I look at a lot of darkroom builds online. Many people just start building and get what they end up with. With this build, my last one, I tried to plan rather than just build.
I look at a lot of darkroom builds online. Many people just start building and get what they end up with. With this build, my last one, I tried to plan rather than just build.
A bit of a latecomer to this thread...but Barry, could you share with us the dimensions of your new darkroom space?
I only process B&W
I use the safest chemistry I know of
I don't need a power vent
I use a humidifier under my DR sink all winter...5 gallons a day or more
Tin Can
I still shed a tear in my classic unused B&W darkroom~ haven't dunked a negative in ? years~ just can't let my old 88 year brain accept that it's time for the last picture show~ some thumbnail pix over here... https://www.classicbwphoto.com/class...o/Welcome.html
Reinhold
https://re-inventedphotoequip.com/Home.html
Hello John:Originally Posted by John Layton
The lab is 5 1/2 feet wide and 24 1/2 feet long (1.67m x 7.5,m). It is for one person. I rarely have visitors.
Thanks for the question.
Barry Young
Young Camera Company
Hey Tin Can:
I also only process B+W and have stopped using battery acid and Thalidomide in my processing. But it still gets damned hot in Summer and cold in winter. The venting above the sink is to take away the smell of the stop bath mostly. I don't enjoy it as much after a six hour printing session. Would a power vent somehow dimininish your results? There was a hole through the concrete foundation where the clothes dryer was hooked up. Didn't seem prudent to see it go to waste.
Because the space is narrow, without ventilation, it becomes pretty stuffy in there. With ventilation, it is nice.
You really put 5 gallons of water per day into the air of your lab? Seems like that would cause mold to grow.
Thanks for your comment.
Barry Young
Young Camera Company
Okie Dokie:
Now to the reason for this thread. I thought perhaps some of our members may have been considering building a lab in their homes and don't know what is important and what isn't. Thus the name on the thread. Now that the lab is nearly complete, those readers will know we know how to build a photo lab and are not just talk. This thread is actually for them rather than the experienced old hands. Sorry for the long post Tin Can.
This is my fourth permanent lab. Not counting the one in the closet of an oil rig above the Arctic Circle! This is my last lab. I am never going to move from this property. That changed some things. For example, in my last lab to vent foul odors, I built a window mount for the exhaust fan that Tin Can does not need but I do. This mount consisted of two pieces of plywood sandwiching the open window so the home remained secure. The two pieces of plywood were screwed together from the inside securing them to the sliding window sill. Then a 4 inch hole saw was used to make a port for the exhaust fan hose (Dryer hose). That was a removable solution. Now that we are in our forever home, we can make permanent changes. The dryer vent was already in this place so I did not have to put any holes in walls to vent to the exterior, but other things, major things were done that one could not do in a temporary location. For example, the door and windows to the garage were deemed unnecessary, so out they came, framed in the openings, and covered them with OSB. These differences between permanent and temporary spaces, and to cover what is important and unimportant is why I started this thread.
It looks like this will be just about the right space for me. This will be my first lab which is long and skinny. Hopefully that works out. If not, I will move the lab to a larger space in this home that is not as long and narrow. I am lucky to have a home that had three good choices for a locating a lab. When we bought this home in 2021, a proper photo lab was in mind from before I looked at properties and was the deciding factor in this property eventually being the one we bought. One could say that it was the highest of my priorities after the workshop. When I looked at the property, this area was a bathroom with vanity, toilet and shower stall, and an adjacent laundry room. Tore those out, along with the aforementioned door and windows. Even though I owned the home the last lab was in, I never felt comfortable doing major changes to the house, here I definitely do feel comfortable moving or eliminating walls, plumbing and electrical.
So, to the business at hand! What is important and unimportant to you darkroom owners out there? Let's help the next generation of film photographers make good decisions. Please respond with what you feel you could not do without in your lab and what you should not have wasted time and resources on.
Lights! For me, the most important thing was being able to see well. That meant a Thomas Duplex safelight. Two actually. These safelights are incredible, they are by far the brightest safelights I have ever encountered. They have the right bulbs (Sodium), and the right filters to allow you to have a bright well lit room that does not fog photo paper. I also use two 8x10 Kodak safelights near the enlargers to give the nice dark sort of light that I prefer when printing and doing other voodoo magic. I turn off the Thomas lights when printing and only use those bad boys for processing.
