I lost everything in 2012, so my Dad gave me some cameras.

jovo · Dec 9, 2012

Jack Savage said:
I can't stand the dark. I become petrified and I can't move at all if I'm in a really dark room.

Jack, it's rarely if ever completely dark in the 'darkroom'. When using the enlarger, there is light from that, and immediately when that is switched off, the safelight goes on automatically if it's plugged into a timer that does that kind of switching (nearly all do). The only complete darkness occurs when loading film on a reel, and even that is attenuated a bit by the glow of the florescent hands of certain kinds of clocks. Since you'll be concentrating on getting the film on the reel, there's not much time to dwell on the darkness, and as soon as the film is in the tank, on go the lights again. In fact, doing this often enough may help you overcome your phobia...cognitive therapy. Good luck.

Jack Savage · Dec 9, 2012

Phew! I'm pretty hesitant about this still, but you all don't think the process will take hours and hours to do, do you? D: If I could have my wife & some music in there with me for a short period, I might be able to do this...but.....I really don't think I can if it takes a long amount of time! Eerk.

I'm lucky that once we move back to Arcata, her old art teacher is willing to help us with all of this. I hope I can manage until then! 2 more months..... just 2 more months!

nickrapak · Dec 9, 2012

Since you're still in the Bay Area, I recommend taking the BART over to San Francisco, since there's a lot of film photography stores and a few labs over there. One store that can help you get set up is Glass Key Photo in the Lower Haight; I was there over the summer and they have everything you need from basic color print film to chemicals to develop your own. The owner regularly posts on these forums under the handle tjaded, so send him a PM to get more info. Also nearby is Photoworks, which is a very highly regarded photo lab, although since I've never used their services, I can't personally vouch for them.

P.S. If developing film yourself, you can use a darkroom bag to load the tank in daylight; only your hands are in the dark. When processing, the developing tank is light-tight, so you don't have to be in a completely dark room. As for printing in the dark, I use these red LED floodlights to light up the darkroom: http://www.cyron.com/p-4-lightbulb-par20-15w-replaces-15w.aspx . They're about as bright as a 20w lightbulb, but they deliver an extremely narrow spectrum of light that the photo paper can't "see". I use 2 of them in my darkroom, and have never had a problem with exposed paper.

Jack Savage · Dec 9, 2012

Fantastic! I only know about Looking Glass Photo, over in Berkeley on Telegraph Ave; but they're so overpriced - they took their overpriced items and overpriced the prices they overpriced, I sweat to heaven. And it sucks because I just love their store, and their supplies, and bags, and filters, and softboxes, and...UGH so much WANT!

Thanks for the ref., nickrapak!

Also, @ perkeleelilinen - that has to be the single most amazing DIY thing I've come across. Super-duper helpful. Found one slightly similar on Youtube, minus the black-bag. Super nifty and worth trying - considering I got scared just talking about the darkroom, I do hate the dark!
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fotch · Dec 9, 2012

Hello Jack and welcome to APUG. Good luck with your new adventure in photography.

Sirius Glass · Dec 9, 2012

Jack Savage said:
Wow, you guys are epic today! I've never been on a art forum before , that was nice, constructive, and full of comments. You are totally a first for me! Are all forums this awesome?

...

I have a question that's gonna sound kind of silly to you all, but it's a matter I take pretty seriously (even if it is really embarrassing.) Are any of you Achluophobic? I suffer from *severe* Achluophobia, I can't stand the dark.

Sirius Glass said:
You do not need a darkroom to develop film, just a dark place to load the film into the tank, like a changing bag. And now a shameless plug for one of APUGs sponsors:
http://www.freestylephoto.biz/322730-Arista-Changing-Bag-27-in.-x-30-in.
http://www.freestylephoto.biz/25001-Photoflex-Changing-Room

jovo said:
Jack, it's rarely if ever completely dark in the 'darkroom'. When using the enlarger, there is light from that, and immediately when that is switched off, the safelight goes on automatically if it's plugged into a timer that does that kind of switching (nearly all do). The only complete darkness occurs when loading film on a reel, and even that is attenuated a bit by the glow of the florescent hands of certain kinds of clocks. Since you'll be concentrating on getting the film on the reel, there's not much time to dwell on the darkness, and as soon as the film is in the tank, on go the lights again. In fact, doing this often enough may help you overcome your phobia...cognitive therapy. Good luck.

