Lack of space is no excuse for not having a darkoom?

Svenedin said:

My house is old and my darkroom also has 2 doors and a large sash window. The room is maybe 9 feet x 7 feet but the window is as big as any on the front of the house. It also faces due South, the worst possible for a darkroom. For the window I had a blackout blind custom made. This is the type of blind that runs in side channels and has a header and a footer. Even then it was not good enough so there are heavy, long, lined curtains over the blind. For the doors I put up poles and curtains. It is good enough for printing during the day. For loading film on reels it is only dark enough at night or in a changing bag just to be sure. It can be done!

Click to expand...

Hi Svenedin,

If you can just put a picture of how your doors are set up, i will be very grateful. Thanks!

Dear Flavio. Hopefully this gives you an idea of the setup. I do not have water so I put the prints in a bucket and then carry the bucket to the bathroom where I wash the prints. By the way the bottle of gin has Xtol in it not gin! Regards, Stephen

Aha, excellent idea! MANY THANKS from this side of the world!!

PS: That was a really quick answer...

No problem at all.

Through my 70+ years in photography I have had darkrooms of all sizes and in many locations. the first was in back of a coal burning furnace in a dirt basement. I had one inan attic which required carrying water up , and waste down.the smallest was 30 inches by 80 inches in which i had two enlargers, one a 5x7, trays were stacked, and my washer could handle 20 11x14 prints. I once adapted a bathtub, but that had to be set up and taken down each session, so I didn't like it.
My point is - a darkroom can be placed almost anywhere, with or without running water. To repeat a previous post "Where there's a will there's a way."

There are 2 other options to avoid the space consuming problem of trays, especially as you go up in size.

#1 - Rocking tray; Honeywell Rocking Print Tray or Heath/Mitchell Color Canoe. Made in 8x10 and 11x14 sizes. I don't know if they made them in larger sizes. They are hard to find, but well worth it when you do. The rocking print tray allows you to see the print as it develops, somewhat similar to using an open tray.
I used the rocking print tray in a small half bath darkroom, with less than 3 feet of counter/sink space.

#2 - Drums. With the drum you can expose and load the drum in the small darkroom, then take the drum out to a larger room to do the actual processing in room light. Or use a motorized or roller base and use the drum in your small darkroom. The disadvantage is you cannot see the print as it is developed, so you have to expose and develop to a timer. I've managed to collect 8x10, 11x14 and 16x20 drums; though I am limited to a max of 11x14 in my small half-bath darkroom, because that I as big as my enlarger will do in that small space.

Or perhaps you have a biggish closet!
I have just enough space for a chair to setup the enlarger and there is room for 3 8x10 trays, I started with 5x7 trays in this picture until I realized it bit 8x10 just. I wash prints in my bathroom. And for larger prints (up to 16x20) I use drums and a uniroller. I started doing all print development in drums, but developing in trays is a lot more fun! In fact I really have to push myself to use the drums now, even though larger prints can be quite nice.
The other day I was even contemplating stacked 11x14 trays but alas, I doubt it will fit, and it's a closet in my bedroom I don't want to risk any chemical spills in there.
I've also thought of making my bathroom a darkroom, but besides the blanking out of the window I don't like the idea of leaving my enlarger in that everyday humid environment. And carrying a big and heavy enlarger that just fits through the doorway in and out every time seems awkward too. But maybe one day!

The first darkroom I worked in was the Wardroom Pantry on a Sturgeon Class Fast attack Nuclear submarine. I would get about 4 hours to work between Midnight and 0600.
I had to take all my gear out of storage lockers, including my disassembled enlarger, set everything up, mix chemicals if needed and then make my prints. The space was less than 6' wide and only about 8 foot long but not all of that was usable for darkroom work.
Underway "on station" I'd be in the dark room 5-6 nights a week. Alternating nights between processing the latest 100' long rolls of 70mm film shot through the periscope camera and printing "the good stuff" to keep the captain happy.
I cannot for the life of me remember the make/model of the machine I used but It took a "kit" of Kodak branded chemicals and took 45 minutes to an hour to set up and get to temp and then close to an hour to run a 100' roll through it, if everything went right.
When I was done for the night everything had to be broken down, cleaned up, dried and stowed away. Leaving the pantry clean and fit for food perpetration.
Outside of extreme situations, if you want to set up a darkroom, it can be done.

That cart is awesome! I need to quit whining to myself and get busy.

Svenedin said:

Good idea. I am also getting a slot processor because I have no room for trays to process bigger than 8"x10" unless I use the floor. I also waste chemicals, especially developer. It goes off in hours in an open tray so a darkroom session of an hour or two in the evening means it is usually bad by the next evening. It also discourages me from setting up for just a few prints.

Click to expand...

Try Liquidol developer from the Formulary. Comes as a liquid concentrate, engineered to last like crazy, and I think it's a better looking dev than Dektol to boot.

After a session, I pour the tray into a chemical jug, give it a spray of freon, and even weeks later it's still going strong. I've got a batch that's been mixed and stored for months now. I do a quick strip test to make sure it's still giving maximum blacks, if it seems weak I splash a tad more concentrate in. I'll keep using it until it just looks like thick dirty yellow, or if I have a special print or a bromoil matrix to do. (I do mostly lith printing, so I use Liquidol for bromoil matrices, testing film and dev, testing fixer, making contact prints, or if my kids want a quick print of something).

M Carter said:

Try Liquidol developer from the Formulary. Comes as a liquid concentrate, engineered to last like crazy, and I think it's a better looking dev than Dektol to boot.

After a session, I pour the tray into a chemical jug, give it a spray of freon, and even weeks later it's still going strong. I've got a batch that's been mixed and stored for months now. I do a quick strip test to make sure it's still giving maximum blacks, if it seems weak I splash a tad more concentrate in. I'll keep using it until it just looks like thick dirty yellow, or if I have a special print or a bromoil matrix to do. (I do mostly lith printing, so I use Liquidol for bromoil matrices, testing film and dev, testing fixer, making contact prints, or if my kids want a quick print of something).

Click to expand...

Thank you for the tip but unfortunately I am not in the USA. I have now secured a Nova slot processor which I hope will make my darkroom a more pleasant environment to work in and eventually pay for itself in reduced wasted chemicals.

Neat idea.

My enlarger (Durst M305) actually lives in the spare bedroom of my mother's house...she drapes an old curtain over it so guests can't see this "undesirable" object.

Anyway, in that small bedroom there is a single bed, small chest of drawers, a wardrobe and not much space. The enlarger sits on a computer desk and has space for one tray beside it. I can clear the bedside table and fit a second tray there. Clear a TV off the chest of drawers for a 3rd tray. I usually print 5x7 but have done 12x16. So I have the enlarger and a safelight on the desk, and put newspaper on the floor to catch any drips as I move the print between trays. Then the fixed print goes into the bathroom (10 feet away, on the same floor) for washing.

What I find works really well for darkening the room is taping aluminium cooking foil over the window. My mother refuses to let me put blackout blinds or curtains in there, and it is her house so her choice. I can black out the windows effectively with foil in minutes, and remove it when I'm done.

Home just doesn't include enough space. But I do my film developing at home in the bathroom, utilising a changing bag to load spirals. In theory I could use the kitchen at home as a darkroom but the wife wouldn't be too happy...and I really have nowhere to store the enlarger.