Darkroom's on a roll.....

[Andy K]

One other thing for a makeshift darkroom:

Make sure your safelight is securely placed and not just balanced on top of a cupboard, where it can fall and kill the bulb leaving you unable to print until you find a new bulb...

 

[atenlaugh]

I'm moving to a new apartment, currently, and my darkroom is quite temporary. I can't take the kitchen, or the bathroom. I just have a closet...

Pinned a black sheet to the doorframe, for day or night sheet film developing. In fact, I don't even have TABLES, yet. So there I am, sitting on the floor, rotating sheets of film in open trays... I don't have any electricity nearby, either, so I've been using diafine and my mechanical enlarger timer in 1-minute intervals (as long as it's 3 minutes, eh?)

Ridiculous, yes, but I can't just NOT do it! Crazy, what those chemicals do to you.

 

[dancqu]

... your constructive input!

For some reason, which escapes me, big long deep sinks
are popular. I've spent years working in a few darkrooms
where the sink was the place for rinsing, washing up,
and the source for water. Those labs had good
water proof COUNTERS at a correct hight for
ease of processing. Dan

 

[Claire Senft]

The advice given about HEPA air filtration is very good advice indeed. Also very valuable is to install water filters so that you have clean water to make solutions for developing film. In my own case I was getting a good deal of crud on my negatives as a free gift from the water pipes in the house. I installed 5 micron filters on the water lines and the problem dissappeared.

Dust on your neatives is a real PITA especially for someone using glass carriers. Getting particulate matter on your film and having it dry in place is, in my opinion, much worse.

I see that you mention your Agfa enlarger is a color model. I am guessing, not being the least bit expert on Agfa enlargers, that this is simply a drawer for inserting filters. If it is a dichroic colorhead then I hope that the type of bulb required is still available. If you have no experience with colorheads the dichro models change filtration by using knobs. There were colorheads made prior to dichroic filters becoming available that used knobs with filters that passed light thru and these were subject to fading. I do not know if Agfa ever made this type. One very worthwhile suggesstion is to keep a spare enlarging bulb on hand. It used to be easy to pick one up years ago at any photo store. These days I would guess that even in many good sized
cities you will not be able to find one on the shelf.

Just think with your Hasselblad and the Weston model III no batteries are required.

 

[Carol]

One very worthwhile suggesstion is to keep a spare enlarging bulb on hand. It used to be easy to pick one up years ago at any photo store. These days I would guess that even in many good sized cities you will not be able to find one on the shelf.

That's very good advice. My enlarger bulb went on the first print one night. Total waste of time and chemicals, not to mention the disappointment. I always have a spare on hand now.

 

[FrankB]

Ditto and seconded!

 

[hortense]

Any tips you may have to setting up a temporary darkrooms would be greatly appreciated, which will in the meantime will teach me what I need/want in my proper darkroom.

Nicole - I have built 4-darkrooms, the latest with less space than previous ones. It is 8 1/2 feet long by 6 1/2 feet wide with an aisle 8-inches wide between the enlarging bench and the wet processing sink. This darkroom contains a 4x5 enlarger and a panel for associated controls, a 16 x 20 dry mount press, a molded plastic wet processing sink with enamel coated tin back splash, a wash sink I made out of 1 x 6s and waterproof plywood using water proof glue and coated with marine epoxy, fiber screen drying racks (2-levels that fold up against the wall or fold out for drying), drawers and cupboard, in-the-wall air conditioner. Plumbing was done with copper such that the entire assembly is bracketted to the wall to avoid internal wall plumbing and to facilitate any changes I might wat to make. I find it quite convenient. While the aisle space may appear narrow, it provide plenty of room and, in fact, is a convenience (all I have to do is turn around ...) However, I only have room to process 11x14 prints. A little more room would be required to do 16x20 prints. If you are seriously interested, I can send you a copy of the layout plan.

 

[hortense]

A couple of more points, Nicole: The enlarger bench height should be such that you can rest you arms on it and the heighth of the wet processing sinks should be a height that will not stress you back. I also forgot to mention the in my wash sink, I have vertical washer that will handle 14-11x14 prints or 28-8x10s. Paint you inside walls whited with the exception of behind the enlarger. Arrange a curtain to pull around you and the enlarger to keep you enlarging area as dark as possible.

 

[dancqu]

However, I only have room to process 11x14 prints.
A little more room would be required to do 16x20 prints.

I too was space limited. I abandoned multi-tray and
adopted single-tray processing. That with one-shot
chemistry eases processing. If I were a mind to
I could do 20 x 24. Dan

 

[hortense]

... running a mechanical hepa filter ...

Sean, what's a "hepa filter"?

 

[Claire Senft]

I am not Sean of course. HEPA stands for high efficiency particulate air.

In other words it removes very small particles from the air.