DIY darkroom print viewing station

caml · Dec 18, 2020

Anyone set up a cheaper alternative to the very expensive daylight balanced print viewing stations in their darkroom ? I’m thinking of building a panel that hangs above my print viewing wall. I can go outside during the day to view prints but when it’s evening my light in my darkroom is slightly warm, making it difficult to see the true color of my prints.
Would love to know or hear anyone’s solutions for their color darkroom.

Tom Kershaw · Dec 18, 2020

caml said:
Would love to know or hear anyone’s solutions for their color darkroom.

When I've printed colour, I've just viewed the prints under the tungsten light of my darkroom but then also under good quality fluorescent light, and made a comparison from that.

koraks · Dec 18, 2020

I'm using 5000K white led strips in my darkroom. For more critical prints, I view them under diffuse daylight. If I were to set up a decent viewing station today, I'd pick some high-CRI 5000-5200K leds and diffuse those.

radiant · Dec 18, 2020

I have been thinking doing some kind of viewing station too.

I would like to "integrate" some well done print so I could compare to "baseline" too. I've also found out that viewing at dim light shows how well the photo works on challenging lightning conditions. If one views in bright light then low light appearance mightsurprise in negative way.

koraks · Dec 18, 2020

vedostuu said:
If one views in bright light then low light appearance mightsurprise in negative way

Vice versa as well. Perhaps it's a good idea to make the light level controllable.

RalphLambrecht · Dec 18, 2020

caml said:
Anyone set up a cheaper alternative to the very expensive daylight balanced print viewing stations in their darkroom ? I’m thinking of building a panel that hangs above my print viewing wall. I can go outside during the day to view prints but when it’s evening my light in my darkroom is slightly warm, making it difficult to see the true color of my prints.
Would love to know or hear anyone’s solutions for their color darkroom.

I use a simple 60 W fluorescent bulb a distance of about 5-6 feet. That gives me an illumination there is similar to where the prints are actually displayed.

radiant · Dec 19, 2020

koraks said:
Vice versa as well. Perhaps it's a good idea to make the light level controllable.

Yes, two-way switch to switch from "gallery" to "dim room".

RalphLambrecht said:
I use a simple 60 W fluorescent bulb a distance of about 5-6 feet. That gives me an illumination there is similar to where the prints are actually displayed.

Are you prints always illuminated same way?

Frank53 · Dec 19, 2020

I use a 32W, 5000k 60x60cm ledpanel in the ceiling. That’s a lot of light and enough to have a good look at the prints.

DIY darkroom print viewing station

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