Need a Reasonably Priced Darkroom Timer for an Amateur B&W Guy

I bought an analog dial timer last April and it's not working correctly. It shuts off too soon. I really like the old style timers but they've got to work. Is there an analog or digital timer that is reliable and won't break the bank? I'd like to purchase a new one not used.

I use a kitchen timer. You know, a lemon or apple shaped ticking thing. Before than I was using an app on my phone. Some things don't have to be complicated.

My first darkroom timer, and I still have it 50 years later, looks like this:

 

Vintage MARK TIME 60 Portable Darkroom Timer w A/C Outlet in Rear | eBay

 

I am not sure if they are still in production, though, but used ones

are easily available.

I use a kitchen timer. You know, a lemon or apple shaped ticking thing. Before than I was using an app on my phone. Some things don't have to be complicated.

 

Oh, I was thinking about an enlarger timer. Though sometimes I use my darkroom timer for processing timing.

 

But yes, I have a three way kitchen (or other normal timing use) timer for chemistry timing.

 

I then put the timer inside a zip-lock bag so it stays dry, I can still press the buttons and see the display,

even with wet hands.

I just found and purchased a new-in-box vintage (with the toggle switches not rockers) Gralab 300 on Ebay. The cord has never even been untied. I did a lot of research today and discovered that the old models were extremely reliable and have been used by photographers for many years without problems.

I used a Smiths clockwork timer/switch for years, but it needed occasional cleaning/ adjustment/ repair. An all-electronic device is more reliable and accurate.

 

Paterson used to make series 1000 and 2000 timers, colour analysers, etc. Not sure if they're still available new, but they're generally well-designed and well-made.

 

IIRC, the timer model I ended up using was a PDT 1020 model. This could accurately time from 0.1 seconds upwards, and had the ability to switch off the safelight during exposure, which made dodging and burning easier to see.

 

A company called Haupt made so-called professional darkroom timers. My experience with these was not good, and I don't recommend them.

 

WRT new or used. I suspect you've little choice when buying new darkroom gear these days - and it's all well overpriced. Look for a used Paterson electronic timer would be my advice.

IPad with a Massive Dev app.

Has everything you need.

You can develop with audio cues that allow you to multitask during the process between agitations and chemical change outs.

That way you don’t have to clock watch continuously.

The times are preset for the particular process you choose.

The screen can even be set for darkroom work.

+++ for the Gralab 300. I have had 2 of them in my darkroom for at least 40 years and they still work fine. Very simple and reliable. Lots of them for sale on ebay.

+++ for the Gralab 300... Very simple and reliable... Lots of them for sale on ebay.

 

I second the Gralab 300 timer!

Electronic metronome, set to 1 second.

I know you were looking for new, but for simplicity with enlarger the old Time-O-Lite timers are hard to beat. Used a mechanical one for many years and now have one of the electronic ones. Still out there on the auction site. Has outlet for enlarger and safelight.

I then put the timer inside a zip-lock bag so it stays dry, I can still press the buttons and see the display,

even with wet hands.

 

- Glen. I recommend you train yourself to use one 'wet' hand (in a surgical glove) and one dry hand.

Use the ungloved dry hand for placing unexposed paper, operating electrical switches, etc. and keep the gloved hand for dunking and agitating prints in the processing trays. Usually keeping your dominant hand dry works best.

 

If the gloved hand gets too drippy, you can always dry it single-handed on a towel.

 

It took me years to hit on the above way of working, after half-a-lifetime of wasting time drying hands on a smelly old darkroom towel or rubbing them down an apron. The wet-hand, dry-hand method saves a lot of time.... and the occasional brown fingerprint on an otherwise good print.

 

I don't recommend print tongs. They're almost guaranteed to leave scratch marks on the edge of a print, or leave you desperately trying to fish a print out of the developer as it goes past its optimal density.

I use an electronic metronome when developing prints. That's what Ansel Adams used. I'm pretty excited about finding the new old 300. My current one built in January of this year already has a faulty on/off switch and shuts off early. I wonder what young people today would think if you told them that in the old days, things worked perfectly right out of the box and lasted for many reliable years simply because they were made in the USA by workers who cared about quality.

+++ gralab 300 for the enlarger. dont need reading glasses to see it!

 

mike, time o lits are wonderful if you can find them.

 

processing film n paper... talking stop watch. tray develop sheet film, best watch in the total dark. for paper, its nice to have a repeat time that doesnt have to be reset after it cycles... n shes good company too... never gives me the wrong answers!

 

https://www.amazon.com/MAGNIFYING-AIDS-Talking-Timer-Clock/dp/B000256UG6/ref=pd_sbs_328_1?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B000256UG6&pd_rd_r=123a4d45-c999-11e8-9fa2-b56c5080678d&pd_rd_w=mhY50&pd_rd_wg=RcJPb&pf_rd_i=desktop-dp-sims&pf_rd_m=ATVPDKIKX0DER&pf_rd_p=53dead45-2b3d-4b73-bafb-fe26a7f14aac&pf_rd_r=YDK5GVXC3E8DTT3BATQ6&pf_rd_s=desktop-dp-sims&pf_rd_t=40701&psc=1&refRID=YDK5GVXC3E8DTT3BATQ6

Edited October 6, 2018 by paul ron

I use a GraLab 451 on my enlargers.

 

Admittedly these are $$$ new, but you can get deals on them used. Mine came attached to a Leitz Focomat V35(admittedly with a 50mm El-Nikkor and not the 40mm Focotar) , and I paid $150 for the whole package.

For developing nowadays I just use a simple kitchen timer. Somewhere along the byways of life, I lost my Gralab. Those go on eBay for a wide range but often under US$50.

I pretty much keep one hand dry, but it is safer to keep the timer in a bag, and it works just fine.

 

I used it once for tray developing roll film (U shape with film clips on each end) in Diafine.

Not that you need so careful timing, but it is nice to have some idea what time it is in the dark.

 

You would think that kitchen timers would be designed to get wet (or food on them), but

I don't think they are.

 

The one I have allows for three separate timers to run at the same time.

The Gralab has been a staple for decades. They are available, often for free, all over the place. Try craigslist and eBay. I don't think that I have ever seen one that didn't work.

What am I missing?

Why won’t the app do everything and more?

 

I am assuming that the OP would like and actual "enlarger timer" that will turn the enlarger lamp off and on. The phone app is just a time that will require the user to switch the enlarger on and off. When I first started, I timed my enlargements with the second hand on my watch . . .

What am I missing?

Why won’t the app do everything and more?

Oh OK, thanks.

I think 60 Dollars is very reasonable for (used) digital timer...You want new.?

You must have a price in mind, you must have looked at new prices.....?

I think 60 Dollars is very reasonable for (used) digital timer...You want new.?

You must have a price in mind, you must have looked at new prices.....?

 

- I think $60 is darned expensive for a piece of darkroom gear that you can hardly give away these days.

I paid far less than that for my used Paterson timer, and that was when darkroom use was only on the wane, not dead!

My brand new old Gralab 300 arrived yesterday and it works perfectly. It's larger and better built than the new plastic ones. I won't say what I paid for it. When I first learned darkroom procedures from my brother back in 1976 he had one just like it. So this timer is really a time machine to the past.

Nostalgia bites the billfold.

Hard sometimes.

Another hazard of old age.