Who here develops optical prints at home?

[silverscape]

<p>I'm just curious. It seems like most people here scan their negatives. I was just wondering who actually has a darkroom and develops their own prints at home? Either color or B&W.</p>

<p>I develop all my own black and white film, and prints in my "darkroom" in the garage. Eventually, I want to learn how to develop color film and do color optical prints too. </p>

<p>And if you like, post a picture of your setup! I would get a picture of mine...but I'm kind of embarrased ;) You guys would not believe the conditions I work in. It's basically just a little storage room that was in the garage, which I converted into a kind of a workshop and makeshift darkroom. (Some of you know I experiment with high voltage as another hobby, and all my electrical stuff is stored in there too!) At night, it's plenty dark enough for developing prints.<br /><br>

There's an interesting story. When I first learned how to develop prints a little over a year ago, I didn't have a safelight. I just had the red filter on the enlarger, and I didn't like leaving the enlarger lamp on for too long. So part of the time, I was sitting in total darkness...in the garage, at midnight, in absolute silence except for faint howling of coyotes in the hills. Talk about CREEPY! I only did that one night, and then I put a radio in there! Now I also finally have a red safelight, a radio, and if I know I'm going to be out there for a while, I even bring a cooler with a few Pepsi's. </p>

<p>It's my home away from home :) </p>

<p> </p>

[larrydressler]

<p>I have the equipment to do it just not the room. At my former house I had a Wet Dark Room but not here it is a 1 bedroom apartment. I could set it up and run it if I needed to but I just don't have the need to since I do mostly MF and use an Epson V700 and as many will say it is a sucky scanner for B&W but I beg to differ.</p>

<p> BTW Don't grab a bottle of Pepsi thinking you can drink it down.. It may be your Chems. LOL</p>

[chrisnielsen]

<p>We don't have coyotes in this country but there is a Morepork that lives in the park next to my house that makes noises every night.. To answer your question - yes I do prints at home, in the spare bathroom. It's a pretty embarrassing setup to be honest - the enlarger goes on a stool next to the toilet, the timer and safelight sit on the toilet seat lid, the trays go on the floor in front of the tiny sink, and the final tray goes in the shower so I can regulate the wash water temp. I wheel my office chair in and wheel that back and forth. It's fine with 8x10 trays but sometimes I get daring and get my 16x20 trays out to do huge prints. Then there's really no space left, those trays are massive!!!</p>

[brucecahn]

<p>The main room blacks out and becomes a darkroom. 2 enlargers, no scanner.</p>

[bethe_fisher]

<p>I have a reasonable darkroom here in the basement. It's also the laundry room. My method of making it all light tight is a bit makeshift, but it works. I don't have any pics of it, though. <br>

I only do B&W and have no plans to do color. </p>

[Mike Gammill]

<p>Dedicated darkroom, not large, but with its own sink, central air/heat vent/return, two enlargers and a 6 CD boombox. Fridge in adjoining storage room.</p>

[Mike Howard]

<p>Everything wet for me, the only time I scan is to post it on the web. My scanner is an old Epson 3170, so it takes a lot of time and energy to get useful results from it.</p>

[richard_]

<p>A Radio, OK - but soft drinks ? Chris tobar, have you tried 'Pinot noir' 1938? (Hey, just kidding LOL). I do my own B+W. For prints up to 11x14 i use a spare bathroom. I've removed the sliding-doors to the shower and placed one of those brown 5' folding tables which you can buy almost anywhere for less than $20. Put the trays on top; works great. For larger prints, i got to go to the garage, - but there is no water source there, and in winter can get pretty cold (though never under 50F). So to control tray water temp. i use those heater-pads (avail. at most big box stores), - they have a temp. control so it works pretty good. Just have to check the tray temp more often,etc. I rarely do Color film processing anymore, as being pretty much 'all science' there's not much to gain for doing it yourself (IMO). And the cost is minimal...</p>

[randall ellis]

