what waS your last photography related purchase?

[Michael Firstlight]

Two WA enlarging lenses for larger prints at lower enlarger head elevations - a Rodenstock WA 120mm for 4x5 and a Rodenstock WA 80mm for 6x7.I have two enlargers - a 4550XLG and a 6700MXL (7700 EUR). Unfortunately I can't take them for a spin yet as the enlargers are all packed up waiting to move into their spanky new custom home.
MFL

 

[Donald Qualls]

Well, even though the actual work isn't done yet, I made the final payment this morning, so...

...my last photography related purchase was A DARKROOM. Walled in, door hung (tight enough I can get a light seal with weatherstrip, unlike the mobile home doors with big gaps at the bottom in the rest of the house), window cover partially completed, plumbed and sink installed, short counter by sink (sloped to drain into the sink) and cabinet under, two kitchen carts (for the enlargers) on the way. Still need another work space on the dry side, will probably buy a flat pack cabinet to go between the enlarger carts -- plus shelf or shelves above the wet side counter and shelves or cabinet above the dry side -- but the expensive part will be done today. Finish up the window cover and weather strip the door and I can change film in there instead of a bag; it'll be ready for daylight tank developing as soon as the drywall mud dries (though I'll probably finish painting first).

I'm think I'm justified in a Wooo Hooo!

I've only wanted my own, permanent darkroom for the past fifty years, after all...

 

[Michael Firstlight]

Well, even though the actual work isn't done yet, I made the final payment this morning, so...

...my last photography related purchase was A DARKROOM. Walled in, door hung (tight enough I can get a light seal with weatherstrip, unlike the mobile home doors with big gaps at the bottom in the rest of the house), window cover partially completed, plumbed and sink installed, short counter by sink (sloped to drain into the sink) and cabinet under, two kitchen carts (for the enlargers) on the way. Still need another work space on the dry side, will probably buy a flat pack cabinet to go between the enlarger carts -- plus shelf or shelves above the wet side counter and shelves or cabinet above the dry side -- but the expensive part will be done today. Finish up the window cover and weather strip the door and I can change film in there instead of a bag; it'll be ready for daylight tank developing as soon as the drywall mud dries (though I'll probably finish painting first).

I'm think I'm justified in a Wooo Hooo!

I've only wanted my own, permanent darkroom for the past fifty years, after all...

Post pics soon! Same here - about a month away from finishing a custom darkroom as part of new home being constructed - nothing spared. Finally a custom darkroom after 50 years of suffering - sounds like a trend!

MFL

 

[scheimfluger_77]

Four dual locking swivel casters for the bottom of an old dresser I’m converting into an enlarger table.

 

[Black Dog]

Well, even though the actual work isn't done yet, I made the final payment this morning, so...

...my last photography related purchase was A DARKROOM. Walled in, door hung (tight enough I can get a light seal with weatherstrip, unlike the mobile home doors with big gaps at the bottom in the rest of the house), window cover partially completed, plumbed and sink installed, short counter by sink (sloped to drain into the sink) and cabinet under, two kitchen carts (for the enlargers) on the way. Still need another work space on the dry side, will probably buy a flat pack cabinet to go between the enlarger carts -- plus shelf or shelves above the wet side counter and shelves or cabinet above the dry side -- but the expensive part will be done today. Finish up the window cover and weather strip the door and I can change film in there instead of a bag; it'll be ready for daylight tank developing as soon as the drywall mud dries (though I'll probably finish painting first).

I'm think I'm justified in a Wooo Hooo!

I've only wanted my own, permanent darkroom for the past fifty years, after all...

A few Wooo Hoos are definitely in order!

 

[Donald Qualls]

Post pics soon! Same here - about a month away from finishing a custom darkroom as part of new home being constructed - nothing spared. Finally a custom darkroom after 50 years of suffering - sounds like a trend!

MFL

I'll take a chance on breaking the no-digital rule here and post a cell phone panorama of the room when I get the enlargers up (if FedEx ever delivers the kitchen carts I ordered for them -- out for delivery four days in a row).

 

[perkeleellinen]

I got a projector stacker to help with dissolves:

 

[Michael Firstlight]

I got a projector stacker to help with dissolves:
View attachment 245775

Very nice! Decades ago (circa 1981) I programmed a stacked array of 16-24 of these driven off of an Audio Visual Labs (AVL) micro-computer. I had used a CP/M-driven AVL Eagle, which was about the same size as the original IBM PC, to sequence two dozen projectors to soundtracks. The first Eagle computers were produced by Audio Visual Labs (AVL), a company founded by Chuck Kappenman in New Jersey in the early 1970s to produce proprietary large-format multi-image equipment. Those computer sequenced projectors driven by the Eagle were used to create massive 40 foot long by 20 foot high rear-projection multimedia extravaganzas for large corporate events. These were stunning, heart-stopping Hollywood-class analog multimedia productions for major corporate events, hosting thousands of employees, years before the emergence of mainstream computer-based multimedia as we know it today, became possible.

http://www.stevenmichelsen.com/AVL/

Regards,
Mike

 

[Michael Firstlight]

I'll take a chance on breaking the no-digital rule here and post a cell phone panorama of the room when I get the enlargers up (if FedEx ever delivers the kitchen carts I ordered for them -- out for delivery four days in a row).

