/DRG/ - Darkroom General

>>3004584
Grow tents.

>>3004589
We want to make Art, not weed.

Of course this is also a general thread for discussing and showing prints and stuff, so please post your stuff to Make /p/ Great Again.

>>3004592
My setup is down for winter as the backroom has become the bunny home.

Grow tents are useful though, they're designed to have no light leaks and to take good ventilation, and to have lots of area for hanging stuff. Don't go for the cheapest of the cheap though as the zips don't have proper flaps over them. A 2m x 2m would be plenty large for a decent sized enlarger and trays and some moving room.

>>3004592
Weed is art, art is weed.

>>3004584
>studio space that we're going to turn into a darkroom.
>suggestions for how to actually build one, is welcomed.
just turn off the lights lmao u dumb retard

>>3004584
Probably a very obvious comment, but design it so you can move left to right when doing processes. So if you're doing B&W prints for example you should have dev, stop, fix, wash, dry lined up from left to right


It seems silly, but I once used a darkroom that had trays and stations all over the place. You'd have to move from one side of the room to the other to put your print in the stop bath, for example.

>>3004647
Nothing is too obvious at this point.
I thought too that a logical placement of trays and enlargers is imperative.
My plan was to build a long bench along one of the walls to make it super simple to set everything up like I want, with shelves below to store trays, paper and chemicals.

>>3004602
Not really what we're looking to do.

>>3004700
>Not really what we're looking to do.
That's cool bruh, Just from experience it's a fuck ton easier to construct, and clean, and ventilate and take down.

With a bit of time and tape you can even butt them together to make a multi room space with double doors so people can come and go as they please.

>renting a space between several others with no semblance of a plan in place

You must hate your money. Also I don't think you've ever taken a photo worth printing.

>>3004700
Have a drying area for prints that is close by your wash bath and easy to use would be nice, obviously has to allow for water to drip off onto something, sink, towel, ect.
Make sure you have things structured around where outlets are, having lots of cords running around in a darkroom is not fun.
Make sure you have proper ventilation where it is needed.
Have god damn nitrile glove dispensers.
If there arnt many built in lights or switches (where you'd just replace the bulb to a safe bulb) get smart switches and plug them in then you can control the darkroom lights via phone/wifi and regular lights (no safe) via switch or visa versa if your sharing a space you don't want jimbob accidentally turning on or off the lights.
Have everything at a good height so you don't have to be bending over or have it at a height where you can have a still or wheelie chair.
Buy some enclosed slippers or shoes with good support, Jesus Christ it's worth it if your on the darkroom for a couples hours on a hard floor your feet will hurt.
Do not hav chemicals on shelves where they are higher then chest level, spills can happen leave the bulk chemicals on the floor or have a separate storage space.
Other than that follow good common sense and don't make anything to permanent because you'all probably want to change something after a few days into completion. Good luck.

I've got a beseler 23cii. It's been working fine for a year and all of a sudden I get these weird variations in lighting. During exposure the light source dims and then pops back to full brightness, and often when I'm focusing or otherwise moving the head i sometimes get some flickering. I'm hoping that's it's just the bulb needs to be replaced (or maybe tightened?) but I'm hoping that it's not some electrical issue.

>>3004602
That's funny. My grow tent is anything but light proof, i.e. light leaks outward like crazy, to the point where I can only print (in the same laundry room) during the dark cycle.

Also, what chemical fumes are you worried about, OP? To my understanding the main two sources of smell are fixer (both sodium and ammonium variants) and selenium toner, where the former doesn't really merit any special care and the latter would require a proper extractor setup like they have in chemistry labs to not reek like all hell.

File: darkroom idea.png (21KB, 987x953px) Image search: [Google]

21KB, 987x953px

>>3004774
I understand, but now we have the space and time to make something fixed, purpose built, so we'd like to do that.

>>3004784
Fuck off.

>>3004791
Thank you for the tips, you seem to make a lot of sense. Electrical outlets are found all over the room, and the ventilation should be good (The room used to be a diesel engine service station), if not we'll add some extra ventilation, which is very easy to do in the space.

Pic related is a rough idea of how I picture the layout, where print drying could happen both along the east wall of the dark area, in the light area, or both. There is a center drain, and the floor is epoxyed concrete, so spillage will go to the drain without any fuzz.

>>3004817
Even B/W fix gives you a headache if you're printing for long enough in poor ventilation, but I'd also like to try RA-4 processing where the bleach is supposed to be quite nasty for your respiratory system. I've scored a free supply of color paper, and have a color enlarger and processor at hand if I'm willing to shell out some cash for it.

>>3004814
It just sounds like a bad contact, it it varies with movement. Pull the bulb out and scrub up the contacts.

http://www.apogeephoto.com/the-10-steps-to-setting-up-a-home-darkroom-on-a-budget/

>>3006825
Fuck off