Comfort! Next was being comfortable, and that meant proper room temperature and fresh air (sorry Tin Can), and music. There are two stereo systems in my lab. One is for timing processes. I have made many agitation CD's that tell me when to agitate tanks, prints etc. while I am working without having to be a slave and watch the four gralab process timers go around and around. The CD plays music, or comedy or great speeches interrupted with voice commands "Agitate film tank!" or whatever I need to time. It is funny to hear Winston Churchill talking about fighting on the beaches in the fields and then tell me to agitate. The other stereo is at low volume and has 5 CD's with my favorite happy songs and runs continuously when I am not timing. This works SO much better than watching the damn clock. I also have Omega and Beseler timers for each enlarger. Even after 30 years I cannot decide which I like better so I keep both. BUT! I most often use a digital metronome or sometimes a mechanical one to time exposures. Thanks Ansel! Recently I have been going with longer exposures and for that I use one of the enlarger timers or a Gralab to start and stop the exposure so I don't lose count of the metronome clicks. It depends mostly on the exposure time. Another creature comfort is seating. It is a long story that you do not want to hear, but I use a four legged wooden stool that has been shortened 6 inches. Apparently they make those cheap wooden stools for obscenely long legged freaks or something. Cutting the wooden legs off made a huge difference in comfort. I have two stools that fit under the enlarger bench. Since it is almost always just me, this means I can have one at the enlarger station, and one at the sink. I have a pretty bad back injury that makes me unable to stand or sit, or walk for more than 15 minutes at a time, so this is a very important consideration in my lab. For air, I bought a cheap inline air fan from Amazon that uses 4 inch dryer duct. This is on a variable speed unit that allows me to turn it way down so just a little fresh air comes in from another part of the basement. There is an air conditioner that provides a nice 65 degree workplace even when it is more than 100 degrees F outside. I have a very small heater that should heat this entire space during winter, we will see, it may take much more than I think to heat this place when it is 5 degrees outside. There is an exhast fan above the sink stations that will get rid of icky fumes from the stop bath and toners. It does not take much to greatly improve quality of living in this respect.
Storage! The long storage rack and huge amount of shelf space is sort of not that important, everything could be stored in boxes in the next room, this just made it much handier. In future all the camera gear will be out of the lab freeing up lots of room for other junk.The shelving above the sink is metal shelving perfect for drying glassware. Then turn around to store it. Eventually I may build a wire glassware rack to live above the sink, but not yet, I want to try this first. The bookshelf is also a wire rack, but would be better if it was wood, it may get some wood shelving attached at a later time.
Books! Don't forget that you will need information in your processing adventure. I use the Kodak Master Darkroom Data Guide for many things, but it is very incomplete in the things I like to do. I usually mix my own chemistry from raw materials rather than using pre-packaged chemistry from Ilford or Kodak. I do use prepackaged chemistry for some projects, but not much. Why? Search me. Anyhoo, if you want to make your own chemistry and maybe save some serious money, check out Photographic Facts and Formulas by F.I.Wall and E.J. Jordan that is my go to book. Also the Amphoto Lab Handbook is OK. Another chemical recipe book is Henry M. Lester's Photo-Lab-Index. I love the heavy cover with the steel hinges on that baby. The 8th edition is the one I use, the 5th edition I have is like recipe cards in a box and not nearly as handy. I also have a file for index cards. Each of my formulas goes onto a 3x5 index card and gets filed in this handy box which holds 1000 cards, not that I will ever fill it up. I strongly recommend making your own recipe file with matching agitation timing CD.
Water! I read over and over how folks have dark facilities that do not have running water. I mean what? I did this in Alaska and will never have to do it again. A proper lab needs proper water. Filtered water and a way to control the temperature. My last lab had the best water system I have ever used. Better than what I have now, for now anyway. It had a large canister filter for hot and cold lines both which ran into a beautiful Powers thermostatic mix valve that maintained 68 degrees +/- .25 degree. B&W does not require that kind of precision. I was doing Color at that time and felt I needed that. The moron plumber who installed that valve used black iron pipe fittings (It was all I had at the time so I used them, give me a break huh?). These fittings rusted up letting a large amount of rust into the valve itself. The repair kit for this valve was almost $500. Let me say that once more, the repair kit (o-rings and seals) was near $500 for that stinkin valve. Daddy said no! So I went on Amazon and found a thermostatic mix valve that will hold +/- 2 degrees F for $59. We will see how well it does. I may gang three of these together to see if they hold temp better that way, or not.
Sink! Yeah, anything will do. No need for a stainless steel aircraft carrier like I lucked into for $115 at a very obscure junk yard. A regular kitchen sink and a portable folding table you don't mind wrecking with developer spills is all you need. Hot and cold running water with a drain is all that is required, anything else is fluff.
I still have to fill the hole in the floor left by the toilet that got yanked. And there is a board supporting one enlarger bench leg that needs to be trimmed, and the door needs some light baffling, but the lab is essentially done.
Please do a good thing and help out the new people to film photography by helping them decide what is important for THEM! They need to hear from you because you know, and they often don't. The internet does not help solve these sorts of questions very well. So sit your behind down and write a reply to help the people who will be following us.
Thank you
Barry Young
Young Camera Company
Barry, for a lab that long and narrow (5.5x24.5), I would definitely consider, instead of having a "wet side and a dry side," to instead have a "dry end and a wet end." This would keep things from feeling too crowded (and possibly cross-contaminated), plus allow for generous dimensions of both sink and lab bench. Make sense?
Hi John:
Thanks for the response. This lab was set up to be one side during the design stage months ago. So yeah, it makes sense. The lab was set up around the dimensions of the sink and dry bench.
Barry
Nice website Reinhold. That picture of you on the front looks very much like Edward Weston with his Kodak 2D.
Barry
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