I still shoot digital along with film, so I don't have to break any rules LOL, but as soon as the builder turns the new home over to me in about 3-4 weeks I have to get the cabinets, countertops, sink, and a K375 digital Intellifaucet I bought during construction installed. When I designed the new house, it had a 13x13 foot space in the unfinished back portion of the walk-out basement that is partially underground, so I decided to construct it from the get go as a fully finished darkroom. The back basement has no windows, so both the 13x13 space and the adjacent 8x40 fool back basement leading to it are both light tight with a natural light trap hall leading to the darkroom. I had the builder install plumbing, powered exhaust, tons of outlets high and low all around, and even a TV cable hookup mid-wall with power. I had the builder finish the room completely (short of the cabinets and sink that I'll install shortly afterwards). All the walls are fully insulated, dry walled, finished, and painted slate gray - along with vinyl flooring that looks like wood along with wide base board trim. The smooth finished ceilings are 9-feet high throughout and I had the builder install recessed can lights on dimmer switches. The darkroom has a wide 36" door that is well sealed; that door leads into another section of the back-basement that is also light tight and will house my 24" Epson 7880 wide format printer and a 12-foot recessed work counter for print finishing along with my D&K M210 dry-mount press.

I'm not installing a typical long darkroom sink as I process film using a completely rebuilt Super Sidekick 8, a Fujimoto CP32 dry-to-dry print processor, and a CPP2 as backup and for 16x20 and 20x24 drum processing. - so, the wet side counter will be the full 13-foot width with a large under-mount sink that will be flanked by the two main processors. For large prints I plan to build a tiered (waterfall) rack out of PVC pipes for oversize trays for up to 30x40 and picked up a powered siphon to quickly and easily drain oversized trays. The counters and cabinets will wrap around the far side to support my LPL 6700MXL (7700) in the corner and my LPL 4550 XLG on the far side which I might or might not wall mount as the 4550XLG can do 20x24 on the baseboard with my border-less vacuum easels and the two Rodenstock WA 80mm and 120mm lenses I recently picked up should allow me to go larger with 6x7 and 4x5 respectively without needing additional height or allow me to bring the enlarger heads closer to the baseboard to counteract vibration from going too high. In my previous darkroom I built a custom film drying cabinet with double internal walls using a print dryer head and bag enclosed in a sealed portable clothing closet with filtered intake and outtake for the air, but I'll also be using additional dust control with a Honeywell air purifier as well as an anti-static ionizing air blower in the room. My safe light is a large flat ceiling-hung NuArc DBL1325 twin fluorescent Bubllite.

I have a leather sofa from the home I'm leaving along with end tables that will reside against the rear wall of the darkroom, and I plan to pick-up a daylight-balanced flat light panel as a convertable light table to place on a coffee table that will site in front of the sofa. I also plan to mount a 65" flat panel TV above the facing wall along with wireless Bose speakers and sub - so the darkroom will also double as a man cave. I suffered in dusty attics, dirty basements, and makeshift bathrooms for 50 years - so I feel no guilt whatsoever in building this for my retirement years and make no apologies for all of the excess. So like you, my latest purchase is the darkroom itself that happens to have a house that comes along with it.

MFL

 

[Black Dog]

Butlin's Holiday Camp 1982 by Barry Lewis . Another fine little book from Hoxton Mini Press.
https://www.hoxtonminipress.com/products/butlins-holiday-camp-1982

 

[Donald Qualls]

Wow.

Mine is only 8' x 9', but that's still bigger than any non-shared darkroom space I've ever been able to use. Wet side is a 42 inch (I think) standard countertop installed on a 36" base cabinet, with a half inch of slope down to the 24" laundry tub sink, and the joint caulked up with RTV silicone (couldn't get standard counter with a raised lip on the edge, but I'll run a bead of silicone along there if I find it's needed). Dry side will have a pair of kitchen carts, one for each enlarger, that I can roll out to access the doors (paper safes, lenses, negative holders, etc. will be stored beneath each). I may have to get creative mounting the power supply and controller for the color head, but I haven't even unboxed that enlarger yet (arrived last week, 30th). Between the enlargers, I'll have either a counter-top cabinet, or a counter-top cart for dry side counter space, and storage underneath, and I've reserved space with an outlet for a print drying cabinet (which I'll probably have to build, even $700 for a bottom end commercial one is a bit much after paying for the construction work). Meantime, film and prints will hang on a "clothesline".

