filters under the lens for split filtering. Development timing uses the same stopwatch, actually the stopwatch function of a wrist watch I can no longer wear due to a broken spring pin socket.

My total cash outlay for this conversion, not counting the enlarger and other equipment that will be useful in my next darkroom, was about $20 -- foam core and matt board for the window cover, weatherstrip for the door, and about 1/2 roll of black masking tape used to assemble stuff.