Options for darkroom improvements: where should I go first?

[pallo]

I’m considering a number of options to improve my darkroom. This is part of an attempt to direct my wish to buy new stuff to strategies that will help me to better use what I already have.

My current darkroom is rather simple. It’s a small space (1,3 by 2,3 meter) with a Durst 670 enlarger and a 20x25cm (8x10 inch) Nova black and white vertical slot processor. I wash my prints in a separate space. This suits me well. I’m happy with 13x18 cm as my main format with the option to print a bit larger.

Perhaps also relevant to state that I almost exclusively print on fiber-based paper.

These are the options I consider:
1. Replace the simple Kaiser safelight by a better 1m led-strip. This would mostly enhance comfort.
2. Replace the Durst Laborator timer (digital, but otherwise pretty basic) with something more fancy such as the RH Design Stopclock Pro. This makes sense as I miss the ability to memorise several times and do sometimes use splitgrade printing. Having a pedal would also be nice.
3. Buy a masking easel. For the past 30 years I managed with a reproduction board with magnetic strips. This works well because I always print the full negative, but prevents me from printing with clean borders.
4. Invest in an archival washer, but considering the small size of my prints this does not make all that much sense.
5. Improve the drying process of prints. Here, I could consider building / buying drying racks or getting a heating press. The latter would be used for other purposes as well.

As I see it now, option 1 offers a good balance between affordability and a tangible outcome, whereas option 2 would probably yield a more drastic improvement in productivity (easy f-stop printing) but at a much higher price. The remaining options are probably less relevant given the small size of my prints, although the drying process deserves some attention.

What are your experiences with investments in darkroom that deliver most both in pure productivity as in comfort and pleasure to use?

 

[koraks]

Define the problem. Determine criteria for solutions. Identify potential solutions. Compare solutions against criteria. Choose & implement.

You're now going backwards IMO. My advice: start from the top. What's the problem?

 

[Don_ih]

I'd pick whatever's most irritating and attempt to fix that. The timer -- can't see any reason to replace it. The easel? Yeah, get one of those.

 

[pallo]

In terms of “most irritating” or “most tangible problem” I would identify the safe light, or rather the combination of safe light and white light I use for evaluating prints. Now I have to reach outside of my darkroom (no door, only a curtain) to switch the light on and off.

Installing a led-strip with both red and white light (e.g. Heiland electronic led) would at once lead to more even light while printing and make the checking of prints less cumbersome

 

[wiltw]

Define the problem. Determine criteria for solutions. Identify potential solutions. Compare solutions against criteria. Choose & implement.

You're now going backwards IMO. My advice: start from the top. What's the problem?

1. Address the worst problem first.
2. Make the biggest improvement (in what simply 'works OK') next.
3. Simply indulge yourself last.

 

[Paul Howell]

I don't see much reason to update your set up, well a decent archival washer would be a nice addition, but seems space is an issue. A set of stacking screens for drying? I have set of expanding window screens that I stack to dry prints, as I live the desert her in the U.S I dry on my patio. What head do you have on your Drust, if you have a standard condenser head then maybe a color or VC head.

 

[pallo]

I wash and dry prints in a separate, much larger part of the basement. An archival washer or screens for drying would surely be an option there. Screens for drying would probably be the bigger improvement.