My darkroom is up! (mostly!) YAY!!!!

[AspenGrey]

So, I FINALLY got my darkroom (mostly) setup (it still needs a door and a bit more walls *ahem* but I got impatient so made sure there werent any lights in the room beyond, (and its night time so that helps) and did some developping!!!

This is quite probably my WORST print ever, hah! But, it was in my own darkroom! Sweet! Jenny cute! on Flickr - Photo Sharing!
No easel, no test strip no timer.... Hah!

On illford multigrade fiber, about 5ish seconds at F3.5
Dev was still a little hot from being mixed

And here's the darkroom!
DSC_3421 on Flickr - Photo Sharing!
My darkroom!!! on Flickr - Photo Sharing!
DSC_3420 on Flickr - Photo Sharing!

Yes, my walls are made of cardboard, stapleguns, and duct-tape. >.>

It'll be totally finished tomorrow. I'm going to use the big dev/fix tanks for clean water & waste water. (one has had fixer in it,the other was never used by the previous owner). Over the summer I'm going to actually plumb it and build a sink.

Tomorrow I'm going by cameraworks to pick up an easel *woops!* I'm going to be timerless for a bit longer, but I did find a second-timer in my kitchen that I can use.

[Xia_Ke]

That's awesome! Congrats on the darkroom and your first print :thumbsup: Do you have a grain focuser yet? You'll want to pick one to help you get the sharpest prints you can. Also, I would stop down much more that f/3.5. The wide open apertures are meant more for focusing and allowing you to better see and adjust composition. Also, stopping down more will give more DOF. It will help compensate if your alignment is slightly off. I usually stop down to f/16 for my test prints and then open or close a stop from there as needed. What contrast filter did you use for the print?

[AspenGrey]

No contrast filter, and I'll remember to stop down in the future!

I have a huge magnifying glass I'm using as a grain focuser-- I have just about spent this months paycheck, and I still need to buy more staple gun staples and an easel. I also need to buy Dektol~ that print was made with D-76 as my developer! Ha! Oh, and gas! Let's not forget that shall we?

[Xia_Ke]

You will NEED to get some contrast filters then or different paper. Without a filter in there and using a multicontrast paper, you printed that at a grade 0 (IIRC on how the vc filters work. sorry I use graded papers so not too familiar with the different filters). With printing, the higher the grade, the higher the contrast. The 2 basic ways of changing contrast are to A.) print on graded paper. Now graded paper is really only available now in grades 2, 3, and 4. B.) use a multigrade paper and then use contrast filters to change the grades which IIRC varies from grade 0 - 5 is half grade steps. The advantage of the MG is that you can buy one big box of paper, rather buying separate boxes like you would with graded paper. It also allows for split grade printing.

[AspenGrey]

Yes, I'm familiar with contrast filters, I just left my box of 'em at school. IIRC, with Illford Multigrade, the are (with no filter) at a 'medium' contrast, and then you add magenta to increase contrast and add yellow to decrease contrast. (Our filters ran from +2.5 to -2.5, again IIRC- I was using the color enlarger most of the time and I just had a little cheat sheet there for contrast)

[Xia_Ke]

Thanks for the correction Aspen. Wasn't quite sure how the contrasting went on those. One of these days I'll make the switch to multigrade but, my current enlarger doesn't have an option for filter use I'll be looking forward to seeing some more prints :thumbsup:

[AspenGrey]

Here's a question; do I HAVE to dilute the dectol or kodak fixer? I dont have enough bottles to store diluted and undiluted solutions- I only have 3 i gallon jugs (d-76, fixer, and dektol) but I dont want to flush my dev downthe drain every time I'm done- if I've only done a print or a roll I dont see any reason to do that.

[AspenGrey]

Note;
You CAN use Dektol undiluted. You get a higher contrast than I'm used to and on RC papers its like you put it in and BAM its developed.

[Xia_Ke]

Aspen, I would definitely try and pick up a couple more storage jugs. Your fixer and stop baths you can reuse no problem but, I would stick with using your developer one shot for now. The more variable you can eliminate right now the better. Also, do you have any Photo-Flo for your negatives? This helps the water run off them when you hang them to dry so they don't get water spots. Bottles of stop bath, fixer, and photo-flo last a long time, particularly stop bath and photo-flo. I've been working on the same bottles for a year and a half now. As for your fixer, Kodak's fixers are what is known as hardening fixers. You will need to get some hypo clearing agent to use after fixing to remove the fixer. For this reason, I now use Ilford Rapid Fixer as it's non hardening and has fast wash times but, this comes down to preference. For developers, while they all can be used full strength, I woudn't recommend it. You don't want the "BAM it's developed". Once you start doing a little more you will want to start fine tuning your developing times.If your prints are developing in 15-20 seconds that doesn't leave much window for fine tuning. If you go by most manufacturer's guidelines, I've seen quite a few recommend about 1.5 minutes for RC and 2-3 minutes for fiber papers. What I have found to work best for me in getting consistent results is to use a set development time, I develop all of my fiber prints for 3 minutes and RC for 1.5 and keep my temps right around 68. Then I just vary my print exposure time and aperture to compensate. Again, this is all just how I was taught or what I learned through trial and error to work best for me. Once you start doing a bit more you will get your own workflow going.

[AspenGrey]

I do have photo-flo, a nice big bottle of it. What I was taught in school was to add a capful of that to my rinse.

I didn't realize kodak fixer was a hardening fixer- CRAP! I'm used to illford rapid fixer (that's what we used in school) so I've never had to do a hypo bath~. I guess I'll try and pick up some more gallon storage jugs as well.

[Xia_Ke]

I'm not sure what your water is like there but, you don't even need a capful. I use a dilution of 1:200 and have had no problems at all with spots on my film.

[AspenGrey]

So the rest of my darkroom stuff came in the mail today- my paterson system 4 tank (i got the wrong one, the 10oz one that only does 1 roll of 35mm, #$@$!) and my darkroom time. I got the one roll of 35mm I had sitting around developed and I'll scan the contact sheet as soon as I figure out how to do a contact sheet without a plate of glass.

[Xia_Ke]

Sounds good Aspen If you need it, I have the next size up Patterson that I don't use anymore, along with one reel, and I think I have a contact printer some place. If you want to pay the shipping you're more than welcome to them. Shoot me a pm.

Aaron