With the revival of film photography, also interest in traditional darkroom printing has risen a bit again. I started setting up my darkroom about 4 years ago, and I have a lot of fun printing from negatives (35 mm, 6x6 cm, 6x7 cm, and 4x5") and from digital negatives since. Post your recent work if you also do some darkroom printing - please show your recent results and explain the technique(s) applied!
Printed from 6x6 negative (Ilford FP4+ film) on silver gelatin 11x14" Ilford Multigrade RC paper with Beseler 23C enlarger and Schneider-Kreuznach 80/5.6 enlarger lens. Developed with Dektol. Photo of print taken with Sony A7R camera and Canon 50/3.5 FD macro lens.
retrofocus wrote:
...
Printed from ... and Schneider-Kreuznach 80/2.8 enlarger lens. ...
I guess that's a typo. Schneider never made an F2.8 enlarging lens although they did of course make the 2.8/80 Xenotar (I have three) which looks like an enlarging lens albeit with a thread for a shutter, not standard enlarging lens threads.
JohnJ wrote:
I guess that's a typo. Schneider never made an F2.8 enlarging lens although they did of course make the 2.8/80 Xenotar (I have three) which looks like an enlarging lens albeit with a thread for a shutter, not standard enlarging lens threads.
There were several 80mm EL's from Schneider over the years but the fastest was F4.
That's right - I mixed it up with one of my Nikkor 50/2.8 enlarger lenses! The one I used here is in fact a Schneider-Kreuznach 80/5.6 lens which I used at f/22.
retrofocus wrote:
That's right - I mixed it up with one of my Nikkor 50/2.8 enlarger lenses! The one I used here is in fact a Schneider-Kreuznach 80/5.6 lens which I used at f/22.
That 80/5.6 is quite an old lens, I think 60's. It might be worth keeping an eye out for a modern 6 element EL as they are not very expensive these days. Rodagons, Componon-S, EL-Nikkors, the (latest) Minolta Rokkors, Fujonon EXes to name just a few are all excellent. The APOs from Schneider and Rodenstock are excellent but expensive and getting more expensive by the day! I have a fetish for EL's and keep this list which slowly grows every year.
buggz wrote:
I've always wanted to make an analog print...
JimUe wrote:
me2
I used to use a rental darkroom, I think the big thing was the wash? Make sure no one throws anything in, I think you have to start over? Of course, you can wash at home in daylight.
I'd leave it in the water and let equilibrium pull stuff out, changing the water periodically, as opposed to leaving the faucet on & using a lot of water.
Here's a rental darkroom in Toronto, might be others too:
One thing I read & did was to use the next film format up lens fl i.e. 75-90mm for 35mm film. Idk how much difference it made, but cuts off the corners, for better performance. Of course, I only printed up to about 8x10.
AmbientMike wrote:
I used to use a rental darkroom, I think the big thing was the wash? Make sure no one throws anything in, I think you have to start over? Of course, you can wash at home in daylight.
I'd leave it in the water and let equilibrium pull stuff out, changing the water periodically, as opposed to leaving the faucet on & using a lot of water.
Here's a rental darkroom in Toronto, might be others too:
One thing I read & did was to use the next film format up lens fl i.e. 75-90mm for 35mm film. Idk how much difference it made, but cuts off the corners, for better performance. Of course, I only printed up to about 8x10.
The wash time depends on the paper used in the first place - RC paper only requires a few minutes, whereas fiber based paper requires easily up to 10 minutes. Both times can be reduced by soaking the print after quick rinse from the fixer bath directly into Kodak Hypo Clearing Agent solution for approx. 2 min which decomposes the remaining thiosulfate from the fixer. Much easier and quicker this way!
retrofocus wrote:
The wash time depends on the paper used in the first place - RC paper only requires a few minutes, whereas fiber based paper requires easily up to 10 minutes. Both times can be reduced by soaking the print after quick rinse from the fixer bath directly into Kodak Hypo Clearing Agent solution for approx. 2 min which decomposes the remaining thiosulfate from the fixer. Much easier and quicker this way!
Yeah, that sounds right, forgot about the RC needing less wash time. I think it used to be 45 min. on FB? But I never used the hypo clearing agent on paper.
