I believe I have 92" ceiling height in my darkroom, so a room with a standard 8' ceiling is more than enough. The trick is finding one to buy within a reasonable driving distance. L
I believe I have 92" ceiling height in my darkroom, so a room with a standard 8' ceiling is more than enough. The trick is finding one to buy within a reasonable driving distance. L
So my shed has an 8' ceiling. But I built a rafter system for several reasons--additional storage, insulation, and easier to finish than a pitched ceiling. But that did drop the ceiling down to around 78"; probably not tall enough for the DeVere. Also, have you seen the prices on those things lately?? Yikes! Besides, I've got a lot invested in the Omega; (4) 3-way lens turrets, and every sized neg carrier from 110 to 4x5 glass (including 6x12 and mounted slides).
There's been such high demand for 5108's over here that a new batch of them are being made - not cheap at all.
Built a 5' x 3' bench / 'island' for the darkroom (much to my wife's chagrin, who would love an island in the kitchen!):
Got my 45V-XL setup directly on the bench, with an adjustable shelf system below instead of the baseboard to allow larger prints. I kinda fudged the placement of the Beseler, not wanting this thing tugging too much on the edge of the bench, but I might push it forward another inch or maybe anchor it directly into the front stud of the bench to get a bit more clearance. I currently can get just about a 32 x 25 enlargement from 4x5 before the top of the image gets cut off from the bench in my testing. I can get almost 48" wide with panoramic negatives with no trouble.
I know the "normal" way of doing this is a horizontal enlarger, but I don't have any wall space in my darkroom. One day, perhaps on the other side of the wall to the left, I will setup a horizontal enlarger, but for now this is fine.
This bench will also be for cutting mats and assembling prints, and the other side will be where my custom 8x10 enlarging system goes when I have a change to build it out. Still contemplating just how I'm going to do it.
Untitled by TIN CAN COLLEGE, on Flickr
Tin Can
E3 Fully Renovated 2 by Nokton48, on Flickr
Poor Mans JOBO Film Processor by Nokton48, on Flickr
Washing and Drying Side 1 by Nokton48, on Flickr
Flikr Photos Here: https://www.flickr.com/photos/18134483@N04/
“The secret of getting ahead is getting started.”
― Mark Twain
One more view of my DR cleaned up a little, but still needing some TLC after a month of printing heavily. Installed shelves in my new bench for paper, cleared the back end off for framing/matting, and anchored the top of the Beseler 45V-XL to the ceiling so it doesn't wobble so much when cranking it up:
Here's a silly pic of me finishing up the bench shelves my wife took. Note the other Beseler 45-MX that is now stored in the other room but will get used at some point. That makes 3 4x5 enlargers!
One of these days I'm going to put up a piece of drywall over the left area to cover the insulation, and somehow paint or create a massive step wedge across the wall from Zone 0 to Zone 10, along with some shelves over there for printing chemicals like my acetic acid and such.
Bookmarks