My Darkroom

Yup. It’s a mess. And the pictures are terrible. I took them with my little digital camera. Anything automatic seems to confuse me. I’m used to setting everything by hand.

These pictures were taken in the middle of processing some 8x10 negatives. I had finished the N+1 ones, and was taking a break before doing the normals.
     As you can see, I’ve added numbers to the chaos so I can try to explain what it’s all doing there.

1. There is a big paper safe, just out of the picture here. I use this area for reloading film holders as well as doing any pre-enlarger stuff like cleaning the negative, or loading a contact print holder. There is open space under the counter, here, so you can pull a chair up close.
2. Enlarging easel with a bunch of 4x5 film holders stacked on it. They should be in one of the drawers you see under the counter, but they generally only get put away when I want to do some printing.
3. The 4x5 enlarger with a Zone VI cold head.
4. The back of a digital Gralab 505 timer with footswitch attached. See the cable running across the floor. I use this timer for doing film, only. I use a Zone VI timer for printing.
5. A BIG stack of 8x10 film holders. Yah, they should be in the drawers.
6. My Beseler 8x10 enlarger with cold light head.
7. A blue towel covering a radio. Can’t have the lighted dial showing.
8. The wall … okay, I added this number so I could tell you that there is a Sanyo heating/cooling unit above there which works very well for getting the darkroom at exactly the right temp. There is a Thomas’s Super Safelight hanging from the ceiling.
9. Ridged trays used for 8x10 negatives. I have to have the ones with bumps or little furrows in the bottom. The 8x10 sheet film will stick very securely to the bottom of a smooth bottomed tray. The trays are presoak, developer, stop, fix, and rinse. The HCA tray is in the near sink out of the field of view (visible in the two preceding pictures).
10. Storage shelf where I keep all my developing tanks. I use tanks for 4x5, and, of course 35mm. There are also two big Gralab timers up there; one on each end of the darkroom.
11. I have two taps in each sink, for a total of four taps. I use them all. Each of them has half a washing machine hose (cut in two with a knife) so I can direct water wherever I need it.
12. Cupboards. There are tray racks under both sinks, and a separate chemical storage area under the area between the two sinks.
13. The footswitch. Since both hands are occupied when processing 8x10 film, you have to have this for starting the timer.
14. The second sink. Right under the number 14 is my favorite container for mixing chemicals. I am using it here as a place to rinse my hands when I’ve finished processing the negatives and want to turn on the lights.
15. A bar stool/chair. High enough to get me up to counter level. I don’t like to sit down when I’m processing, but for long boring jobs like developing 4x5 negatives, or proofing 4x5 or 8x10 negatives, it’s restful.

Not numbered, but essential to any darkroom, is the strip of electrical outlets that runs all the way along the wall on both sides of the room. You can see it in the preceding pictures. Also, there is an exhaust fan built into the wall between the 8x10 enlarger and where the radio is.

The final result of this day’s work. Here are 8x10 negatives drying on the clothesline. I always turn off the heat pump so the floor vents won’t blow air and dust onto the negatives while they’re wet. I have two rows of clothesline. I put towels on the floor under them to catch the drips.

Back to Technotes