When I had a darkroom, which I don't anymore, the only absolute necessity was a tall stool. I had a very nice one for a while. The funny thing was that while I really liked it, I spent hardly any time at all sitting on it, which I guess put it in the luxury category. :-)
Thinking about it now, I have the sudden urge to search Amazon for something like the one I left behind at one job in 1973. . .
Thanks, but I'd rather just watch:
Large format: http://flickr.com/michaeldarnton
Mostly 35mm: http://flickr.com/mdarnton
You want digital, color, etc?: http://www.flickr.com/photos/stradofear
Well, I'm moving in a nice black leather chair beside the retouching station tonight, which someone in the office no longer wanted. Just installed my articulating overhead lamp with CRI 98 German color matching tubes, have my adjustable tilting black formica retouch table done, which instantly removes to give me a very solid flat surface for rolling dye transfer prints under the same lighting. Now I'm trying to figure out the best way to make a cute little swing arm system to hold my tray of retouching dyes etc. After this, the ultimate copystand will be my next project.
Minolta auto-meter IV F (to keep exposures consistent when I change filtration on the color head or the elevation of the head), privacy, central heat and AC, equity in my house that contains the room.....
I can add a few to my list. In this post film, digital era, I've been able to cherry pick a few luxuries off EBay for relatively little money.
> All Apo Rodagon lenses, from 50mm up to 240mm. (I could never have afforded this back in the days . . . )
> I consider my Zone VI enlarging and developing compensating timers essential to my workflow. (Still a luxury, considering the alternatives.)
> One of the first luxuries, an automated stirrer.
> About a 3x5 sheet of plywood (painted), on which I've mounted all my plumbing and electrical fixtures. It hangs on two vertical 2x2's and connects via a plug and two flexible pipes onto hot and cold water. When I move, it moves with me.
> An 8' table designed and optimized for cutting mattes using a Logan 450 Artist Elite cutter. I mounted the Logan onto the table, and raised the remainder of the table so that the entire surface is at the same height as the matte board.
The one item I am really glad I got and am using far more than I thought I would, is a Fuji dark box which allows me to load and unload film in the dark, but without turning off any lights.
A cheap quartz wall clock with a loud one second tick...
RR
re: Apo El Nikkor not being cheap: Well, the one I have (105mm -N) was *relatively* cheap. As in half of what it was new, and/or about half what they usually sell for these days. That's cheap to me, all things considered. Granted the 210mm and longer ones are harder to find and more expensive.
For large prints, I mounted two long ball-bearing drawer slides under the top of my lab bench, then attached a wood frame to this - to fit a 30x40 paper safe. I attached small wheels to the bottom of the paper safe (drilled small holes in bottom edge to accept axles) to allow for a certain amount of "double extension." I then added stops underneath the paper safe to limit total travel so that when extended (conveniently just beside my "big print" enlarger) it stops exactly where it need to for easy unloading. Best thing is that when rolled back to its stored position, this otherwise very large paper safe is completely out of the way - part of my overall goal (admittedly still quite unrealized!) to have my lab bench as "uncluttered" as possible.
I like John Layton's idea very much.
My recent darkroom luxury is Dr. Scholl's shoe gel inserts. I kid you not.
+1 on the Dr. Scholl's! What works for me is to wear my squishy Teva sandals over stocking feet. (hey, it all starts with the feet - right?)
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