 

[Michael Firstlight]

Wow.

Mine is only 8' x 9', but that's still bigger than any non-shared darkroom space I've ever been able to use. Wet side is a 42 inch (I think) standard countertop installed on a 36" base cabinet, with a half inch of slope down to the 24" laundry tub sink, and the joint caulked up with RTV silicone (couldn't get standard counter with a raised lip on the edge, but I'll run a bead of silicone along there if I find it's needed). Dry side will have a pair of kitchen carts, one for each enlarger, that I can roll out to access the doors (paper safes, lenses, negative holders, etc. will be stored beneath each). I may have to get creative mounting the power supply and controller for the color head, but I haven't even unboxed that enlarger yet (arrived last week, 30th). Between the enlargers, I'll have either a counter-top cabinet, or a counter-top cart for dry side counter space, and storage underneath, and I've reserved space with an outlet for a print drying cabinet (which I'll probably have to build, even $700 for a bottom end commercial one is a bit much after paying for the construction work). Meantime, film and prints will hang on a "clothesline".

Good idea on the bead of silicone notion. I expect I'll do tray processing on occasion and don't want a recessed countertop. An alternate thought I had was to go to the local granite wholesale shop that did the rest of my countertops and buy low cost slab and have them grind a reservoir along the front edge - but granite is pricey and it depends on what I have left over in my building reserve - though with granite I could go custom width around 30 inch wide that would overhang the 24" deep cabinets by 6 inches without the need for additional supports for the overhang. Standards stock countertops are only 24" deep.

Mike

 

[Donald Qualls]

I have a set of 16x20 trays, and my enlarger base boards are 18x27 (ish), so I'm reserving the ability to enlarge to 16x20. Might be tricky washing prints that big, though; the laundry tub is 24x24 (with a washboard molded into the front?!), but it tapers to no more than 20" square at the bottom. I may have to build (vs. spending $300+) a slot washer to fit diagonally in there if/when I get to 16x20. The other potential issue with going that big is that this is a mobile home, so except for the "cathedral" living room and kitchen, the ceilings throughout are just 7' high. I *think* I can get to 4:1 enlargement from 4x5 with a 135mm lens and keep the condenser lamp house under that ceiling height; otherwise, I may have to do the biggest prints only from the color enlarger (the dichroich head is several inches lower than the condenser lamp house), or see if I can get coverage out of a 105-110 mm.

Turning the heads to put the easel on the floor has always seemed to me like a great way to dump the whole enlarger on the floor; at a minimum, I'd have to get some 25 lb barbell plates to counterweight the base boards to keep everything upright, and an Omega D2 won't turn sideways for wall projection, but I'm not likely to want to go bigger than 4:1 from 4x5 anyway (unless I need to crop a lot).

 

[Michael Firstlight]

I have a set of 16x20 trays, and my enlarger base boards are 18x27 (ish), so I'm reserving the ability to enlarge to 16x20. Might be tricky washing prints that big, though; the laundry tub is 24x24 (with a washboard molded into the front?!), but it tapers to no more than 20" square at the bottom. I may have to build (vs. spending $300+) a slot washer to fit diagonally in there if/when I get to 16x20. The other potential issue with going that big is that this is a mobile home, so except for the "cathedral" living room and kitchen, the ceilings throughout are just 7' high. I *think* I can get to 4:1 enlargement from 4x5 with a 135mm lens and keep the condenser lamp house under that ceiling height; otherwise, I may have to do the biggest prints only from the color enlarger (the dichroich head is several inches lower than the condenser lamp house), or see if I can get coverage out of a 105-110 mm.

Turning the heads to put the easel on the floor has always seemed to me like a great way to dump the whole enlarger on the floor; at a minimum, I'd have to get some 25 lb barbell plates to counterweight the base boards to keep everything upright, and an Omega D2 won't turn sideways for wall projection, but I'm not likely to want to go bigger than 4:1 from 4x5 anyway (unless I need to crop a lot).

LOL, did that once--- turned my 4550 head around to project on the floor without enough counterweight and almost lost the whole rig.

 

[MattKing]

I'll take a chance on breaking the no-digital rule here

No such rule - you are welcome to post illustrative digital photos of analogue photography things or techniques you are posting about.