Jack,

When I do black & white work in the darkroom, the room is never dark. The safe light is always on.

For color work, I load the tank in "Changing Room" bag and then the film is processed in daylight with a Jobo processor. I have the ability to print color in my darkroom and the room is dark while taking out the paper, placing the paper in the easel, the enlarger light exposes the paper, and then in the dark I load the tank with the paper. Then the paper is processes in daylight by the Jobo processor. I would recommend that you process the color film using the changing bag and a processor and then take the film to an optical only photo processing company such as http://goldencolor.com/

You can continue to do and enjoy photography with your problem.

Sirius

rbeech · Dec 9, 2012

Freestyle Sales Co is a photographic supply firm located in Los Angeles. They cater to photographers who sill like to use film.
They are very helpful.

Thomas Bertilsson · Dec 9, 2012

One amber colored safelight makes a darkroom pretty bright. If you get a couple or three of them, after a while it seems like daylight almost.

largely · Dec 9, 2012

Hello Jack,

Here's a pic of my printing area with nothing but the safelight. Note that you can easily read the clock on the wall.

Analog photography is the most peaceful and rewarding way I've found to fulfill my need to create. I hope it does the same for you.

Good luck to you.

Larry

sly · Dec 9, 2012

It doesn't sound like you are going to be setting up a darkroom any time soon. Send your stuff out and concentrate on the shooting end of photography at first. Learn your cameras. Keep your eyes and ears peeled for developing tanks and a dark bag or tent. Once you are ready to tackle film developing, only your hands need to be in the dark to load the film, then the tank lets you develop with all the lights on. You can scan the negs, or have them printed. Once you've got that under your belt, and have connected with local photographers you can decide if you want to tackle a darkroom and printing. I love working in the darkroom (the isolation, my own little space) but there are lots of folks here on APUG who just shoot film for the love of it, and stay away from the chemical side of things.

Two23 · Dec 9, 2012

For color film, take that to a Walgreens or Walmart and ask them to process only and then make you a CD. That will give you digital photos to work with. In the long run, economically you might be better off with an inexpensive point & shoot camera such as a Canon S95 or cheaper. Meanwhile, shooting b&w in old cameras is a lot of fun.

Kent in SD

Bill Burk · Dec 9, 2012

Welcome Jack,

While I love the dark, I also use an IR goggle. You don't need that kind of expense right now, but they are within reach these days... Back in the old days the technology was outrageously expensive. Now good ones are just a few hundred bucks, or for under a hundred if you get a "toy".

mooseontheloose · Dec 9, 2012

Hi Jack -- Welcome to APUG!

I hope you enjoy your first real foray into film! In all honesty, I think, as others as have said, probably the best thing for you to do now would be:

1. Learn your new cameras, and send the film out for developing. If things go wrong, your own development mistakes would be less one variable.
2. Once you are set up in your new place, consider developing yourself. This used to itimidate me, but it's really easy. I've been developing my own film since 2007 (any surprise that's when I joined APUG?) and I have always loaded my film in a changing bag. Most places I've lived have made it impossible to have a completely dark room, and to be honest, I get nervous when trying to do things in complete darkness, so prefer the changing bag. Just make sure you get a big one -- smaller ones can be awkward and heat up quickly!
3. Working in a darkroom is a lot of fun, but you'll have to determine whether the safelights are enough for you to feel comfortable. If not, there's nothing wrong with having a hybrid workflow (off-topic for APUG, but a lot of people do it here).

Good luck!

tkamiya · Dec 9, 2012

Jack,

I know about phobia... I'm severely clausterphobic. I can't get into some small darkroom because of that.