<p>I have two enlargers at the moment, both Beseler, a 23C (original model) and a 45MXII. I am in the process of building a full sized darkroom in my garage, but for now I use a bathroom. I have a very long counter in there so I can setup all the trays on the counter top next to the enlarger, with the sink at the end of the space. I hang prints in the shower to dry on a retractable clothes drying line. Setup and tear down take about 10 minutes or so - not a big deal. I do all black and white right now, but I have a brand new stabilized color head for my 23C that I will be using when I finish the darkroom in the garage. The 45 is too large to use in the bathroom, but the 23 fits in there just fine. A curtain of blackout fabric over the door, a rolled up towel along the bottom of the door, and I'm ready to print.</p>

<p>This situation is great for long printing sessions (for obvious reasons). I have a safelight on the wall up near the ceiling that points up to diffuse the light (I prefer very weak safelight), a couple of Gralab timers, and a set of speakers hooked up to the Mac mini just outside - perfect! I wouldn't let guests see it though - the wife would kill me for sure, but other than that there is no real drawback for me with this setup. Sorry, no pics - see the previous sentence ;)</p>

<p>- Randy</p>

[craig_sander]

<p>I'm sorry, but I am really enjoying these posts.<br>

I don't develop my own film, but as I'm reading these, I almost feel like I'm listening to bootleggers during prohibition.<br>

Keep up the good work everyone!</p>

[bgelfand]

<p>I process black and white film at home. I load my film either in a changing bag, or at night in the spare bathroom, which is light tight enough in the day for printing but not for film. I develop in the kitchen.</p>

<p>I print in my darkroom which is set up in the spare bathroom. The enlarge is on a platform over one of the sinks of the double sink vanity. The chemicals trays are on a rack over the bathtub. Any chemicals that drip over the trays drip into the tub and are washed down the drain at the end of the printing session; I do not use any toner, just developer, stop, and fixer.</p>

<p>When the darkroom is set up, the spare bathroom functions as a half bath - one sink and the toilet are available. If we have overnight guests, I can break down the darkroom in 20 minutes and store it in the garage. It takes about 30 minutes to set it up.</p>

<p>Here is the one shot of my set up.</p>

<p> </p><div></div>

[bgelfand]

<p>And here are the chemical trays.</p><div></div>

[richard_]

<p>Nice set-up Brooks. I esp. like how you did the rack over the bathtub!</p>

[danny_wong2]

<p>I quit drinking any liquid in the darkroom after a friend's accident when he drank the wrong "soup". Also old chemistry teacher believes that the airbourne chemical particles can settle into your beverage.</p>

[silverscape]

<p>yeah Brooks, that is pretty clever! I like that too.</p>

<p>I'm glad to hear from other people developing at home. It does kinda seem like we're moonshiners or something, doesn't it? LOL</p>

<p>I'm actually a little behind. I have a bunch of negatives that I want to develop pictures from, but I'm out of paper and chemicals, and it's just been way TOO hot lately to be out in the garage! But hopefully in another week or so I can get back into it, when I have more money for supplies (and maybe it will cool down a litttle too).</p>

[larrydressler]

<p>My Land Lady kids me that my Kitchen looks like a Meth Lab with all the brown jugs on the floor.</p>

[Mike Gammill]

<p>The only part I don't like is having to order my supplies. From 1974 to 1993 my family owned a camera shop so we just kept what we needed in stock. Nearest shop is over 150 miles away so I just order from Freestyle, B&H, and Adorama.</p>

[bgelfand]

<p>Hi Richard and Chris,</p>

<p>I wish I could take credit for the design most of which was the product of a very good friend, and my former professor, who did cabinet making as his hobby.</p>

<p>I am glad you like the set up. FYI, the rack over the tub is plastic wire closet basket shelving from Home Depot. It is not expensive; the plastic coating resists corrosion. The frame for the rack is made of 3/4" plywood uprights. The rack rests on 2x4's attached to the uprights with rafter hangers. The 2x4's rest on 3/8" bolts that pass through a hole drilled in the bottom of each rafter hanger and secured with nuts on either side of the rafter hanger. Adjusting the bolts up and down allows me to level the rack. The uprights are braced at the bottom by 1x2's. The compression on the 1x2's is adjusted by furniture legs (also purchased from Home Depot) in 2x2 which is glued and screwed to the 1x2. The ledge at the bottom of the uprights are simply pieces of the same 2x2 stock glued and screwed to the uprights.</p>

