Sugestions for a new darkroom

[al1966]

I will have access to mega darkrooms when I go to college but my wife insists that we have one in the house. The only room we have to use has no water so the final wash will have to be done in the bath. So are there any good quick ways to black out a window? also Id like to fit some form of extraction in there any suggestions. In an effort to save space whatt about dev tray racks. And finally has anyone got any ideas aas to what is a good enlargsr to buy? With regards to quality and reliability, What are the better lenses without spending a years wagws? I did have a nice durst with a good nikkor lens but that got trashed by my ex wife. We want to do at least 6x6 negs but prefer bigger and as usual for me it will al be used.

 

[rxmd]

The only room we have to use has no water so the final wash will have to be done in the bath.

I have much the same problems that you have darkroomwise and all of them are easily solved.

So are there any good quick ways to black out a window?

My original plan was to build some kind of vertical one-layer blackout curtain that ran in slots at the side, but that was a lot of planning and building effort. Better to have two 99% lightproof, easily-built, easily-installed cheap onion-type layers of light protection than to spend ages and cash building the one-layer 100% solution.

I now cut a board of wood to the size of the window opening, put some black cloth loosely over the edges and attached two grips to the board. If you want to black out the darkroom, put the board in front of the window; for non-darkroom work stow the board away That's what I do. It's a pretty basic solution and not 100% lightproof, so I hung up a curtain. Together it works.

also Id like to fit some form of extraction in there any suggestions.

That one's tricky. The easiest solution would be to open the door for ten minutes every two hours or so. More technical solutions would include two boards, with holes on opposite sides and a blackened pipe between them, or something like that.

In an effort to save space whatt about dev tray racks.

It works. I also consider it a very good idea, as it has the advantage that you can use huge paper trays without taking up lots of space.

I bought a rack at IKEA for ten euros or so that has five slots for drawers, then I cut a couple of thin wooden boards to fit in the slots. Now I put the trays on top of these boards and work from top to bottom. To move paper I slide out the lower tray, slide out the upper tray slightly, grab the paper at the corner, let it drip off over the upper tray and then let it slide into the lower tray. At the bottom there is a big tray filled with water. I then collect all the paper in a bucket and carry it out into the bath every hour or so, leaving the darkroom door open for air.

My darkroom otherwise doubles as my writing room, seven square meters with a trapezoid floor plan of fourteen by four by six feet, no running water, huge window of about four by four feet on one side and another window in the (old, wooden, light-leaking) door on the other, so by and large it has all the disadvantages a room could possibly have. The total cost for my darkroom was nine EUR for six square meters of lightproof cloth from a wholesaler for curtains over the window and door and for the edges of the window board, about 10 EUR for the rack, another 10 EUR for wood and cutjobs, another 10 EUR for four square meters of black garden pond foil to hang over the door on both sides to black out the window and slits, and maybe 20 EUR for installation stuff like curtain rails and safelight. There is really no reason not to build a home darkroom. A suitable room can be found everywhere IMHO.

Philipp