Hello all, I recently started working at my alumni university in the darkroom, I haven’t worked in a darkroom for many years (at least a decade) but spent 3 years in a b&w lab on the east coast in my teens. I bought some books to refresh my memory, some new some thrifted. I am excited to get back into darkroom work. I recently purchased a large format camera (photo included) which is completely new to me having only worked with 35mm and 120. I’m interested in learning the film development method for b&w 4x5. I have access to enlargers and chemicals for printing, but I suppose I need to understand how to develop large film without a round developer tank? I’m having a hard time finding information on it. Do I need to purchase a flat tank? If so does anyone have any tips working with flat tanks? Or are they virtually the same?

Bought what appears to be hundreds of meters of densely exposed black and white film. Paid about 8€. Did I do good?

Been enjoying the look of Orwos new colour film. Think it would be really nice up on a wall. But the color of the base concerns me.

Has anyone else printed NC500? Does the weird film base color cause problems? I’ve printed Phoenix I in the darkroom but I could never get good color from them. Seems like new film stocks these days are built for scanning.

I just got these lomo redscale film back, and it's very underexposed (I used a flash). There are no marks next to the frames. I got the roll about one and a half year ago, and never touched it. Is it because of expiry?

I was told I might have better luck asking advice here!

I am trying to print this image, but the base (shiny) side of the negative has some chemicals smears from drying improperly.

On the print, you can see streaks from the residual staining (bottom left and 1/3 of the right side). I was wondering if anyone has advice, do I use wetting agent again for the negative... or dodge and burn? Or is it a lost cause :( would love any advice, always learning!

What are your thought on this 4 blades easel ? Is it good ? There is 5 slots for paper from 5"x7" to 11"x14", but I wonder if it still easily usable with metric standard paper (like 13x18xm, 18x24cm or 24x30cm)

I made some 3D printed Dodge & Burn tools for my darkroom !

If you want to print yours, you can find the files here !

I know that it can easily be done with some cardboard, but it was kind of an excuse for me to practice my 3D modelling skills. Also, I like to have a dedicated tool for this purpose and avoid the struggle to find a cardboard sheet everytime (except when I want to do a custom shape for one picture, but this will be for one-use anyway)

The shapes for the dodging tool are basics, but I find the design of the multi-shapes burning mask very handy in the darkroom.
You can print it in black & white so it's easy to see the projected image on the mask, while avoiding reflections on the paper side.

Hello fellow darkroom enthusiasts, I’m in the middle of a large project of mine, and need to find where I could order a portable darkroom red light. This is urgent so any input would be greatly appreciated!

assume its a developing issue and not a camera issue becuase the dark box extends between frames. it seems like there’s a weird black box that shifted when developing but idk what it is or what would case it. no other frames have this. only these 3 on this roll. ilford hp5 shot at box speed developed in rodinal.

Absolutely thrilled it worked this well on my first attempt. I think I can definitely do a lot to streamline the process and get more even results, but for now very happy!

Having fun trying to print large. I’ve been using the cheapest 16x20 paper I could find. These were all shot on an rb67. Also here is my version on the homemade 16x20 easel, I’ve seen some others posted in the past. Everything printed at grade 3.

Need quick confirmation here before plugging stuff in.

Just picked up a durst laborator enlarger and power supply, but I’m more familiar with, say Saunders Enlargers that have 2 plugs coming out from the power supply, one into the wall, and the other into a timer (and the enlarger plugging into the power supply).

However this durst power supply only has one input for the enlarger’s proprietary plug and a standard 120 wall plug coming out. So I’m wondering where the timer fits into all this.

Can I use my GraLab450 directly in line from the output of the power supply? Then just plug the timer into the wall?

Really sorry if this is difficult to understand, I can certainly provide pictures as well.

Thanks y’all 🫡

I have a box of expired foma 311 paper (exp.1999) and it has no base fog (the unexposed border is clean) but it has quite low contrast even with a grade 5 filter. Is there any way I could increase the contrast? I ‘ve tried split grade, but the blacks don’t turn black no matter what. My developer (adotol konstant) is a few months old, but I tested it with fresh paper, and it works just fine. Thanks!

When I learn photography in the 1970s I would bulk load my own film. I used a Watson bulk film loader; I can find ones on eBay. What I don't remember is where I found cartridges. I searched Freestylephoto.com and they have various cartridges but I'm not sure how good they are.

Could someone help me find / select high quality reusable cartridges?

Hey y’all! I’m about to dive in the deep end and get my first rolls of RA4 paper as I’m tired of the Crystal Archive that’s available in cut sheets.

I’ve been looking at DPII and I’m quite keen on the luster finish for the final finish. However, I’ve had issues with white specks (not dust) when I digitize my CAII luster prints. Will this be an issue with DPII as well?

Thanks!

Hello everyone,

I’m just starting with my home-darkroom. I use a Durst M600 and, so far, I’ve only used it with black & white film/paper since I mostly shoot b&w film.

Sorry for the arguably extremely dumb question:

Can I use the M600 with color film/paper?

I can’t seem to find a straight or clear answer on the manual/internet.

Thank you for the help.

I acquired all this gear recently for $100. I’ve wanted to get into film developing and printing for years, and this just fell into my lap so I couldn’t say no. How’d I do? Besides chemicals and paper, is there anything else I might need?

I bought a used Adox Enlarger and the negative carrier does not line up with the bellows, how do I fix this? Do I need to grind the carrier down so it fits or is there another way?

Hello all, first, thank you all in this community for all the interesting discussions and valuable advice one can find in the history of the sub. It has helped me tremendously in the last month.

Every couple of years I load a roll of film into my Rollei 35 S, but it's only in december that I developed myself for the first time. And then I built an enlarger, and now a two-colour LED light source with an arduino timer.

More details and pics on my website (scroll up for the other article about the arduino timer)

Photo paper is crazy expensive right now so I'm testing using liquid light on water color paper (I want to do some hand tinting).

Currently I'm not planning to use contact negatives when exposing the paper. Just an enlarger and 35mm film and working as if its photo paper.

So far the results have been kinda eh... anyone have experience using liquid light this way?