Reference notes you post in your darkroom

Omid_K · 2025-07-28T14:05:22-0400

What notes do you have posted for reference in your darkroom? It may be because I don't often get a chance to print/develop and I need refresher notes or it may just be because I'm a nerd but I have notes around both my wet and dry areas to reference. Generally these are made by me but some are copied from various resources. All are laminated (nerdy).

Wet area notes
-Development times for HC110
-Development times for C41/E6
-Dilutions for various volumes
-Printing times and dilutions

Dry area notes
-Color head settings that correspond with filters
-F Stop chart from Way Beyond Monochrome

I still need to make a form showing what enlarger lens I need for various size negatives (I print from 35mm up to 4x5 and I have to google this every single time) as well as a cheat sheet on toggling different settings/functions of my RH Designs Analyzer Pro. I'd also like to make a sheet or two that gets me started quickly. Essentially I'd like something that told me that for each negative size there was a shorthand for each print size that would give me starting points such as enlarger height, lens, and anything else that might get me printing more efficiently.

My question to you is, what types of notes do you have printed around your darkroom and why?

Thanks,
Omid

Pieter12 · 2025-07-28T14:43:14-0400

Omid_K said:
What notes do you have posted for reference in your darkroom? It may be because I don't often get a chance to print/develop and I need refresher notes or it may just be because I'm a nerd but I have notes around both my wet and dry areas to reference. Generally these are made by me but some are copied from various resources. All are laminated (nerdy).

Wet area notes
-Development times for HC110
-Development times for C41/E6
-Dilutions for various volumes
-Printing times and dilutions

Dry area notes
-Color head settings that correspond with filters
-F Stop chart from Way Beyond Monochrome

I still need to make a form showing what enlarger lens I need for various size negatives (I print from 35mm up to 4x5 and I have to google this every single time) as well as a cheat sheet on toggling different settings/functions of my RH Designs Analyzer Pro. I'd also like to make a sheet or two that gets me started quickly. Essentially I'd like something that told me that for each negative size there was a shorthand for each print size that would give me starting points such as enlarger height, lens, and anything else that might get me printing more efficiently.

My question to you is, what types of notes do you have printed around your darkroom and why?

Thanks,
Omid

A handy note/chart I have posted by my Omega D5 is the bellows extension for each range of lenses. And I keep a post-it on the fixer jug to record how many rolls have been done, as well as a note for how many prints have been made with the current developer.

retina_restoration · 2025-07-28T14:47:05-0400

I have notes pinned up for the recipes for a few of my most often used developers, like Thornton 2-Bath and PMK.

Saganich · 2025-07-28T14:56:48-0400

written on the wall: 75 = 24. 75F is usual temp of the room so every process starts there.

I sharpie tally marks on working bottles to indicate number of rolls and prints processed.

bernard_L · 2025-07-28T15:19:49-0400

Temperature-time compensation chart from Ilford. I compensate based on the temperature at half the nominal time; so need quick & easy access to that chart.

MattKing · 2025-07-28T15:23:24-0400

Two:
Courtesy of @RalphLambrecht 's Way Beyond Monochrome, an f-stop printing table - which he has kindly shared here before:

And a test print progression that is a practical progression of 1/2 stop exposure times that I created myself.

koraks · 2025-07-28T15:28:11-0400

retina_restoration said:
I have notes pinned up for the recipes for a few of my most often used developers, like Thornton 2-Bath and PMK.

I used to have that in my previous darkroom. Notes all over the place, ranging from recipes for stuff like Van Dyke brown to pyrocat to filter values for color films used, collodion formulas...the works. Then we moved and I decided I wanted things to look a little quieter. So the notes are gone, but the computer now has a more prominent place in the darkroom. So whenever needed, I look up e.g. developer formulas which I keep in Excel files, massive dev chart is always easy enough to pull up and I've got direct access to the archive of digital & scanned images for reference. Overall I like it better this way, although the notes had sort of a comfy feel to it, too.

gordrob · 2025-07-28T15:38:18-0400

I have a small white board on the wet side to keep notes for different processes and replenishment rates for developers. On the dry side I use post-it-notes on the wall for whatever is important at the time.

Kino · 2025-07-28T15:43:52-0400

On the back of the darkroom door: "Did you turn the Safe lights OFF?".

