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Darkroom Design
Planning a new darkroom or thinking of making some improvements?
I've built two darkrooms so far and have learned a thing or
two. There are a lot of resources out there with step-by-step
instructions, so I won't go there. Following are just some tidbits
I've learned along the way, and some planned improvements to
my darkroom setup. Feel free to email me with any suggestions
to add to this section!
A Really Big Sink
When it comes to a darkroom sink, size does matter. At present
I have a six foot sink, and it is not big enough. It's a store-bought
plastic one which works quite well. I had to build a stand beside
the sink for the print washer; though it would be better if
the print washer was in the sink too.
Ideally, two sinks would be great. One could be set up for
processing and the other for mixing and cleaning. When I'm set
up for printing, the entire sink is being used. There's no room
left for mixing or cleaning.
A nice feature of my plastic sink is that it has raised ridges
to set the trays on. The sink bottom slopes gently back to the
drain, while the trays are level sitting on the ridges.
Print Viewing Setup
I use the flat bottom of a large white tray leaned up against
the back of the sink to view wet prints. You can also buy a
viewing stand. In any case I would not just look at the print
in the fixer tray, or just hold it up. It's important to get
a good look. A nice flat surface big enough to compare prints
side by side is ideal.
The lighting of the print viewing setup is critical. It must
be the correct brightness and also as even as possible.
If your print viewing light is too bright, your prints will
tend to be too dark when displayed in a 'normal' space. I took
a meter reading of an 'average' display space and duplicated
that level of light with my setup. In my case, it consists of
a 40w daylight balanced floodlight 4 feet from the print, with
another 60w daylight flood across the room. I cover my big fluorescent
light while printing.
Make sure the light is even, and there isn't anything casting
a shadow on the print viewing setup. Even a slight shadow falling
on a portion of the print will interfere with the desired effect.
Planned Improvement: One of these days I'll add a dimmer to
the main viewing light so I can customize the light level to
produce a print for a specific display space.
A Light-Tight Door
It is difficult for a person with average construction skills
to make a light tight door. And it must be absolutely light
tight or film fogging will result.
I came up with a solution which works pretty well. First, I
made flaps out of folded black plastic sheeting and attached
them to the door and frame with duct tape and staples. This
worked for a few months, but then light leaks began to appear.
So I fashioned a curtain out of black plastic sheeting which
is stored rolled up over the door on garage hooks. The curtain
is six inches wider than the door on each side. A strip of wood
is rolled and stapled into the bottom of the curtain to hold
it flat on the floor. The top of the curtain is stapled to the
wall above the door. To use it, I simply lift it off the hooks
and unroll it down to the floor. No light leaks. In an emergency,
I could just rip it out of the way.
Darkroom Walls
I built this darkroom as a regular room in my basement with
2x4's. I finished out the inside with sheetrock and painted
it. By that time I was anxious to get printing and had run out
of sheetrock anyway, so I just covered the outside with black
plastic.
It has been that way for 12 years now, and I've decided not
to put sheetrock on the outside. The beauty of black plastic
is that it is easy to open up for repairs or changes. I've had
to cut the plastic open on a few occasions to fix plumbing problems,
and I also installed a ventilation system after the fact. I'll
probably also make some changes to the wiring. With sheetrock
in place, this would be a lot harder. With plastic, I just cut
it open, do my thing, and staple a new piece over the hole.
Ventilation
I strongly recommend a decent ventilation system. It doesn't
have to be fancy. My system cost less than $100 on ebay and
consists of two light tight louvers, one of which has a fan
in it. The exhaust louver with the fan is over the back of the
sink. The intake louver is on the opposite side of the room
near the floor. This setup pulls fresh air across the room and
over the sink, taking most of the fumes from the sink away from
me and out of the room. The fan is controlled by a dimmer switch
over the sink; I crank it up while mixing chemicals and just
leave it on low the rest of the time. To keep out dust, I 'borrowed'
an old pantyhose from my wife and stretched it over the outside
of the intake louver. It looks terrible but it works.
Light Switches
At present I have three points where I can turn the white lights
on and off; outside the door, inside the door, and next to the
enlarger.
Planned Improvement: I'd like to have one more switch for the
white lights where I can reach it from the fixer tray. Without
it, I have to cross the room to turn on the lights. This is
a problem when developing film in total darkness and my hands
dripping with fixer as I fumble around for the light switch.
I'll be putting another switch operated by a pull cord directly
over the fixing tray.
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