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What annoys you in the darkroom....

Too hot in the summer and too cold in the winter. And too much junk in there, it's the spare room so boxes and other junk accumulate in there.

Martin
 
Having to leave it. Four or five hours is not enough!
 
Mine's too small (converted kitchen, although admittedly it's not horrible when I get it set up) and the space occupied by a bunch of 12x16 trays is seriously obnoxious. I'm investigating alternatives, and if I can get my hands on a decent Nova processor or an Ilford 2150 that I can leave semi-permanently hooked up, that will address my biggest complaints.
 
Mine's in a converted upstairs bedroom, so no running water. The hall bath is only a few steps outside the door, but it does mean carrying water for a holding bin, which I like to keep fairly fresh.

I'm extremely happy and relaxed in there. But I want to be Super-Printing-Girl too! (or at least good enough to stand in Jeanette's shadow)

Other than that....interruptions. I really don't want anyone a'tapping on the door when I'm focused (so to speak). I'm easily distracted on a good day; when I disappear in there I want it to be as if I've left the house.
 
Negatives that looked great through the viewfinder, great on the lightbox but just won't print right.
 
Chat

Getting time to set it up and use it.

Oh, and for something that annoyed me in the past....

I once took a night school photography course to get some darkroom time (mine was stored in boxes at the time).

The darkroom facilities weren't bad for a group darkroom, and the group of us (6, IIRC) could work together reasonably easily.

What was it that annoyed me? Two of the women in the class were close friends, and were taking the class together. During the entire time they were working in the darkroom, they never seemed to stop talking to each other. Frequently, what they were talking about, had little or nothing to do with photography.

After that experience, I realized that one of the things that I love about darkrooms, is that unless you talk to yourself, there is rarely anyone talking!

Music can be nice in a darkroom, and of course in a teaching situation, teaching can be wonderful, but otherwise:

IMHO Darkrooms should be a "chat free" zone.

Matt
 
Honey . . . have you seen . . . . . . . . . OOOPS! I'm sorry. I didn't realize you were working in there.
 

John, you have said it perfectly.
Of course, no matter how big you make it, its too small....

Bob
 
FrankB said:
Jeanette - Have you tried putting your pants on outside your trousers?

Well, I think you're super, anyway...!


Ari - Sorry 'bout that. Won't happen again...
Click to expand...

Aw... thanks, Frank! Never tried the underwear thing... hm. could work...
 
That the negs from the rollei wont print well, but the tri-x pushed +2 in rodinal looks wonderful
 
Poltergeists keep switching my trays of developer and fix.
 
I have a pretty nice darkroom but it is getting cluttered with so-so Ebay purchases. For some reason I bought 2 easels that I don't need. I bought an Arista cold light with a broken bulb. I bought a Beseler MXT enlarger that the shipper put in a big cardboard box stuffed with peanuts and the frame was bent when it arrived. I got it so cheap that it was not worth the time and money to ship it back. It's carcass is in the basement. I just bought another Beseler MXT enlarger. This one is in perfect shape but the 45S Dichro head (which looks newer and cleaner than the one I use) won't light up and I can't fix it. I have several enlarger lenses from Ebay that I don't use:

Nikkor 50 mm 2.8 (2 of them)
Nikkor 100 mm 5.6
Nikkor 135 mm 5.6 (?)
Rodagon 150 mm

I bought a Beseler Universal color controller but I never boght the head or control unit. I put that in the basement today. I also have an extra GraLab 451 timer that I don't use.

Anyway, it is fun finding these thing, but I will have to build a separate storage area. Perhaps I should spend my time making some prints.
 
1. Only having Friday night after the kids are in bed available for darkroom work. Makes for a late night (early morning, actually).

2. My flaky timer.

3. Setup/tear-down. It doesn't really take that long, but at 2am (see #1) cleaning up and putting all my toys away is a pain.
 
Needing to pee. The bathroom is one floor up.
 
Just when you get the water running at a perfect 68 degrees and drop the reels in for a nice 20 minute wash.
Someone, somewhere in the house inevitably flushes a toilet causing the running water temp to shoot immediately up to 120 F.
Poor film.
 
What annoys me about the darkroom is passing it every morning on the way to work and passing it on the way to bed because I'm too exhausted to print. Time to quit my job I think
 
Good fortune...in the darkroom

It occurs to me that the OP has uncovered another fortune cookie twist, like the old joke of adding "between the sheets" to the end of any and all fortune cookie fortunes. Give it a try...in the darkroom. I have a feeling that things will be going your way...in the darkroom.
 
The fact that its not finished and is full of my dads junk.
 
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