I have foot switches, but don't use them as a regular thing. Where they can be really useful is working with panchromatic sheets making copies - much easier to find the switch next to my foot than reach for a button in the full dark.
Do you use a footswitch with your enlarger?
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My Heiland split grade controller came with a foot switch, but I never used it. Reading all those positive reactions I think I will try it next time.
I tried that once but I stepped on it so many times accidentally that I gave it up.
I've used a footswitch for years and wouldn't work without it. I'd planned to put a small piece of glow-tape on it but have never gotten around to it. I have never stepped on it by accident. The one thing I have done is jigger up a holder so it doesn't move (much) relative to one of the enlarger table legs
Similar thread from a few months ago:
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Helpful But Not Necessary...Enlarger Foot Pedal
Since my enlargers are sitting on a wood base and the columns are not supported at the top (like maybe the should), there can be some vibration when touching the counter top, so I like to use a foot pedal to activate the timer. I never attached the support brackets at the top of the column...
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There are only so many darkroom topics. As forum members age they forget they have discussed them before, so they discuss them again. As newcomers come into the hobby, they encounter the problems for the first time, and they discuss them with other newcomers. Old forum members jump in to share their wisdom. The newcomers complain they are being lectured to and leave the forum. The old forum members become indignant and retrench, eventually forgetting they have discussed the topic. The cycle continues.
Meanwhile, with people accidentally stepping on their footswitches so frequently, they are wearing out prematurely with no source off replacement. Does this signal the end of film photography as we know it? The only hope is that an enterprising fellow will invent a footswitch that you can place on your enlarging table and activate with your hand. It is questionable whether he can successfully fund it on Kickstarter. So many old folks have become bitter about their footswitches. That, and nobody can find replacement bulbs for their enlargers. One old forum member suggests using fireflies like in the good old days. Bedlam ensues.
Apropos of old forum members, did you know that a female curmudgeon is referred to as an old trout? Except, of course, in the Urban Dictionary, where every word has a sexual connotation.
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Did that result in better prints, or make it easier to make good prints? I'm an old Time-O-Lite user too. For B&W, my single exposures w/ the budget timer have worked pretty well.
This should be a sticky! I know that if you need a window winder handle for a Volkswagen Rabbit, you need a 321 837 581 A O1C, and if you have to replace the valve guides on a Toyota 2TC engine, you need a .317" reamer to go in and clean things up afterwards. These memories are from 30-40 years ago.
But sometimes I can't remember where I parked the bike a half hour ago .
I used Time-O-Lite timers, which appeared to be standard issue, in the darkrooms I used as a student. When I bought my first house and built my first darkroom in the basement, I got a real timer, though the exact make and model escape me at the moment. I had not yet graduated to a footswitch. I was still young and naive about such things.
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I put my footswitch on the other side of the baseboard from the timer so I can start the timer from either side. Not keen on searching for the switch on the floor with my foot.
But my floor is carpeted. In Los Angeles all multistory multiunit buildings must have all bedrooms carpeted. The extra bedroom is my dry darkroom.
So you couldn't argue it is a darkroom and not a bedroom?
It is a dry darkroom formally known as a bedroom, but for legal purposed related to sound it is still a bedroom and the carpet does not cause any problems.
It took a while until I got used to using it before using it became a habit.
A footswitch is not hard to learn to use. When you were 16 and learning to drive, you probably picked up the whole accelerator and brake thing pretty quickly. I mean it probably didn't take long before you didn't have to look down at your feet or anything. If you never learned to drive, perhaps you've stepped on a roach before.
I move around the darkroom, and sometimes the foot switch moves too. Not quit the same as having the car's pedals always in the same relative position to your feet. I guess if I sat down in front of the enlarger it might be different.
MattKing
Moderator
Perhaps one can only really learn to use a footswitch properly if one has previously learned to drive a vehicle with a manual clutch and transmission!
The footswitch is invaluable to me. But in my case, I don't really have enough dexterity in one of my two hands to reliably start a printing exposure with that hand.
So for me, when there is burning and dodging involved, having a footswitch makes a really big difference. Holding a dodging wand in my teeth doesn't really work.
All of which is to say that a footswitch adds capability - whether or not you make use of that, depends on your choices and preferences.
I agree with what you have said, but would point out that you do not need to use two feet to operate a footswitch as you do to drive a car with a manual transmission.
Speaking of transmissions, does anyone remember pushbutton transmissions? I had a friend who had a Valiant with a pushbutton transmission. It was really dumb. The real problem though was if you were tooling along not paying attention and tried to change the preset radio channel and instead put the car in reverse.
I had a girlfriend who had a push-button Valiant. I'm not sure you could put it in reverse while moving, but the park setting was clever that moved horizontally next to the buttons. On the subject of manual transmissions, I once had a valet come looking for me because he couldn't[t start the car. He did not realize he had to have the clutch pedal depressed for the starter to work, kind of like today's automatic transmission cars that won't start if the brake pedal isn't pushed.
MattKing
Moderator
To drive a manual transmission car, you need to have two talented feet - makes you a perfect candidate for using a footswitch!
To drive a manual transmission car, you need to have two talented feet - makes you a perfect candidate for using a footswitch!
Do you alternate feet when you operate your footswitch or are you just leaving that option open?
MattKing
Moderator
Usually no - but sometimes when a difficult dodge or localized burn makes it more practical to approach the easel from the side ......
Buy some self-adhesive strips of velcro. Put the hook side on the bottom of your footswitch. It will stick to the carpeted floor and you won't have to worry about it moving ever again.
I was joking. I refuse to use emoticons so you are forgiven for not recognizing the humor, such that it was.
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