BHuij · 2025-07-28T15:52:26-0400

I actually have a lot... I made up some decent looking ones in Google Sheets, exported them as PDFs, and had them printed at Staples on nice paper and in color before mounting them to the wall for easy reference.

Film dev times for (N-1), (N), (N+1), and (N+2) for all of the B&W film and developer combos I regularly use. Actually time I updated this, since I've added Pyrocat HD(C) as a preferred developer for 120 FP4+...
Full instructions with temps/times/agitation for the various color film development I do (C-41 film in ECN-2 chemistry, ECN-2 film in ECN-2 chemistry, E6 film in HC-110 + ECN-2 chemistry)
Recipes for all the DIY stuff I keep on hand (ECN-2 dev/bleach/fix/stabilizer, Instant Mytol, E-72 paper developer)
An expanded stop-based printing chart with base times from 4 to 64 seconds in 1/12 stops, and +/- 2 stops dodging and burning in 1/3 stop increments, right next to my enlarger control panel
Process notes with quantities for various print sizes to make Kallitypes on HPR. Also have one up for New Cyanotype, though I've given up on that process for now and will be trying traditional cyanotype instead at some future point

I also have a dry erase whiteboard between the enlarger and the sink, which I will frequently use to sketch out dodge/burn schemes, or take down quick temporary notes while I work towards making work prints or final prints.

And I keep records of all my B&W printing in a spreadsheet, with a page built out to easily print them on an index card, so I can spit out a handful of those and stick them to the whiteboard with a magnet if I'm going into a print session needing to come out with specific prints and specific sizes that I've already made in the past.

I'm religious about keeping detailed notes in pencil on the back of my test strips and work prints so I can examine them and learn from them when the paper is dry and I can look at it under brighter room lights outside of the darkroom.

All of this is probably overkill, but I am a data engineer and analyst by trade, so I guess my tendency towards wanting to live in a world where useful data is available has translated into my hobbies

Chuck1 · 2025-07-28T15:54:30-0400

I have cloth strips hanging down from cast iron heating pipes that were set at forehead height, and try to remember to walk stooped over

Doremus Scudder · 2025-07-28T17:39:38-0400

Let's see...

A sticky-note on the wall behind the enlarger that I use most for flashing with threshold times and apertures for various papers with various filtrations

A sticky-note on the wall behind my most-used enlarger with proper-proofing times and apertures for various paper/film combinations

A 30%- and 20%-increment test-strip sequence starting at 10 seconds (this in lieu of f-stop printing, which I think is overly-complicate and fiddly)

Spoon recipes for my most used print developers (D-72 and ID-62)

On the inside of a cabinet door, a printed page with developing times for various film/developer combinations from N-2 through N+2 as well as SLIMT times for extreme contractions

Reminders to turn off safelights, heat and water valves when I leave

That's about it.

Best,

Doremus

BHuij · 2025-07-28T18:00:47-0400

Doremus Scudder said:
Let's see...

A sticky-note on the wall behind the enlarger that I use most for flashing with threshold times and apertures for various papers with various filtrations

Have you found your paper is consistent from batch to batch with pre-flashing times?

I have only one negative (that I print with any amount of regularity) that requires preflashing. I buy Ilford MG FB Glossy paper in various sizes and usually in 10, 25, or 100 sheet boxes, depending on the size and whatnot.

When I first wrestled that negative into submission and figured out how to get a good print, I took really careful notes on my preflashing (enlarger height, contrast grade, lens, aperture, times), which I dialed in using 8x10 paper. A year or so later, with the same type of paper but a different batch, I tried to make the print again without re-testing preflash times or doing new test strips, and found that the amount of preflashing needed was different. Not hugely different, but different enough that I wasn't happy with the result on attempt #1, despite having exactly the same process. I've often wondered what caused that, and differences in paper batches seems like the most direct explanation once I ruled out process error. Occam's razor and all that. Suppose it's possible my notes from the first time were inaccurate.

Taurabon · 2025-07-28T18:38:37-0400

Although it's not a memo, I write the date on a snippet of roll film and stick it on the door of my film dryer to compare the level of fatigue of the fixer the next time I process it.
Also, just like everyone else, I record the number of times I use the stock solution.

Steve Goldstein · 2025-07-28T19:12:11-0400

BHuij said:
Have you found your paper is consistent from batch to batch with pre-flashing times?

