This is going to be hard ...

[jp]

I'm not a fanatic about analog and film.

If your goal is color, digital output is likely the most practical way forward.

If your goal is B&W or alt process styles, a darkroom can be a modest one-time expense that will far outlast any epson printer. I've got about $2k into what I think is a really good darkroom.

If you need the computer to do retouching, special curves, digital negatives, whatever, that's fine, but you can still create handcrafted final output if that's an intermediate step. I think the "hand crafted" element is more important that archivalness comparing digital and darkroom. Would you rather have a handmade painting created from a photo the painter took, or a scan of a photo with a painterly plugin-filter applied in photoshop to distort the photo and output on canvas? That's what I thought.

Unless you're someone really special, museums probably won't worry about our work's archivalness because they won't be after it. But it's still good to do whatever we do as if we want the finished product to outlast ourselves.

[Jim Galli]

I think your question is; can a rational business model be argued?

Not really. Without religious fervor / your term for irrational behavior, not mine, you probably can't find a way to get there.

[swmcl]

Thanks for the replies.

The archival issue for me is important because I can't see any point in going any distance for something that doesn't last. Even if its only contact prints at least they will last.

The business case comes from renting out the equipment - not from me selling prints so much. Lower costs means I can just let others use it but at 15k or so I don't think the wifey is going to participate !!

To me, there is a clear case for the use of LF cameras. On the capture side of things there is no argument but on the printing side there are more options and possibilities.

Cheers,

Steve

[Paul Ewins]

Steve, an 8x10 enlarger is probably a pipe dream but the 5x7 Durst 138/139 are just as common as any 4x5 enlarger. Admittedly that might involve a road trip or freight from Sydney but that would be true of a 4x5 enlarger too. The basic rule is that the perfect enlarger only crops up at the wrong time or in the wrong place. They do need to stand on the floor, but otherwise aren't outrageously tall and should be fine under a standard roof. I brought one home in the back of my station wagon and was able to manoeuvre it in and out by myself and then wheel it about on a standard hand trolley.

[angusparker]

Here's the direction I'm going in: I have a 4x5 enlarger (because they are smaller, easy to find and use). Anything bigger can be contact printed either directly (8x10) or with a digitally enlarged negative (16x20) - so you still have an analogue output which is archival but you've cut out the expense and space needed for an 8x10 enlarger. I've found the Epson V750 makes pretty good scans for 4x5 and 8x10 but you can also send out for a drum scan for really big enlargements.

[jumanji]

If you think building a darkroom in Aus is hard, how's my public rental darkroom here (just opened a few days ago) in Vietnam?
Btw a few months ago, a friend of mine come back from Oz with a Leitz V35 that he got for a cheap price.

[Dan Dozer]

I converted my old 8 x 10 Kodak 2D camera into a horizontal enlarger (and can still use the camera also). I already had the camera, found a used cold light head for about $200, used materials laying around in the garage for the base and frame, cut the septum out of an old wooden 8 x 10 film holder for my negative holder, and found a 300mm Rodenstock lens on the auction site for about $50. Total cost was under $300.

Guys,

I realise the costs of buying darkroom gear has been lowered. But if you start with a negative larger that 4x5 things are a bit different. Especially when the only options are to buy in from overseas. I think I've got a snowflakes chance of finding a good enlarger for 5x7 or 8x10 in Aus. These enlargers are also a real pain in the vertical format because of the height issues. So that means a horizontal format machine. Do you know how difficult that is to find in Aus ??!!

I have been given a lowered price for an enlarger in the UK but we are talking 10 - 12k after shipping and taxes.

Its getting so expensive it needs a business case. It is going beyond the personal 'thing'.

:-)

[analoguey]

I was reading Ansel 's ' print' and he mentions a very similar approach to building a horizontal enlarger.
What would be the workflow to build your own enlarger? (And using a camera)

[Dan Dozer]

My set up is pretty simple. I built a base/frame with a track that sits on the edge of the counter in the darkroom and projects onto the wall. It opens up as two 90 degree legs when in place and folds up so when I'm not using it, it easily stores away. The camera and cold light head slide back and forth on the track to get the image size to the approximate size needed for the print and then I use the camera adjustements to slide the camera front assembly forward or backward for final focusing. The cold light head is just positioned up against the camera back. I also use the front rise/fall for adjusting the vertical position of the image for cropping. The only thing I need to do with the camera to convert it from using it for exposing the image to using it as the enlarger is to remove the ground glass back. While I don't need to, I found that the clipped corners on it will encroach in the corners of the enlarged image sometimes.

I have some photographs of the whole set up and I'll see if I can find them to post.