Stupid mistakes in the darkroom

r-brian · Nov 21, 2012

House shopping last summer. The one thing I wanted was a real space for a darkroom. House I bought has absolutely no space for a darkroom at all.

You have to buy what the wife wants.

walbergb · Nov 22, 2012

Going into the darkroom in the first place. Now I'm hooked If you can count that a mistake

kintatsu · Nov 22, 2012

My darkroom is a 4' bathroom with no windows. My workbench is the back of the toilet. The light switch is on the outside.
ALWAYS tell the wife and daughter, otherwise more film will be wasted! "I didn't know you were in there, the light's off!"

Using an online metronome for timing during development while tired is an easy way to blank out and lose track of your progress! "Was that 8 or 9 minutes?"

I was out shooting with my new to me 4x5 camera and made what could have been perfect, only I metered for 400 with FP4+ loaded. Using outdated fixer left me a blank and purplish sheet of plastic. It wasn't a total waste, as the underfixed purplish negative can be used to add a touch of contrast when I contact print multigrade with my flash!

removed account4 · Nov 22, 2012

i hate when i turn the lights on and i forgot to close the box of paper.
LUCKILY i often times use azo paper which is soooo sloooow
that the room light for like 5 seconds didn't do anything to it

kintatsu · Nov 22, 2012

It only happens when I'm working with film! At least now, it's only 1 sheet lost instead of a roll. When I'm doing printing, the daughter is usually with me and the wife is out, so it's not too bad.

StoneNYC · Nov 22, 2012

The first time I processed a 15 foot roll if 70mm I reversed the stop and fixer steps... However, it's been a year and the images are just fine, napery came out exposed correctly and they still look good... Makes you wonder...

~Stone

The Important Ones - Mamiya: 7 II, RZ67 Pro II / Canon: 1V, AE-1 / Kodak: No 1 Pocket Autographic, No 1A Pocket Autographic

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Sirius Glass · Nov 22, 2012

StoneNYC said:
The first time I processed a 15 foot roll if 70mm I reversed the stop and fixer steps... However, it's been a year and the images are just fine, napery came out exposed correctly and they still look good... Makes you wonder...

The fixer would stop the developer. Without the stop bath first, the fixer does not last as long. The stop bath after accomplishes nothing and gets rinsed out with the washing. Just one of those survivable mistakes. Now if you used the fixer first followed by the developer, it would not have been so good!

StoneNYC · Nov 22, 2012

Sirius Glass said:
The fixer would stop the developer. Without the stop bath first, the fixer does not last as long. The stop bath after accomplishes nothing and gets rinsed out with the washing. Just one of those survivable mistakes. Now if you used the fixer first followed by the developer, it would not have been so good!

When you say "does not last as long" what do you mean?

~Stone

The Important Ones - Mamiya: 7 II, RZ67 Pro II / Canon: 1V, AE-1 / Kodak: No 1 Pocket Autographic, No 1A Pocket Autographic

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Sirius Glass · Nov 22, 2012

StoneNYC said:
When you say "does not last as long" what do you mean?

The developer shortens the life of the fixer, so the fixer does not fix as many rolls of film.

StoneNYC · Nov 22, 2012

Sirius Glass said:
The developer shortens the life of the fixer, so the fixer does not fix as many rolls of film.

OH yes of course, gotcha.

~Stone

The Important Ones - Mamiya: 7 II, RZ67 Pro II / Canon: 1V, AE-1 / Kodak: No 1 Pocket Autographic, No 1A Pocket Autographic

Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

Stupid mistakes in the darkroom

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