Time to ACT

GregW said:

Re the windows, If you can wedge some pieces of thick insulation foam sheet to block the bulk of it up then attack the smaller leaks with light blocking fabric, tape etc. The foam can be cut easily to fit around pipes etc. It doesn't sound like it needs to be a tidy elegant solution.

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I did this in my basement darkroom in ny - not only lighttight but added value as insultion against winter cold!

Rather than covering the windows, take a cue from the early wet plate guys like Matthew Brady. I'm thinking of a dark room TENT here, in your basement. Make a frame from PVC piping, then make a tent covering of black material. Use this at night after the sun goes down and it won't have to be perfectly light tight in noon sun. Have a ventilation fan and your plumbing/sink. Using PVC this shouldn't be hard to construct. The advantage is if you don't cement the PVC together, you can take the tent down when the dark room isn't needed. In effect, just make a very large "dark bag".


Kent in SD

Neal said:

Dear RattyMouse,

I find Dead Link Removed to be quite handy. My setup is in an attached garage. The material covers a small window and the window in a door to the outside. I used cardboard painted black on the small windows in the garage door.

Good luck,

Neal Wydra

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Thank you very much for this link. Do you think this material would stick to a block window? Those are not 100% smooth and also have the mortar that holds the blocks together. I'm not sure if this is still suitable for my type of window.

From 1984 to 2012 I had a darkroom that was only dark at night so I printed at night. Now that my new darkroom is dark during daylight hours, I still print mostly at night. I loaded my film into the tanks with a changing tent in daylight.

Dear RattyMouse,

To be honest, after a while it doesn't stick to regular windows. For the door window I removed the grill, placed the material, then replaced the grill to hold it in place. Without it I'm sure it would have fallen off. For the garage window, it has pulled away in places, but the edges are held using aluminum tape of the sort used for duct work.

One further tip. If I need fairly large pieces of plywood or the like cut, both Home Depot and Lowe's will cut them close enough to size. They will also toss out any scrap you don't need.

Neal

Thinking outside the box, depending on what side of the use the windows are located, get a safelight, see if the paint store can match it, then paint the windows, keep adding coats until no brighter than about 10 watts at noon. Not sure if this work, in the 60s a beat type coffee shop near my college painted all the windows with red and black paint to darken the interior without using heavy drapes, worked.

RattyMouse said:

Question: How many enlarging lenses will I need to print 35mm, 6 x 4.5 and 6 x 7 negatives?

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Just the one big enough for 6x7 (or 6x9, "just in case"). But I guess you'll need a 50mm if you are taking 35mm to 16x20. For prints up to 11x14 or so, I liked using a 135mm lens for 6x6 and 6x7. This was on a Omega D-5XL (condensor head). I put 50mm, 80mm amd 135mm lenses on a turret, so changing formats was easy.

I don't know how much space you have in the basement.
You could simply frame up the darkroom, like you are adding a room in the basement.
The new walls would give you the light-proofing that you need.

Aluminum foil is lightproof and easy to deal with if you want to tape it directly to the window, or the frame around the window. You can buy blackout curtains, which are white paradoxically, at a fabric store like JoAnne's. Both are better and cheaper than plastic black out material. That stuff stinks if you ask me, but what the hell do I know.

I think the best thing that has been mentioned is the foam insulation since you live in Michigan. Follow that up with a blackout curtain and you should be good to go. No light for your wifey though.

I have a window in my bathroom/darkroom. I put aluminum foil over most of it. To print I use blackout curtain and two expandable curtain rods to wedge it tightly in place inside the window frame. During the day I have to be more careful, but at night I only have to put the top rod in. Works well and it only takes a second to set up.

Hope that helps you.

You could use either black gator board or darkroom cloth cut over the size of your windows.
Gator board you can get in about 2X3' sections. you could staple either one at the top of the window.
There's always a way. Some's prettier than others though.

I believe that any tape would let go with the temperature changes