I used to use an archival print washer. Very conservative water usage and complete washing. I still have all my darkroom and Pt/Pd equipment. Perhaps, someday, I'll find the time.
1joel1 wrote:
I used to use an archival print washer. Very conservative water usage and complete washing. I still have all my darkroom and Pt/Pd equipment. Perhaps, someday, I'll find the time.
Joel
Definitely keep it - print washers have become very expensive as used darkroom equipment online!
If you are really serious, all you need is some trays and a print frame, then develop with the trays in your bathtub, contact print a digital negative, which you can make as big as you like, on contact print paper.
The old Amidol / AZO formulations are still around, and you can get AZO equivalent Lodima paper from Michael smith's group (He just passed), and away you go.
In the distant past, I was developing 8x10 sheet film this way.
Herbc wrote:
In the distant past, I was developing 8x10 sheet film this way.
Low-volume wetwork can be even easier: drum developing! Just insert the paper and close the lid. Then, the rest of the processing can continue with the lights on. Chemicals go in and out through the lid, and you agitate by rocking the drum side to side, or rolling it on the table. I made Cibachrome prints up to 11"x14" with this method. The upscale crowd used Jobo processors with motorized drums and temperature baths. The good old days of analog.
AHPZuazua wrote:
What did it cost to set up your film developing
I see enlargers often given away simply as there isn't much demand, same for darkroom equipment such as trays, beakers, tongs etc. For relatively small prints, ie 8 by 10, a simple enlarger with a cheap lens will be fine. i just bought a nice EL (Rodenstock Rodagon 2.8/50) for 18 dollars.
JohnJ wrote:
I see enlargers often given away simply as there isn't much demand, same for darkroom equipment such as trays, beakers, tongs etc. For relatively small prints, ie 8 by 10, a simple enlarger with a cheap lens will be fine. i just bought a nice EL (Rodenstock Rodagon 2.8/50) for 18 dollars.
This seems very area/location-dependent at the moment. Here at the US East Coast, prices for darkroom stuff went up quite severely - you won't easily get a Beseler enlarger (even the 35 mm ones) for free anymore, neither things like easels and also enlarger lenses. I am checking this development since about 2015 on Craigslist and ebay. What I sometimes still see as free give-aways are smaller red lights, small trays, and old film development bins.
AHPZuazua wrote:
What did it cost to set up your film developing
I was extremely fortunate and just in time before prices went up as I mentioned in my post above. I got for $700 three years ago on Craigslist probably my deal of a lifetime, all in nearly mint condition: a Swiss Alpina 4x5 camera with Schneider-Kreuznach Copal lenses, a Beseler 45MXT enlarger with color diffuser head (which can be used with up to 4x5 negatives), a > 20" wide dry mount press, steel enforced (industrial scale, never even once saw such one anywhere for sale online!), print washer, timers, many trays, easels in all sizes, laser calibration tool for the enlarger, grain focusers, contrast filters, etc. I was also lucky to get one year earlier another nearly mint Beseler 45M (which I am using currently for 35 mm negatives) and just last year from a good friend of mine a Beseler 23C II (which I am using for 6x6 and 6x7 medium format negatives) - for free! The only things I actually had to buy online were an 11x14" easel plus large trays and one timer (at a time before I got the whole setup as mentioned in the beginning), replacement condenser bulbs for the enlargers, one fairly cheap Nikkor enlarger lens, paper, and a few chemicals. I believe I have at the moment a darkroom setup better than even some colleges have (only with the space for all of this I had to improvise a bit ranging from garage to closet space for the dry work).
retrofocus wrote:
This seems very area/location-dependent at the moment. Here at the US East Coast, prices for darkroom stuff went up quite severely - you won't easily get a Beseler enlarger (even the 35 mm ones) for free anymore, neither things like easels and also enlarger lenses. I am checking this development since about 2015 on Craigslist and ebay. What I sometimes still see as free give-aways are smaller red lights, small trays, and old film development bins.
Do you spend time at APUG/Photorio? I occasionally see stuff being given away there, to good homes of course where the gear will get used. I certainly agree that EL prices are going up, no question, but there's still plenty of cheap (but good) stuff around. As I said, there's really no need for high end enlargers for folks starting out, even Meopta and similar stuff is OK depending on use and these are very cheap.