<p>The platform is made from 3/4" plywood and uses the same furniture legs to level it.</p>

<p>I painted the wood with primer followed by flat black latex paint applied with a roller; the metal parts were painted with flat black spray paint. Painting not only makes it look professional, but most importantly, protects the wood and metal from the chemicals and moisture.</p>

<p>The best thing about using the spare bathroom is it has house heat in the winter and house air conditioning in the summer. The bathroom exhaust fan provides sufficient ventilation.</p>

[User_502260]

<p>I use part of my basement for b&w printing. I develop film in the kitchen. In my old house both were done in the basement. I have to print at night because completely sealing the basement windows is not so easy. When our dryer died at the old house I went to Sears to get a new one. The salesman asked what I was looking for. I told him the top had to be flat and coated in porcelain and that the lint filter had to be on the side, not the top. Why? The enlarger went on the washing machine and the trays went on the dryer. A fourth tray was in the slop sink for rinsing the prints after they had been in the fixer long enough. My current set-up involves printing in the finished part of the basement and carrying trays from the slop sink on the unfinished side. Eventually we will redo the whole basement and then I will set up a proper darkroom sink. The shelf over the bathtub with the trays is a thing of beauty.</p>

[maris_rusis]

<p>Sure, I do "optical prints" at home. Always have, always will, and I even had a special air-conditioned darkroom built to make the process quick, easy, and comfortable. And the cost savings have been enormous.</p>

<p>Using 8x10 film and paper I can turn out photographs that have more tone, gradation, and detail than the human eye can see for about $6 each including all film, paper, and chemistry.</p>

<p>Chris Tobar also identifies a modern neologism that alerts us to the uncertainty attending photography in contemporary thought. The term "optical print" is absolutely identical to the older word "photograph". It would be a nice piece of etymology to trace the drift of the meaning of "photograph" into "print" and then the rescue of "photograph" from "print" by adding "optical"!</p>

<p> </p>

[jack_welsh]

<p>Was given a Omega B-22 enlarger.need to get a 6x6 carrier for it. Develope the B&W film. Also, do the old "print in the sun" old processes. Wish the B-22 would do 6x7,but it's so much better than having no enlarger.</p>

[nealcurrie]

<p>I'm currently in the process of moving, but I do both (scan & optical print).<br>

My darkroom setup had no running water, but a big huge home-built table (by the previous tennant of the house I was renting) that I put my trays on, and I had a couple Saunders LPL 670DXL enlargers sitting on desks on the other side of the room. I ran the prints upstairs to sit in trays in the bathtub where I changed the water whenever I got a chance. I wasn't efficient, but it worked.</p>

[James G. Dainis]

A photograph is something you get from the drugstore or lab. A print is something that you turn out yourself. At least that is the way it seems to me. Even the three books in the Ansel Adams photography series are called, <I>The Camera, The Negative</I> and <I>The Print</I>

[leicaglow]

<p>Got rid of my 4x5 enlarger when I recently moved, but I still do 35mm and 2-1/4 on a Chromega B, in batches when I set up the enlarger, and usually print an edition of one or two images at a time, then take it back down... and put my kitchen back in order<g>. I love the look of a real silver gelatin print in Selenium toner. Carbon printing is next for me.</p>

[silverscape]

<p>umm...you guys are just confusing me now :(</p>

<p>I guess I do kind of say "photograph" to mean something physical - a picture that has been printed and is something tangible. But for me, "printed" can also mean a picture that was printed on a computer. So when I talk to people about pictures that I developed myself from film in a darkroom, I specifically say "optical print" or maybe something like "darkroom print" to differentiate the fact that I developed it with chemicals and silver halide photo paper. It's not a scan.</p>

<p>I think you do kind of have to add "optical" because most people would get confused if you just say "print" and might think it could also have been printed on a computer.</p>

<p>Anyway, the terminology is still kind of new to me. Until about April 2008, I really didn't even understand how an enlarger worked. (And yes, I remember the first time I developed my first B&W print!) I also remember the very first time I ever developed my own film...March 13, 2008 :)</p>