Developing paper in a small apartment

[cvik]

Hi,

For the first time i'm going to "build" my own darkroom. The problem is that I live in a 56 squaremeter apartment and don't have a dedicated room for this (development at the bathroom and the enlarger right outside).

There are as far as I know 4 different sollutions to paper development:
1) Traditional trays
2) Vertical trays
3) Tank/rotary drum machine
4) Paperprocessor machine

I know #1 is best for B&W work as you will see the print develop but they consume a lot of space when in use and also smells quite a lot.

I must be able to print BW, and I really want to try cibachrome. RA-4 is not so important as i rarely use printfilm but why not have the possibility?

What sollution would be best suited for paperdevelopment?

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

For Ilfochrome, drums and a rotor base, so that you can use the chemicals one-shot.

For B&W, I'd recommend traditional trays as large as you have room for, perhaps stacked on a tray ladder if you are really short on space, and for large prints, drums.

Slot processors seem like a nice idea, but you need to be able to leave it set up in one place, and they work best with replenishable chemistry, because you can't just dump one slot at the end of the session. You have to empty all three at once slowly. You could, however, develop in a tray and use the slot processor for the other steps.

If you look at the "darkroom portraits" thread you can see a few darkrooms in tight quarters, including mine.

 

[glbeas]

I've set up darkrooms in 1 square meter closets, so what you want to do is doable. You just need imagination. I'd start out with a cheap set of 8x10 trays and buy or build a vertical rack system for a smaller footprint. In a very small darkroom wetside/dryside becomes meaningless. The best way is a vertical separation by setting the enlarger on top and the trays under with a deep tray on the floor to hold the prints prior to washing. If you have the room for a two sided workspace you can still stack the trays in this manner. Later on you can buy a rotary print drum for color or oversized B&W with the right sized tube. I can't comment on slot processors myself but hear they can work quite well too.

If you can hijack a bathroom you can design a temporary setup with removeable shelves and plywood to utilise the tub and sink for work spaces. Best part of this is having running water at your disposal.

 

[eric]

Slot processors seem like a nice idea, but you need to be able to leave it set up in one place, and they work best with replenishable chemistry, because you can't just dump one slot at the end of the session. You have to empty all three at once slowly. You could, however, develop in a tray and use the slot processor for the other steps.

I have a Nova Slot 16x20 and a cheapo first generation 8x10 Nova thing. Yah, it was a pain in the butt, but if you get a smaller one, could I suggest getting one of those roller trays like the ones you get in the kitchen store? Like a small rolling kitchen tray. That way, you can "GENTLY" push it somewhere. I push my 16x20 on one of those roller things and I mean...'GENTLY' cause when you stop, something about physics or something like that but liquid tends to keep going and going
When I did tray processing, I used 3 8x10's and another set of fixer and h20 on a second tray from the table under the 3 trays. This way, I only needed a little over 30" of table space. But yah, look at that tray ladder thing.
I have to admit, if I did have the space, and after using my Nova for about 2 years now, I miss tray processing. I like the way I can flip the paper and watch it develop. That was magic. The Nova, I need the space but dunking it up and down is a little mundane. You can also process lots of sheets in a tray so that may be an advantage. The advantage of the Nova is that I can go to the garage, process some contact sheets or do a quickie 8x10 RC, and I'm done. I don't have to clean up the trays. Just push the cart aside.

 

[cvik]

Developing in a tray and then use the nova for the rest sounds like a good sollution for B&W and then just develop everything in the Nova when I do color.

What about alternative #4? There are some of these machines out there for a reasonable price (second hand, when new they are very expensive). What about these? http://www.thiel.lu/jerry/thermaphot/thermaphot.htm

I've seen both the small one ACP-302 (30x40cm/12x16") and the larger one ACP-505 (50x60cm/20x24") for sale. I don't now the price for the small one but i've seen the large one cost 750 USD. It says it's possible to use BW and RA-4, but do you think it's also possible to use cibachrome?

 

[Mick Fagan]

CVIK, I have used the Durst ACP 20 for the old EP2 colour paper processing that could handle 8x10" paper or anything 8" wide. That started me off on the idea of a paper processor being far better and quicker than any other method of developing.

When Durst released the Printo I bought the basic unit, this enabled me to process with the then new colour process of RA4. The basic unit is an intro unit plus two energy therm units. The Energy therm units are the ones with the electric heating element. I have since acquired a spare energy therm unit very cheaply.

I have used this unit for mainly RA4, but on a couple of occassions I re-configured the cogs for B&W paper and it was a dream to use. The widest paper is 12" wide and occassionaly in colour or B&W I enlarge my panoramic negs from my Horizon camera onto cut sheet paper which is 12x24".

If you wish to use a Cibachrome type of product in any paper processor you will have to be very careful about the drying situation. Cibachrome itself, when procesed in the Durst Printo, requires an extender in the paper dryer section to allow the material to dry correctly. If you can find some information about the Printo you'll see the longest set-up is with 5 units and at the end is an extended dryer unit. Apparently the plastic base requires twice the drying time of all other resin coated papers.

I have actually seen a darkroom with a Printo developing Cibachrome and it's really a long machine when all put together.

That said, my Printo when disassembled, is stacked in a vertical shelving arrangement and is the smallest paper processor for storing, transporting etc, etc, because it comes apart and can be individually stored/stacked.

These days there are quite a few machines secondhand coming on the market and the Printo for small usage is quite good, the chemicals required are 2½ litres for each bath and there are no water/liquid pumps to break down as the circulation of solutions is taken care of by a large Archimedes screw, in each unit.

If you were going to think seriously about a paper processing machine then by all means do it, it's fantastic.

But don't stop there, buy a paper dryer as well, they really are very cheap these days. However don't buy an Ilford unit as spare parts cost more than a new unit and there aren't any available anyway. Don't ask me how I know!

Mick.

 

[MikeS]

Another option would be to use what I do. I use the old Heath/Mitchell Color Canoe. It's basically sort of half way between a rotary tube, and an open tray. I have them in 8x10 size, and 11x14 size. Nikor also made a 'rocking tray' that's similar (I have one, but don't like it as much as the Color Canoe). Either of these uses small amounts of chemical (I use 8oz for 8x10 & 11x14).

The only drawback is when using one of these you're giving the print constant agitation (just like in a drum) which might give higher contrast.

-Mike

 

[Bob F.]

I use the Nova vertical thingy a lot. Choose a developer with some staying power (Neutol, Ilford MG, Ansco 130 etc) and you can just leave it in there for several weeks. Ditto stop bath and fixer. Use low odour stop bath and fixer and you are good to go. As said by others, you can't move it about much once it is full - certainly not pick it up: it will break. If you can't leave it set up in one place in the bathroom then I would not bother - better to use trays on a sheet of wood over the bath in that case.

As for smells in general: most developers don't seem to pong much. Citric acid based stop bath does not smell at all and low-odour fixer is available. As I say, I usually use the Nova vertical slots and the combination of low odour chemicals and the small surface area of the Nova slots means I usually have no need to switch the fans on in my darkroom (some air still circulates via wind between the door and the fan's light baffles). Using open trays, even the low odour fixer may be a bit unpleasant after a while without any ventilation.

Cheers, Bob.

 

[cvik]

Thanks for your comments.
I've decided to go for a thermaphot machine (or similar) capable of 30x40 cm prints, and perhaps one of those color canoes or just a tank for larger prints.

 

[dancqu]

I use the single tray method with one-shot chemistry.
Similar to rotary processing but with one tray rather than
one tube. Dan