What is needed for a home darkroom?

Fenster

I have a 35mm camera I want to start experimenting with...

cdonnelly

All depends what you want to do with the film
do you just want to develop the film and scan onto the computer
if so you just need a dev container and reels, chemicals and a changing bag

or if you want to print from the neg you are going to need an enlarger,trays,thermometer,paper as well as all the above

Give it a go you will be hooked soon

Cathal

DaireQuinlan

Fenster wrote: »

I have a 35mm camera I want to start experimenting with...

Do you want to develop the film only ? Or also do prints ? Do you want to do colour as well as B&W or just B&W ? Are you going to be shooting medium format ?
Details, details ! There's a big range between just developing b&w (you don't even need a darkroom, and you only need a dev tank, a thermometer and a couple of different chems) all the way to developing and printing colour (darkroom & vast amount more equipment needed ).

Solarina

If i could chose what part of a darkroom to have at home it would definately be the printing side. Other than the cost of developing, pushing&pulling the film, its the printing yourself side that is so much fun I think,

but I have no idea about where and how much to get any of the equipment though- good luck!

thefizz

If you plan on printing your negs then getting a medium format enlarger is worth doing as you may end up using that format in the future. It won't cost you much more for a used medium format enlarger (which will also cater for 35mm) over a 35mm model.

Fenster

Thanks all! My general hope right now is actual, honest-to-god, cross-processing.

elven

negs in slide chemicals, or slides in negs chemicals? I *think* E6 (slides) is cheaper but trickier (more chems, more sensitive to timings and temp).

Valentia

Fenster wrote: »

Thanks all! My general hope right now is actual, honest-to-god, cross-processing.

A couple of spoons (desert) of Domestos, a squirt of WD-40 mixed in half a litre of distilled water. Pour into a lightproof container. Preheat oven to 19.5 degrees Kelvin. Turn out the lights. Remove film from camera and place on spool (if available). Alternatively delicately place film in the container ensuring that its surface is kept apart from itself (if you follow). Place in container and leave in oven for precisely 3.5 minutes. Remove from oven and add 2 grams of Mr. Muscle making sure, of course thatthe room is pitch black. Replace in oven for 1.5 minute. Done.

It may not be quite cross processed to your satisfaction so add a pinch of sulphuric acid to your taste.

Hope this helps.

KarmaGarda

Woah a sec... reverse...

DaireQuinlan wrote: »

...There's a big range between just developing b&w (you don't even need a darkroom, and you only need a dev tank, a thermometer and a couple of different chems) ...

Can you explain how to dev B&W for me? Because if it doesn't require a dark room I might be up for chancing my arm at that for the laugh!

DaireQuinlan

elven wrote: »

negs in slide chemicals, or slides in negs chemicals? I *think* E6 (slides) is cheaper but trickier (more chems, more sensitive to timings and temp).

Slide in C-41 give much better results though, xpro-wise. Never tried the opposite but apparently it just gives you dull washed out looking negs.

If you just want to dev the film, regardless of what you're doing you need

1. a development tank. Paterson tank or clone with a reel that can do 35mm & 120 just to hedge your bets. cheap as chips.
2. thermometer. I have a gigantic glass one that's pretty accurate but I use to use one of those cooking ones. As long as it does 20c (for B&W) and 38c (for colour) you're away.
3. something to measure chemicals. graduated cylinders, measuring syringes and the like depending on what you're doing. Preferably around 600ml or so, thats probably the most volume you'll be dealing with at any one time.
4. somewhere to dry the film. I clip it up above the bath overnight. Doesn't pick up too much dust in there.
5.somewhere to load the film on the reel. I use the bathroom again, after dark it gets pitch black in there if I turn off the lights in the house so its ideal. I used to use my cupboard in another house though which did the job.

6. chemicals. Either B&W or colour chems. This is a topic for a whole new post ...

thefizz

DaireQuinlan wrote: »

Slide in C-41 give much better results though, xpro-wise. Never tried the opposite but apparently it just gives you dull washed out looking negs.

Don't knock it till you've tried it . Neg film in E6 can be quiet stunning. I much prefer it to slide in C41.

Ghost Train

KarmaGarda wrote: »

Woah a sec... reverse...

Can you explain how to dev B&W for me? Because if it doesn't require a dark room I might be up for chancing my arm at that for the laugh!

Developing B&W or colour film you don't need a dedicated dark room. The only bit that needs to be dark is getting the film from the canister into the developing tank, can be done in a film changing bag or somewhere dark. I also found youtube great for seeing what was involved before trying it.
eg.
loading film in tank
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qAoQt5wLGjs
developing
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aB8qXU7dkNk

DaireQuinlan

thefizz wrote: »

Don't knock it till you've tried it . Neg film in E6 can be quiet stunning. I much prefer it to slide in C41.

Have you examples ? It's one of those things that's really hard to search for on flickr which is normally my go-to site for examples of these things. I can't really find any specific search terms to distinguish the two, and everything on there seems to be slide in C-41, or fake PS stuff.

thefizz

I did a major project on this a few years back but I mounted them all for a presentation. I have wanted to scan them but that means pulling the mount boards apart and potentially damaging them (I glued them) which would be a shame.

It's a bit more tricky to do than slide film in C41 but worth the effort. Under exposure produces lovely pastel colours while over exposure provides some great saturated colours. The colours can also change completly.

Repro35 did them for me but sadly they are gone now so I don't know where to get them done in the future. Does anyone know if that Fuji place on Abbey street do neg film in E6?

ValueInIreland

There is an ad in the Evening Echo's FREE Ads supplement tonight for a FREE Durst C35 enlarger and other darkroom gear. 087-8130319 - must be collected in Cork City

greg-h

Sorry...I have an Pentax mz-50 slr and I want to start using it, I imagine that b&w negatives is the cheapest way of going about this ya? I understand what I need, I just need to figure out where to get it and rather stupidly I don't know about the film. The camera takes 35mm...To develop the film into negatives (and later transfer over) can I use any old film at all? I know that film of 50 iso gives the best detail; I have this thing in my head that I can buy a load of cheap 55mm film on e-bay and spend the next month figuring the camera out...and then transferring them digitally at the end of the month.

Is this a reasonable task?

Tallon

Fenster, I'm getting rid of my Darkroom stuff if your still interested?

I have a lot of paper, a couple of filters, a lightbox, some chemical trays and some tools which I dont know what the hell they do

Moving house soon and cant bring them with me.

Anyone else interested, drop me a PM

Tallon

Fenster

All glory to the Hypno...Tallon. All glory to...Tallon for his very generous donation of darkroom kit. With this start I now have paper, trays and a tank. I may have an enlarger + accessories sourced for a fiver+collection, but I won't know for sure until Wednesday night. What else do I need now?

A bag for transferring film?
A thermometer?
Measuring cups?
A key to open the film cannister?
Chemicals?

Ghost Train

Fenster wrote: »

All glory to the Hypno...Tallon. All glory to...Tallon for his very generous donation of darkroom kit. With this start I now have paper, trays and a tank. I may have an enlarger + accessories sourced for a fiver+collection, but I won't know for sure until Wednesday night. What else do I need now?

A bag for transferring film?
A thermometer?
Measuring cups?
A key to open the film cannister?
Chemicals?

that all sounds right, need a watch or timer, some where to hang and dry the film... bottle opener will open film canister (or handy if you stop rewinding the film before it goes all the way into canister)