[net.rec.photo] Beginner's Darkroom

bdot (04/11/83)

I'm interested in setting up my first darkroom. Although I know how to
develop film, I've always used the equipment at the school where I took my
photography courses. What equipment is absolutely necessary and what is
a good price for the whole package? I've used Besseler enlargers before, how
do these stack up against some of the others. By the way, this will be a
black & white darkroom initially.

                                   Waiting to see what develops,
                                         John Barrett
                                         American Bell
                                         Lincroft, NJ
                                         hogpd!bdot

smith@umn-cs.UUCP (06/06/83)

#R:hogpd:-2800:umn-cs:9000006:000:1082
umn-cs!smith    Apr 13 10:45:00 1983

  In building a darkroom, it's probably best if you divide the problem into
two parts: negatives and prints.  Also, there's a lot of small stuff that
might be useful or time-saving that you can live without to begin with.
I'll just talk about negatives, since the whole story would take too long
for now.

o A developing tank.  In hopes of kicking off a big argument, I'll flatly
  state that steel reels are best.  I've used plastics, and don't like them.
  They change temprature slowly, they're hard to dry off, and are usually 
  built so you have to use semi-automatic threading that never works.  When
  in high school I spent a couple of days carrying around a steel reel and
  a length of spoiled film to teach myself how to load one.  It's easy
  to do with practice.

o Some timekeeping device.  A watch with a second hand will work fine.

  Your best bet is to get one of those books on starting a darkroom that
lurk in every photo and book store.  Also, remember that most 'darkroom
equipment' costs more than the same thing sold for kitchen use in 
Woolworth's.

Rick.