Never been in a darkroom

[Mike Davis]

Interesting comments. I haven't touched a darkroom in 25+ years. I wasn't good at it then and subsequently learned to let labs do that part. And even though I'm just starting in 4x5 (when Layton gets his cameras made), I'm still going to let a local lab process the film to start, but I may eventually develop the B&W film at home. I'm focusing on the computer side for scanning and printing. In the end I like being in the field getting the photograph far more than processinging and printing film.

Well, there are some good labs out there. But, who can develop your negatives better than you? You saw the image, took the shot, hopefully wrote down your notes, and you know your camera's quirks.

Since I have processed my own film, I seldom (if ever) have scratches. I don't do color at the house, but I don't trust anyone else to develop my B&W. It's just too easy to do myself to worry about losing something because someone else had a bad day.

Before I built my current darkroom, I processed film in daylight tanks in the kitchen (being sure to clean thorooughly before and after). I then printed in a community darkroom or if I was taking a class the University. About 2 years ago, I built a small darkroom at the house. At 5x7, it won't win any efficiency awards, but it has enough room for 2 enlargers, tray stacks to do 11x14 two part fix and an 11x14 washer. It also has space for my chemicals (bulk and premixed).

In the past year, I've looked at simplifying. I'm making more contact prints. I'm mixing my own chemicals from scratch (which takes VERY little time and assures me of fresh chemistry).

Though I've worked with computers for over 20 years,been involved in the infancy of electronic retouching and taught photoshop to Art Directors, I much prefer my tiny darkroom to the computer.

Mike Davis

[Slade Zumhofe]

This is a question and buddy and I have just asked ourselves. There will be a point--very soon that more and more people coming into LF will not have used a darkroom.

I happen to be someone that just came from a darkroom and now only use it to development my negs--the rest is done at a computer. Don't get me wrong--I LOVED the darkroom but felt this was a better fit. I am now more productive, shoot more, spend more time with the wife and kids, and can do a better job on my images since "time" isn't the deciding factor on what you can achieve. That being said when you step away from the standard BW silver and talk about other processes--I think digital has a very hard time replicating the "look" (plat/palad.--to mention a few).

I personally don't think it will be worth it to even rent a darkroom space. You either need to get into it or stick with what you have. It takes a lot of time to get good in the wetlab and you will only frustrate yourself. I peronally am glad I began in the wetlab--I don't think I could be very good at what I do on the computer if I had not first perfected my technique in the darkroom. I'm not saying it can't be done but it does seem it would be much more difficult without that experience.

I will tell you the one thing I don't miss about the wetlab--going back in and having to make another print of an old negative!! I got so far behind on new work because I kept running out of my older stuff--just wasn't as exciting the 3rd and 4th time around. Now, I get the excitement the first time and it is done--print any size at any time I want and can then move on to the next new image. That is my favorite part--other than getting to step away in the middle of working an image to play with the kids.

Good luck.

[CXC]

"who can develop your negatives better than you" -- how about a lab pro who does it 8 hours a day 5 days a week, and whose livelihood depends on it? That guy not only develops my film better, he also makes better prints than I can.

I worked in two college newspaper darkrooms, and I had a darkroom in my house back when I was still shooting 35mm. Now that I can afford it, I take everything to the lab. I don't miss having a darkroom one second. I'm very happy shooting in the field, and paying somebody else to deal with the chemicals or computers, and dust and smells, etc, etc.

Remember if you want to develop your own film, you can do that in broad daylight with a changing bag and a developing tank. Mixing the chemicals is more like cooking than chemistry; the only hard part is getting the water temperature right, and even that is not always as important as some claim.

[Norm Buchanan]

Remember if you want to develop your own film, you can do that in broad daylight with a changing bag and a developing tank. Mixing the chemicals is more like cooking than chemistry; the only hard part is getting the water temperature right, and even that is not always as important as some claim

I really like the idea of the changing bag for my own developing but what I have read about E6 processing leads me to believe that developing my transparencies would be tricky at best. Am I wrong in assuming this?

[CXC]

Norm, you are right, I was only thinking of my own case, which is B&W prints. Few folks develop their own transparencies. Many mail them to the more prominent labs.

