My question is how do you set up a dark room? Is it expensive? I want to set up my own!! Im 16 and I've taken' some really good pictures and I would like to have a dark room in my house so I can develop them myself!! Write back please!!

-- Alaina Brianne Ashley (laina64@hotmail.com), May 27, 1999

Answers

Alaina,

Your question is a very good one. I am an Architect in Florida. When I was 16 I set up a darkroom in my house. My mother would not let me build one so I used her laundry room. I bought an inexpensive 35mm enlarger, a few 8x10 trays, a developing tank, and several other accessories.

My mom gave me two shelves within the cabinets to store all of the items. I would set the enlarger on the dryer and developing trays on the washing machine. I would place towels on the floor at the door so that light would not get in. I had a small lamp with a red darkroom bulb attached.

It was great fun. I took pictures for out High School Yearbook and Newspaper. I went on to study Architecture and Fine Arts at the University of Miami. I took several photography classes in college and used the Universities darkroom.

I now have a dedicated 9'x12' darkroom that I built in my home. I have taught my son to develop and print film and he really has fun with it. He attends the University of Florida. My daughter will be 16 in November. She is taking her first photography class in school this coming year.

If you have any other question I would be happy to answer them.

Mike

-- Michael J. Kravit (mkravit@mindspring.com), May 27, 1999.

Ahh, memories. I did the same thing, at about the same age. The most expensive item is the enlarger, with lens. Second-hand enlargers can be very cheap. I came across one last year for #15 (UK pounds, about $25), including an easel, trays and so on.

There are articles on creating your own darkroom in B&W World, the 'owner' of this forum.

-- Alan Gibson (Alan.Gibson@technologist.com), May 28, 1999.

I have a few pages on the internet that can help also, they are located at http://darkroomsource.com

I've also just set up a getting started page.

Hope this helps, Andy

-- Andy Hughes (andy@darkroomsource.com), May 28, 1999.

Alaina, Setting up a dark room can ba as expensive or cheap as you make it. From my experience there are alot of people who find an enlarger in the basement or attic of the house and sell it in the classifieds for practically nothing. sometimes even with trays and chemicals. The most expensive part this way is probable the paper. When i built my first one i used ( tho i wouldn't recommend it ) aluminun oven trays... real cheap. my advise is if you want to set one up, watch the classifieds. Sean

-- Sean (Zbeeblebrox42@yahoo.com), July 12, 1999.

Alaina: I've been through this several times. Black plastic purchased in hardware, farm, or garden stores is useful for making a room dark enough. It might take more than one layer in a bright room. A corner of a basement or whatever is available can be partitioned off with it. Running water is nice, but most of my darkrooms didn't have it. Instead, I used gallon milk jugs to bring water in, and a pail to dump it. If the room is between 65 and 70 degrees, storing some water there in milk jugs gives you a supply of water at the same temperature as the chemicals. This simplifies developing film. Cheap plastic dishpans are useful for washing prints or even to use instead of regular trays. If you use them for the chemicals, mark each of them so they are always used for the same chemical to prevent contamination. I've bought several enlargers from schools when they auction off surplus equipment. On the internet, eBay has enlargers, but the buyers know what they are worth. Some are still bargains. There are a lot of enlargers that amateurs have set aside and almost forgotten. Sometimes they show up at auctions or garage sales. Developer should be stored in dark bottles, but any bottle in a dark room or cabinet does as well. Kitchen measuring cups and other containers are useful in the darkroom, and don't have to be fancy. A good darkroom thermometer is fairly expensive, but if film developing tanks, chemicals, and water are all stored in a room at the right temperature, an accurate room thermometer does fine.

-- jim jones (jjones@greenhills.net), July 23, 1999.