im a high student who is interested in setting up my own photgraphy studio. previously i used my schools dark room and printing facilites, however they are not available at my new school. could someone tell me the basics (excluding apparatice such as an enlarger and film canasters etc.) that i would need to set up my own studio. I especially need to know about the chemicals, which until now were pre mixed for our use. ive been looking at web sites on the subject, but there are so many oppotions, I would appreciate any advice given. also expense is not an issue. thanks, Siena

-- Siena Bendixen-park (WOOLY1000@aol.com), November 02, 2001

Answers

Since expense is no issue, buy a lot of books and read up on the subject. Maybe you'll learn something! I don't know why, but I suspect you're just trying to get a quick answer to a class question

-- Alec (alecj@bellsouth.net), November 02, 2001.

Alec, maybe the phrase "expense is not an issue" led you to that conclusion. It must be time for the mid-term papers to be turned in.

-- Michael Feldman (mfeldman@qwest.net), November 02, 2001.

Sienna,

You're right that there certainly are many chemical options, but to start with, I'd stick to basics such as: D67 for film developer, Dektol for paper, almost any fix, water as stop bath. Keep it simple and then branch out later if you feel your needs evolve. I guarantee you that working with these simple combinations would be no impediment to making great photographs.

-- Michael Veit (pocoveit@yahoo.com), November 02, 2001.

Agreeing with the previos post about keeping it simple... if you can find Sprint chemistry... it smells less.

-- Scott Walton (scotlynn@shore.net), November 05, 2001.

Since cost is not an issue, I'd suggest using liquid chemicals, rather than powders that you have to dissolve in water. This will save time, and avoid possible inhalation of the powder dust during mixing. There are lots of choices, these are typical:

Film developer: Kodak HC-110 Paper developer: Ethol LPD Stop bath: Kodak Indicator stop bath. Film fixer: Ilford Universal fixer. Paper fixer: Ilford Universal fixer.

-- Chris Ellinger (chris@ellingerphoto.com), November 06, 2001.