Those in this group who develop their own chrome, why?

[Joseph O'Neil]

"who can develop your negatives better than you" -- how about a lab pro who does it 8 hours a day 5 days a week, and whose livelihood depends on it? That guy not only develops my film better, he also makes better prints than I can.

If and when you find such a lab, I think you are very, very, very lucky. For colour, I would and still do send out. But for B&W, even when we had a custom B&W lab locally - it wasn't great. Maybe I am just in a bad location, but there didn't seem to be anybody who could do a good job commercially on B&W.

Even i fyou enver own an enlarger and shot only B&W, I woudl still learn to develop yourself at home. A jobo tank and setup doesn't take a lot of doing. Plus, the creative control you have over a situation is amazing.

Always shoot two sheets whenever possible, right? At least I do (4x5 is cheap enough to do that, if I were shooting 8x10, I would likely be more economical in my outlook. ). Well with two sheets, you develop the first one in HC-110, the second one in D-76. Or I shoot one side with HP5, the other side with Tri-X. One i develop full time, the next I pull or push the develop.


I could go on and on, but my point is, once you send out your B&W film (any size negative) to a pro lab, you loose all that creativity. Colour chemistry - to me - total PITA. Tried it, hated it, now send it out commercially. B&W enlarger vs digital printer for prints - hey, I prefer enlarger, but whatever works best for you. But B&W film devleopment? Ah, to me, the only real way to go is do it yourself. Keep total creative control under your own hand at all times I think.

joe

[Mike Davis]

"who can develop your negatives better than you" -- how about a lab pro who does it 8 hours a day 5 days a week, and whose livelihood depends on it? That guy not only develops my film better, he also makes better prints than I can.

But is he going to remember that you want some expansion because it was overcast that day and you had four zones while you want 5. Is he going to do each negative of yours individually, if necessary. Will he dev by inspection? Is he worried about his kid who's sick? Does he have a hangover? Is he bored and watching the clock?

I seldom have completely straight development or printing. I also don't have a lab in town that does 8x10 B&W anymore. But even if they were here and they were as good as me, I would likely do it myself.


As I noted there are good labs out there. I use them for color work.

When it comes to my B&W, though, I will shoot it, develop it and traditionally print it. If I want to use it for other things I will also scan it and do what is necessary.

I know that I will mix the chemicals correctly, develop correctly, print correctly, calibrate correctly, scan correctly, retouch correctly and prepare for output correctly.

[Bill_1856]

Good for you, CXC!

[Ed Richards]

Developing your own negatives really makes sense for the 90% of us who would have to send negatives into the void to get them processed. A jobo expert tank does an incredible job - I have done 800 sheets in the last year with a Jobo and have no scratches. I screwed up a couple of tanks - one batch of bad developer and, early on, I forgot to put the lid on the tank before I took it out of the changing bag.:-(

It really helps to see the negatives as soon as you can after shooting, and mailing them off makes this impossible. When I first started with 4x5, I shot about 100 sheets of Polaroid. Fastest way to get up to speed and a lot cheaper than a Betterlight back.:-)

Once I process the negatives, I scan them, file them, and work digitally. The darkroom was fun, and but is really hard to get good at without spending more time than those of us with a day job can usually afford. I do not miss it.

[CXC]

I shoot straightforward stuff, basically urban/industrial landscapes, generally in bright sun, with high contrast. I never shoot portraits, and in general prefer my stuff to be empty of humans. I'm usually satisfied if the final print looks pretty much like what I saw on the ground glass, the whites are white, and the blacks are black. Thus, I am probably much easier to satisfy than many others.

I like my photos in tight focus, and to look like what I saw. If I exercise care in the field, and wait for good light, me and my lab can accomplish this pretty reliably. From my point of view, zone system adjustments are to correct for wrong or impossible exposure, or for subtleties in largely grey images that don't interest me.

As far as I can understand it, creativity in the darkroom means making all or part of the print look different from what was seen on the ground glass, for whatever aesthetic reasons. But I don't want to change anything, so I don't need any darkroom creativity.

So clearly my position is far from the norm, but at least I won't be getting any more itchy lumps on the back of my fingers!