I have only one negative (that I print with any amount of regularity) that requires preflashing. I buy Ilford MG FB Glossy paper in various sizes and usually in 10, 25, or 100 sheet boxes, depending on the size and whatnot.

When I first wrestled that negative into submission and figured out how to get a good print, I took really careful notes on my preflashing (enlarger height, contrast grade, lens, aperture, times), which I dialed in using 8x10 paper. A year or so later, with the same type of paper but a different batch, I tried to make the print again without re-testing preflash times or doing new test strips, and found that the amount of preflashing needed was different. Not hugely different, but different enough that I wasn't happy with the result on attempt #1, despite having exactly the same process. I've often wondered what caused that, and differences in paper batches seems like the most direct explanation once I ruled out process error. Occam's razor and all that. Suppose it's possible my notes from the first time were inaccurate.

Perhaps it's the developer?

I track my developer usage (I use Ansco 130 1+1) and have noticed that I need about 1/6 stop more exposure beginning roughly after I processed about 15-18 11x14 prints in 2 liters of working solution. The falloff happens later if the solution is newer (less than 2-3 weeks old). I store all solutions in appropriately-sized glass bottles.

I've not noticed any significant variability between paper lots, but I don't often do fancier stuff like flashing that might be more likely to show this. Also, I tend to use up boxes of paper in less than two years, and it never gets hot in my darkroom (and downright chilly in winter when I'm not using it).

Back to the original topic, I have time/temperature tables in 1-degree Fahrenheit increments for both paper and film on the wall. I find them much easier to read than the Kodak or Ilford charts.

MARTIE · 2025-07-29T03:06:14-0400

A quote, not mine:

"Always go too far."

As a reminder in the darkroom when making test strips. There's got to be "too light" and "too dark".
Saves me time, money and sanity, in the long run.

MARTIE · 2025-07-29T03:15:49-0400

Becoming somewhat forgetful, dilutions and volumes for my Nova print processor, along with the date when the chemicals were mixed. I don't need to worry about keeping track of the number of prints processed as the chemicals are always refreshed before becoming exhausted due to capacity.

Andrew O'Neill · 2025-07-29T09:39:24-0400

Darkroom printing, development, developer notes are kept in notebooks. The only thing I have on the wall is Ilford's time temp chart, and a C-41 workflow...

BHuij · 2025-07-29T10:38:39-0400

Steve Goldstein said:
Perhaps it's the developer?

It's possible. These days I am mixing up fresh at the start of a print session about 75% of the time anyway, but back then might have been when I was still trying to make Ilford MG or Dektol stretch as long as possible. Worth checking out. Thanks!

loccdor · 2025-07-29T11:09:02-0400

I keep my developing notes in my Flickr tags. That way everything is easily searchable and backed-up. Also available to other people who view the images.

grahamp · 2025-07-29T14:45:39-0400

Most of my notes are in a ring binder under tabs like Developers', 'Toning', etc. I have a folder on my computer where I keep revisions of the master documents. There are additions and subtractions every so often. The binder is current. If I find I want to pencil in extra information, it is time for a new revision.

I have a note on the back of the door to check that the enlarger heads are fully off, and the Jobo is unplugged. I also have to empty the sink bucket, as I do not have plumbed waste. I also have a note over the sink to check the waste bucket before starting wet work.

The white board tends to get transitory plans - development changes from the default, restocking notes. If things are hanging around on the white board, then it may mean I need to make a new binder entry!

The risk with having permanent warnings is that they become familiar and overlooked.

MattKing · 2025-07-29T16:10:57-0400

MattKing said:
Two:
Courtesy of @RalphLambrecht 's Way Beyond Monochrome, an f-stop printing table - which he has kindly shared here before:
View attachment 404133

And a test print progression that is a practical progression of 1/2 stop exposure times that I created myself.
View attachment 404132

For clarity, when one works in temporary darkrooms like I do, these get put up temporarily during a session, and then stored away at the end with everything else.

Pieter12 · 2025-07-29T16:19:57-0400

Wet side.

David Brown · 2025-07-29T16:57:53-0400

Settings for making contact sheets: enlarger head height, lens used and f/stop, time, etc.
Chart of color head settings for equivalent filter grades.
Everything else is in a three ring binder. Too much data to post on the walls.

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