There's an easy remedy for your problem though. To process film, the only part that require complete darkness is when you open the film canister and load it into a development tank. You can do that in a changing bag (I think that's what it's called) which is like a giant light proof long sleeve t-shirt with the body opening closed shut. You stick your hand into the sleeve backwards. Inside remains dark and you open the canister and wind the film into dark by just touch. You, on the other hand, remain in a lit area. Once that's done, everything can be done in a lit room. When you get to a stage where you are going to print your images, you can get a pretty bright safe light. It's a bit expensive but there are some that are quite bright, almost like night light bright. It's called "Thomas safelight" and you can buy them second hand. It's so incredibly bright. So there are ways around your problem.

This is what chagne bag looks like:
http://www.freestylephoto.biz/25001-Photoflex-Changing-Room
http://www.freestylephoto.biz/322730-Arista-Changing-Bag-27-in.-x-30-in.?cat_id=1603

You'll find APUG forum and members are usually quite helpful and willing to help you in more ways than you'll encounter on a typical Internet forum. We have members sharing "stuff" if someone needed an obscure part to fix something. Personally, I've given away some of my stuff and also received some. Also, we communicate via personal messages if something cannot be/should not be discussed openly. Stick around and you'll enjoy it.

MattKing · Dec 9, 2012

Jack:

Welcome.

Just in case you missed it, two of your three cameras (the Canon and the Retina) use standard, readily available 35mm film that is still easily developed at a number of locations.

And as for darkroom work, which I enjoy thoroughly, I started working in a darkroom over 4 decades ago, at age 11. I say this to give you confidence that it can be done.

lxdude · Dec 10, 2012

Welcome, Jack. Your name just made this website more cool.

JBrunner · Dec 10, 2012

I can't wait to yell hi to you in an airplane. Badumpa!

Welcome to APUG.

Loading and developing black and white film can be done with you completely in the light. Only the film needs to be in total darkness.

Here's a series of four videos that totally demonstrate the process. The guy in the video is a little creepy, but the info is ok.

(there was a url link here which no longer exists)

Newt_on_Swings · Dec 10, 2012

Welcome Jack! You should grab a few books and get started with black and white, its really quite affordable when you develop and print yourself. I recommend H. Horenstein's a Basic Manual to black and white photography. There are tons of copies in libraries, and for cheap used on amazon. It covers much of the basics of cameras, developing, and printings, and good examples of each. There are many more great books such as beyond monochome, or the edge of darkness, that you should take a look at too if your in the same area in the library.

Plus you can always come here to ask any questions you have as well!

Helinophoto · Dec 11, 2012

Welcome ^^

If I was you, I would definately begin by shooting and sending away for developing, moving pretty quickly over to developing the film myself (and scanning or sending away for printing).

The darkroom-printing process is something you can ponder about after you've gotten your feet wet, there is a lot of fun to be had just shooting and developing your own film. (quite empowering feeling, knowing you are a "self-contained", hard-core "negative film-maker") ^^

And as the others say, you can process your film in full daylight, using a changing bag to get the film out of the canister and onto the spool and into the developing tank.

BardParker · Dec 11, 2012

+1 on Jason Brunner's Videos on developing film. That's how I got started this past summer. Excellent! Get the freestyle changing bag. You can do it! Easy Peasy Lemon Squeezy!

Kent

JBrunner said:
I can't wait to yell hi to you in an airplane. Badumpa!

Welcome to APUG.

Loading and developing black and white film can be done with you completely in the light. Only the film needs to be in total darkness.

Here's a series of four videos that totally demonstrate the process. The guy in the video is a little creepy, but the info is ok.

(there was a url link here which no longer exists)

pbromaghin · Dec 11, 2012

Wow, you really caused a stir today. And to answer another of your questions, no, other fora are not as friendly and civil as this one. What passes for a flame war here is pretty tame.

If you can make Mac & Cheese, you can process B&W film. I started a couple years ago and videos like Jbrunner's helped a lot. A good place to find books is Goodwill.

Nobody but stupid fools like us want this stuff any more, and bags. tanks, and reels seem to never wear out. So if you look around, all the equipment you need will be available for very little money - fractions of what it originally cost. I did a lot of calculating before starting this and decided that getting into film as a serious hobby would be MUCH cheaper than digital over my remaining lifetime.

I lost everything in 2012, so my Dad gave me some cameras.

jovo

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