I have a small (but growing) business photographing children. Although I studied photography both on the college and graduate level, I have never had my own darkroom. Well, the time has arrived!!

My question to you all is "how do I begin?" I have been pouring over catelogs and searching the internet for information, but it only leaves me with more questions.

I have the space (a 6X12 room in my house), have hirered a pumler and an electrition, but I now need the goods. I'm thinking about a Beseler 23c (that is what I am familier with). But I also need a sink, a timer, an eseal, a safelight, etc. Although money is a concern, I am willing to spend what I need to to assure high quality work.

So, does anyone have any advise for a lady starting out on her big adventure? Please help!

-- Jesse Anna Torrey (jctorrey@home.com), September 09, 1999

Answers

Congratulations! Books have been written on this, so anything I say will be incomplete. I think Kodak still has their "How to build a Darkroom" guide- check the web site or ask your photo dealer. High quality work is done by the worker. Though good equipment makes things faster and easier, there are few absolute essentials. I have a Beseler 23CII and an Omega D2. Even though the Omega can easily do 35mm, I reserve it for 4x5, and use the Beseler for 35 and 2 1/4 negs. IMHO a digital enlarger timer is essential. I used the Gralab 300 dial type and a Time-O-Lite for years, and the switch to even a used inexpensive Gralab digital was night and day. Keep the dial timers for film and paper processing. I also consider an automatic water mixing valve essential. They are expensive unless you can find a surplus or used one, but it only takes one toilet flush to screw up a roll of film. While that's being plumbed in, get a couple water filters at the same time. Put your money in a good enlarger lens, El- Nikkor, Rodenstock, or Schneider. I also hate cheap easels. Get a Saunders LPL or similar quality. Lots of money, buy a stainless steel darkroom sink. Little money, build the same out of plywood and coat it with epoxy paint. You'll also need a print finishing area- often an afterthought. Good clean flat workspace, a suitable trimmer, and a good drymount press. A final question/thought: If your business grows, do you really want to do all the processing and printing yourself? I love darkroom work, but I find that production printing gets old in a hurry. You may not want to invest a huge amount in pro lab grade equipment, as you may soon start jobbing the work out. Just a thought!

-- Conrad Hoffman (choffman@rpa.net), September 09, 1999.

Take a look at here and .

-- Jonathan Bender (jbbender@erols.com), September 10, 1999.

here

-- Jonathan Bender (jbbender@erols.com), September 10, 1999.

Hmmm, I guess I don't speak fluent HTML. . . Look at www.darkroomsource.com and http://www.speedlink.com/jao/photo/darkequp.htm

-- Jonathan Bender (jbbender@erols.com), September 10, 1999.

For many years I was a die-hard "Omega man." I worked in many pro labs in NYC and never saw anything but Omega D-series and a few Dursts. I personally owned a D2 and absolutely *adored* it. Unfortunately, I got out of photography for a while and sold my entire darkroom. Then, after I moved to CA and got back into shooting, I saw a used Beseler 23C w/Dual Dichro color head in a local camera store and, like an idiot, I bought it. I uttery HATE the thing! The illumination is extremely uneven (I had to make a special dodging tool to edge burn every print) and it is a pain in the ass to keep aligned. (Who ever heard of a tilting lens stage on a modern enlarger? A useless and troublesome feature!) Thanks to my many years of experience in the darkroom I am able to make decent prints with the godawful thing, despite the fact that it is a peice of crap. But as soon as I can possibly afford to do so, I am going to dump this f**king Beseler and buy a used Chromega D. A word to the wise. http://www.ravenvision.com/rvapeter.htm

-- Peter Hughes (leonine@redshift.com), September 10, 1999.

I don't know but my Beseler 45 MXT is a great piece of equipment. I love it. I made the 7 ft sink from plywood faced with Formica, use tupperware for all sorts of processing equipment and a rotory drum for film processing. Lots of things I just make. One easy way to see what you need and how to do it is to go to someone with a darkroom and see what they do. James

-- james (James_mickelson@hotmail.com), September 11, 1999.

I would search for the Beseler 45 MXT second-hand instead of a Beseler 23C new. I own one and in my baddest dreams I would sell all my camera-equipment, EXCEPT my Beseler 45. It's a lifetime experience. Your familiarity with the 23C will help you out in a minute on the 45MXT.

-- Lot (lotw@wxs.nl), September 11, 1999.

I don't know where you put your darkroom in the house, but a tray/dishwarmer to keep your developer on 20 degrees C is very useful.

-- Lot (lotw@wxs.nl), September 11, 1999.

My experience with the Beseler 23c is considerably different from the one posted above. (I also have the dual dicro head). I haven't encounted any illumination or alignment problems.

-- Joe Miller (jmmiller@poka.com), September 11, 1999.

I've set up several darkrooms on a tight budget. Quartz wall clocks with sweep second hands do fine in place of a photo timer. They tick once a second, which is a great help when timing the dodging or burning of prints. Milk jugs are adequate for storing water in the darkroom until it is the same temperature as the chemicals, tanks, and reels. It is better to keep the darkroom at the temperature you want to use for developing the film rather than adjust the chemicals to a different temperature. I almost never use my expensive thermometers, because with everything in the darkroom at the right temperature, even a cheap wall thermometer tells me all one needs to know. There are many inexpensive household substitutes for measures, trays, etc. Most enlargers will be satisfactory when one learns their idiosyncrosies, but many otherwise good enlargers come with a poor lens.

-- jim jones (jjones@greenhills.net), September 19, 1999.