My childhood dream

Charzoka · Dec 6, 2018

Don't get me wrong but it was for real. True story!

When I was young my father told me: "Hey, I don't even let anyone wag their finger in my face.".
I'm just joking! I hope you know this line

Anyway, they told me you can't do it, but I did it...f**** them! I did my own darkroom, pardon me, in the kitchen for now, like most of people who started without knowing what that means, and it means WHAT A MESS! But I love it. Don't ask my wife, she is like "I'm OK with that" I'm just wondering for how long hmmmm....

So long story short:
I bought full darkroom for ‎€50! It took me few days to clean/sort out everything. Couple of things are broken, I will try to fix what I can, if it's not fixable it will end up in garbage (broken trays, tongs, papers etc).

After cleaning and "fixing" It was time to buy some fresh papers and turn off the lights! I did some mistakes but hey it is part of the process! It can't be everything perfect.

I must tell you but you probably know that...IT'S SOMETHING SPECIAL! Special feeling when you see image coming visible.
I was jumping like kids last they of school. SOOOO GOOOD!!!

Here is few pictures how it goes. I hope you like it.

Oh yeah enlargers are: Chromega B and Durst M800 with color head + loads of stuff!!!

Greeting from Dublin!

Charzoka & Dobby

I hope I will post regularly here if not you can follow me on instgram
instagram.com/krunodebenc

AgX · Dec 6, 2018

Welcome!

Good to see that some poeple still improvise by means of bathroom/kitchen darkrooom and moreover use what is at hand and do not order the internet up and down.

The Durst enlarger looks bad, but a rubbing of the rusty parts with scouring and treatment afterwards with rust converter likely will make it look quite good.
But more important, what do the lenses look like? At first one would fear the worst.

Helios 1984 · Dec 6, 2018

Welcome to Photrio

I like your setting, you even have an assistant.

absalom1951 · Dec 6, 2018

Welcome to Photrio Charzoka & Dobby,

My wife would not let me use the bathroom , so my first setup was in the basement. The old house has the original stone walls and the height was only 6 feet - that was between floor joists, and I'm 1inch over 6 feet . After bumping my head quite a few times It didn't take me long to build me a darkroom in my garage. .

Looks like you've got a good helper.

Charzoka · Dec 6, 2018

AgX said:
The Durst enlarger looks bad, but a rubbing of the rusty parts with scouring and treatment afterwards with rust converter likely will make it look quite good.
But more important, what do the lenses look like? At first one would fear the worst.

Thanks AgX!

Lens which is on Durst is Schneider-Kreuznach Componon 105mm f5.6 is pretty bad. Have haze and mold all over the place
Lens which is on Chromega is in better shape. It is Durst Neonon 50mm f2.8. That's good because I have a lot of 35mm negatives and they waiting to be printed.

I will try to clean 105mm but I think there is no help at all. Need to sort out another lens for medium format.

Charzoka · Dec 6, 2018

Helios 1984 said:
NewWelcome to Photrio
I like your setting, you even have an assistant.

Thanks! He need to check everything first

Charzoka · Dec 6, 2018

absalom1951 said:
Welcome to Photrio Charzoka & Dobby,
My wife would not let me use the bathroom , so my first setup was in the basement. The old house has the original stone walls and the height was only 6 feet - that was between floor joists, and I'm 1inch over 6 feet . After bumping my head quite a few times It didn't take me long to build me a darkroom in my garage. .
Looks like you've got a good helper.

I hope we will move to another bigger apartment soon. Working on that at the moment. Until then kitchen is place to be. It's kinda bad timing because Christmas coming and we need to make cookies so I will be moved in few days which means disassemble everything

Nothing without Dobby

Pentode · Dec 6, 2018

Welcome!!

Don’t forget to say “It’s magic!!” every time you put the paper in the tray of developer. If you don’t say it it doesn’t work.

Enjoy your darkroom!

Sirius Glass · Dec 6, 2018

My film development is still in the kitchen.

Welcome to ~~APUG~~ Photrio

MattKing · Dec 6, 2018

Welcome to you, Dobby, and in particular your wife - be sure to tell her we appreciate her!
There are many solutions to the temporary darkroom issue.
I refer you to a thread on the subject: https://www.photrio.com/forum/threads/bathroom-and-other-temporary-makeshift-darkrooms.35581/

mshchem · Dec 6, 2018

Awesome treasure . Even better Pup!

Pentode · Dec 6, 2018

Sirius Glass said:
My film development is still in the kitchen.

I would be a lot more comfortable there, but my wife banished me to the basement.
Under NO circumstances are photo chemicals allowed in the kitchen.
On the other hand, she's never complained about the money I spend on photo gear so I really can't complain....

Charzoka · Dec 7, 2018

Pentode said:
Don’t forget to say “It’s magic!!” every time you put the paper in the tray of developer. If you don’t say it it doesn’t work.
Enjoy your darkroom!

MattKing said:
There are many solutions to the temporary darkroom issue.
I refer you to a thread on the subject: https://www.photrio.com/forum/threads/bathroom-and-other-temporary-makeshift-darkrooms.35581/

Hoooh! Thanks for this! I will look into it. Never enough ideas.

Charzoka · Dec 7, 2018

Pentode said:
Welcome!!
Don’t forget to say “It’s magic!!” every time you put the paper in the tray of developer. If you don’t say it it doesn’t work.

"One shaft of light that shows the way
No mortal man can win this day"

It is indeed, pure Magic!

Charzoka · Dec 7, 2018

Sirius Glass said:
My film development is still in the kitchen.

Welcome to ~~APUG~~ Photrio

So basically your kitchen is in your darkroom

Charzoka · Dec 7, 2018

Did some prints last night.

Playing with color head is fun.
Is there any advantages to have filters for contrast or is it same effect with color head (doing with Yellow and Magenta combination)?
I should prorbably ask this in another section of forum

Here are results from last night and I'm trying to improvise dry mount press We will see how this work.

Improvised dry mount press for fiber papers.

winger · Dec 7, 2018

Those are good prints in post #16 (earlier ones are pretty good, too) - great start! For an improvised press, I don't know that you need to worry about the heat as much. I've been known to put prints between pieces of clean mat board and then put several coffee table books on top for a week or two. I also have a dry mount press, but I don't fire it up for everything.

Sirius Glass · Dec 7, 2018

Sirius Glass said:
My film development is still in the kitchen.

Welcome to ~~APUG~~ Photrio

Charzoka said:
So basically your kitchen is in your darkroom

No. Film processing in kitchen, dry darkroom [enlarger, light table and print dryer] in one bedroom, wet darkroom in bathroom, camera storage in another bedroom.

Kodachromeguy · Dec 7, 2018

Welcome to Photrio. Thanks for sharing your pictures of the darkroom. In your first picture, the top stair built as a half-circle is a very interesting architectural detail. I have never seen that before, but I love it. As for your little furry assistant, beware of hairs when you develop film and hang it to dry. Ciao.

My childhood dream

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