Old Kodak developing and printing kits

[wdavidprice]

<p>I have a Kodak day-load tank that works pretty well if you don't have room for a dark room. I'm thinking of getting some more of the printing equipment they sold back in the 40's and 50's for hobbyists. Have any of y'all used this equipment and can advise me of what I should look out for?</p>

[SCL]

<p>Plastic trays - look for cracks, contact printing frame, safelight (make sure the color is consistent with the papers/films you plan to use.</p>

[lex_jenkins]

Equipment from that era could be fun for

collectors and reenactment or educational

purposes. But later equipment is more practical.

 

That said, even if I got rid of all my darkroom

gear I'd hang onto one piece - a Kodak beehive

safelight. It's a kitschy bit of home decor. I've

also considered converting my 1960s era Durst 606

enlarger into a lighting display piece for a

large framed print.

[john_shriver]

<p>Most of the common Kodak hobbyist printing gear of that era was for contact printing. Back then the most popular film size was 116 (and the smaller-spooled 616), which made a pretty robust sizes 2.5 by 4.5 inch contact print. It can also be used for 120 size, but that's really the smallest size that's practical to contact print for display. <br>

That said, the little contact printers are pretty practical if that's what you want to do. Make sure that they're still electrically safe, check that the wiring is sound.</p>

[glen_h]

<p>I agree about the safelight, but you want red. My first darkroom supplies (in 1967 when I was 9) was a contact printer with a red one of those beehive safelights, a 4 ounce graduate, and a few other things.<br>

That was my only safelight until I inherited a 5x7 from my grandfather, and then I used both. The red one is safe for polycontrast, unlike (I believe) the yellow one in newer kits. <br>

I still have the graduate, and use it often.<br>

The red ones were for use with orthochromatic film popular in the 1940's. If you want to practice 1940's darkroom work, you need ortho film.</p>

[Mike Gammill]

<p>While ortho film is still available, the selection is not very great. The red safelight is fine for both ortho film and any black & white paper. The later (orange) OC filter is okay for modern paper, but not film. Freestyle still offers some "old technology" papers that are imported. I think some of those papers require a red safelight. </p>

[JDMvW]

<p>Not that it is important, but as a point of fact:<br /> By the late 40s, and certainly in the 50s, enlarging was "universal", as indicated in this clip from an ad from a 1947 <em>Minicam Photography</em>. Of course, 10-year old Boy Scouts probably did use a contact printer. I did.<br /> Kodak made a rather broad range of enlargers and other kinds of darkroom gear.</p><div></div>

[wdavidprice]

<p>Thanks to all for all this historical information. I think, give the small volume of developing I have to do I'll stay with Costco. </p>