 

[perkeleellinen]

Very nice! Decades ago (circa 1981) I programmed a stacked array of 16-24 of these driven off of an Audio Visual Labs (AVL) micro-computer. I had used a CP/M-driven AVL Eagle, which was about the same size as the original IBM PC, to sequence two dozen projectors to soundtracks. The first Eagle computers were produced by Audio Visual Labs (AVL), a company founded by Chuck Kappenman in New Jersey in the early 1970s to produce proprietary large-format multi-image equipment. Those computer sequenced projectors driven by the Eagle were used to create massive 40 foot long by 20 foot high rear-projection multimedia extravaganzas for large corporate events. These were stunning, heart-stopping Hollywood-class analog multimedia productions for major corporate events, hosting thousands of employees, years before the emergence of mainstream computer-based multimedia as we know it today, became possible.

http://www.stevenmichelsen.com/AVL/

Regards,
Mike

Fantastic! Please tell me more - I love hearing about these complex AV shows. Also thanks for the link which was really interesting and from there I found Douglas Mesney's site which is a treasure trove full of projection techniques I can't yet fathom. There's so little information online about multiple projector shows, it's like being back in the '90s trying to figure out a technique from a pictutre in a magazine. I used to think RA4 printing was niche, but at least you can read about it online. With multiple projector techniques you're totally on your own!

 

[Pieter12]

Fantastic! Please tell me more - I love hearing about these complex AV shows. Also thanks for the link which was really interesting and from there I found Douglas Mesney's site which is a treasure trove full of projection techniques I can't yet fathom. There's so little information online about multiple projector shows, it's like being back in the '90s trying to figure out a technique from a pictutre in a magazine. I used to think RA4 printing was niche, but at least you can read about it online. With multiple projector techniques you're totally on your own!

Wow, that brings back memories. In the early 80's I set-up and operated a 20 minute (I'm guessing, here), 12-projector presentation that travelled from L.A. to N.Y., then Chicago and S.F. We brought along the slides and audio track with cues, rented everything else on location.

 

[Nokton48]

New to me Plaubel Peco Profia by Nokton48, on Flickr

This arrived here from Germany within the last couple of weeks. The lens is a Schneider 270mm Tele Arton and the 4x5/9x12 sliding roll back makes this fast to use. I am going to use 4x5 Graphmatics in it for now.

This is all original Plaubel Peco Profia from the 70s.

 

[Donald Qualls]

Yesterday, after seeing one in a YouTube video and hearing it was only about Cdn$80 (around US$60), I ordered a Custom Camera Builders 6x6 wood pinhole camera (shipping from Canada), and then realized I had three of the four Kodak Duaflex models and bought a Duaflex III -- the one I didn't have (got the focusing lens, adjustable aperture version, matches my Duaflex II; my Duaflex and Duaflex IV are the simple version). Good thing I've got a bunch of 620 spools around...

 

[mooseontheloose]

Just received my Rolleiflex 3.5F Planar - probably around a 1970 vintage, based on the serial number. A little pricey for me as I usually go for cheaper models, but it's often a false economy as I end up replacing or repairing them more often than not. It's really gorgeous and I can't wait to take it out to shoot some photos! That said, I'm also a little reluctant to do so because it is so nice.

 

[MattiS]

An Instax 210 monster. Yes, photo related, but not intended for camera use. It´s just for processing Instax wide film.

 

[Roger Thoms]

Just received my Rolleiflex 3.5F Planar - probably around a 1970 vintage, based on the serial number. A little pricey for me as I usually go for cheaper models, but it's often a false economy as I end up replacing or repairing them more often than not. It's really gorgeous and I can't wait to take it out to shoot some photos! That said, I'm also a little reluctant to do so because it is so nice.

That’s a sweet Rollei, looks super clean. Have fun shooting with it.

Roger

 

[Black Dog]

Just received my Rolleiflex 3.5F Planar - probably around a 1970 vintage, based on the serial number. A little pricey for me as I usually go for cheaper models, but it's often a false economy as I end up replacing or repairing them more often than not. It's really gorgeous and I can't wait to take it out to shoot some photos! That said, I'm also a little reluctant to do so because it is so nice.

That's exactly why you should use it and use it often! Meanwhile, I ordered some XP2 120 and some Fomapan 400 35 mm from Speed Graphic.

 

[mooseontheloose]

That’s a sweet Rollei, looks super clean. Have fun shooting with it.
Roger

That's exactly why you should use it and use it often! Meanwhile, I ordered some XP2 120 and some Fomapan 400 35 mm from Speed Graphic.

Thanks! I just wish I wasn't cooped up in my apartment teaching online classes during these beautiful days (it was 30C yesterday - that's hot for early May in Japan). I may be able to get out tomorrow to run a roll or two through the Rollei.

 

[Ian Grant]

A reducing back for a 10x8 camera, on Ebay, not sure of it's 7x5 or Half plate until it arrives either way it's an International back so can be used for either (as well as 13x18), Needs springs

Ian