Is it worth listing photographic darkroom equipment in classified or ebay?

I have been out of the industry for over 15 years. I used to own a photographic lab and when I close I put everything in 3 10x20 storage units. It is time to clean them out as the cost is not worth keeping any longer.

My question is do I haul to the dumps or try to list on classified or ebay?

With digital now upon us and going strong are there people who are doing RA4? I suspect Black and White is still around. When I was in business we used color heads(durst, Bessler, omega) and projected down onto easel or paper roll easels. We would then walk and put them in an RA processor. (I had two 50" and 26"-no longer have the 50")

I would be interested in knowing if people still have darkrooms? If so, what are they processing, Color, Blackwhite? Do they still get chemical from Kodak or Fuji? I would love to hear some feedback regarding the industry status?

Thanks in advance

Chuck

You're going to make a lot of people on this board cry if you just haul it to the dump. It's a bit too far away for me, and selling it off piece by piece will require a lot of effort on your part - more than anybody could ever ask of you. Prices have risen after hitting bottom a couple years ago. There will be some very thoughtful replies on their way soon.

Become a subscriber and sell it here.

If you put it on eBay put a reserve on the items.

Darkroom's still exist, and gear is in demand, but it varies greatly by region.

I seem to run into far more film users doing black and white, but colour work is still there. Colour printing might be lagging a bit more than black and white due to hybrid workflows - Scanning colour negative/slide film to edit on computer and all that to avoid dealing with colour shift in analog processing.

One of the problems faced by artists is getting reliable gear to work with - given that so much equipment has been abused, or shuffled around in storage over the years, and combined with people entering and leaving the field at random, the supply and demand for it becomes extremely variable. Combined with the difficulty in easily shipping the bigger stuff any distance, and darkroom gear becomes a weird market. Your area may have had a gear-dump in the last while and have been locally flooded in the last while, or you could see everyone hanging on to it in forgotten storage spaces for the past decade or more and people who want it are starved for good equipment.

Get in touch with your local arts council or community groups, and get the word out that you're looking to unload darkroom gear.

At the very least, offer it out for free to anyone who wants to haul it all away for you before you lug anything to the dump yourself. [Assuming you don't have any hazardous waste still kicking around - Be kind, and deal with that yourself.]

"At the very least, offer it out for free to anyone who wants to haul it all away for you before you lug anything to the dump yourself"

Honestly, that is why I posted this question. For me the financial value is min, but it just the idea that if someone can use the equipment I would rather it make someone happy. I remember when I was in high school taking the bus to Berkley to pay for a little omega enlarger so I could do my own black and white in my bathroom. I miss those days.

I will take some picture and post them in the classified and see what happens. I am just glad to see the industry and supplies are still around. It has been a long time and I now work with computers so I really do not see traditional printing.

Thanks to all those that responded above. Also to the moderators who allowed me to post.

Please, please, please try not to discard good darkroom gear if you can avoid it. Plenty of darkroom users / owners here and on other forums. Seems to be more folks processing color film than printing, but many who process B/W also print in the darkroom. Even color heads are useful for B/W printing. Kodak, Ilford, Fuji and many smaller manufacturers currently produce film, paper and chemicals. The drastic drop in film use from 10-20 years ago has leveled-out in the past few years, so there are still many dedicated film shooters looking for quality gear. Even expired film is popular. Put a fair price on it and it'll get snatched-up quick!

I've had a B/W darkroom at home for the past 15 years, processing 35mm, 120 and LF films. Just recently started shooting dry plates and will probably make the jump to 8x10 soon.

Cheers!

I am in Los Angeles and if you have the right darkroom equipment available, I will drive to get it from you.

cc4digital2 said:

I have been out of the industry for over 15 years. I used to own a photographic lab and when I close I put everything in 3 10x20 storage units. It is time to clean them out as the cost is not worth keeping any longer.

My question is do I haul to the dumps or try to list on classified or ebay?

With digital now upon us and going strong are there people who are doing RA4? I suspect Black and White is still around. When I was in business we used color heads(durst, Bessler, omega) and projected down onto easel or paper roll easels. We would then walk and put them in an RA processor. (I had two 50" and 26"-no longer have the 50")

I would be interested in knowing if people still have darkrooms? If so, what are they processing, Color, Blackwhite? Do they still get chemical from Kodak or Fuji? I would love to hear some feedback regarding the industry status?

Thanks in advance

Chuck

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if you think the value is so little that it's not worth paying for storage, otherswill unlikely pay good money for it but, it's worth a try.However, I would try the Classifieds here first.

Welcome to Photrio.
If you are going to sell it here, you will need to first pay the relatively small sum for a subscription here.
I believe that non-subscribing members do have access to the "Free Stuff" listing sub-forum here: https://www.photrio.com/forum/forums/classifieds-free-stuff.332/

For a non US person, originating from the Antipodes where is Riverside? I Assume it is not te suburb of Adelaide South Australia.

Oxleyroad said:

For a non US person, originating from the Antipodes where is Riverside? I Assume it is not te suburb of Adelaide South Australia.

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Just a few miles from Springfield I think...

Are you in Riverside, CA? Like Sirius I would make the drive (from LA). I have a darkroom and enjoy printing RA4.

Oxleyroad said:

For a non US person, originating from the Antipodes where is Riverside? I Assume it is not te suburb of Adelaide South Australia.

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I so wish it was - it's like Death Valley here for darkroom equipment!!!

cc4digital2 said:

It is time to clean them out as the cost is not worth keeping any longer.

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Everbody processes and prints film, here in the Analog Workflow Forums (100% Analog/Traditional): Darkroom: B&W: Film, Paper, Chemistry Forum. Where are you located? Are you giving away or selling?