Anyone Here Have a Black & White Darkroom?

[Kisatchie]

I'm counting the days until I can move back to the New Orleans area and set up a B&W darkroom again. Does anyone here already have one? I just feel like talking about it and getting back in the swing of things.


Hmm... I love the smell
of stop bath and fixer...

[peteski]

All my dark rooms are pretty much black (no white).   

[Kisatchie]

Hmm... not a single
serious reply...

[Dave V]

Hmm... not a single
serious reply...

Primarily because most of the photography gurus here work in digital.

[Mark5]

Not recently ...

Back in the day I liked Plus-x

Still have a darkroom enlarger somewhere. I was going to set up a dark room eventually but never got around to it (my wife was a photography major).

[RBrodzinsky]

I haven't had a dark room in years (not since early 80s).  I got started when a friend of my father gave me a kit he used during WWII which he would use to develop and print recon photos while the aircraft he was on was flying back to base.

[Kisatchie]

Primarily because most of the photography gurus here work in digital.

Awww... awwww... That's depressing 


Hmm... into each life
some rain must fall...

[nscaleSPF2]

I haven't had a dark room in years (not since early 80s).

ditto.  The digital prints (both color and B&W) that I have made with my Epson printers are far better than anything I made in the darkroom.  I have more control over the process because I can see the result on the monitor before I make the print.  The process is much quicker.  The prints are cheaper, since the Epsons have done double duty as photo and document printers.  And I am no longer exposed to those smelly, potentially toxic chemicals.

So tell me again why you think you need a darkroom, Kiz?

[Kisatchie]

There's nothing I'd call toxic about darkroom B&W chemicals. I wouldn't drink stop bath, but neither would I drink household cleaners and other chemicals. (Hmm... think I'll eat my deodorant today...)

I have this thing about sitting in front of a computer to make prints. NEVER gonna happen with me. And if you want your prints to last, fiber-based B&W paper is the way to go. I don't trust ink jet printers to be archival.


Hmm... I love the smell
of developer in the
morning...

[RBrodzinsky]

I agree that a properly developed and fixed B&W print will last much much much longer than anything printed from a household ink-jet printer. And I used to love "photo shopping" images long before digital manipulation was available.  But, life took me in other directions and that portion of photography went away.  Now that I am soon-to-retire, I am looking into expanding my photography skills, again, but I doubt I will ever have my own personal darkroom going forward. Maybe if I win the PowerBall, and get a huge home with lots of room for a layout, workshop and darkroom!

Are darkroom chemicals toxic? By definition, yes (says the PhD Chemist who spent a lot of his career managing Chemical Safety); but that doesn't mean you can't handle them safely.

[nickelplate759]

I have some B&W prints I made way back in in the early 1970s that have held up just fine.  Alas, I haven't been in a darkroom since.   I'm not going to start again, but I do agree that it was a lot of fun in a way that's very different than digital photo manipulation.  The results may not have been better, but I enjoyed it more.

[nscaleSPF2]

I have this thing about sitting in front of a computer to make prints. NEVER gonna happen with me. And if you want your prints to last, fiber-based B&W paper is the way to go. I don't trust ink jet printers to be archival.

OK, I get it Kiz.  The darkroom process is one that you know, and have more-or-less complete control over.

As far as making archival prints, Epson advertises a life of 118 years, if you use both their inks and photo papers.  I'm not sure exactly how they came up with that number, and I'm not sure if I believe it, but I have some digital prints hanging on my walls for 15 years or so, with no signs of fading.

[Kisatchie]

As far as making archival prints, Epson advertises a life of 118 years, if you use both their inks and photo papers.  I'm not sure exactly how they came up with that number, and I'm not sure if I believe it, but I have some digital prints hanging on my walls for 15 years or so, with no signs of fading.

Thanks for that bit of information. Always good to know the facts.


Hmm... but will it hold
up in a court of law...?

[havingfuntoo]

So handling the chemicals used in your dark room is not a problem, you are careful as you should be, giving the products the respect they deserve ........ now for the clean up ........ what happens to your waste ........ is it correctly disposed of or just emptied down the drain ....... maybe even worse tipped out into the local environment for nature to take care of.

How are you and by what means are you proposing to dispose of your toxic waste?   

[robert3985]

There's nothing I'd call toxic about darkroom B&W chemicals. I wouldn't drink stop bath, but neither would I drink household cleaners and other chemicals. (Hmm... think I'll eat my deodorant today...)

I have this thing about sitting in front of a computer to make prints. NEVER gonna happen with me. And if you want your prints to last, fiber-based B&W paper is the way to go. I don't trust ink jet printers to be archival.

I have a thing about sitting in front of the computer to make prints too....I LOVE it.  Much better than being in a safelight lit darkroom inhaling stinky chemical fumes.  Been there, done that.  Sold all of my darkroom equipment years ago, and I guarantee you that I will NEVER go back to it.

As has been stated already, Epson's ink and paper combo gives you over 100 years of no-fade.  I'm 67, and I won't care if my prints start to fade in 125 years.  If they do, then the Smithsonian can just print out more using my file and print info.  No burning and/or dodging on each and every print...just do it once in Photoshop, save the file, and the rest of the prints will be corrected.  Resolution on my computer generated B&W prints looks equal or better than my old darkroom prints, and getting consistent results is much easier and more versatile than the darkroom.

I'm happy...with zero regrets about the demise of film...

Cheerio!
Bob Gilmore