My DIY Darkroom

My "darkroom" where I develop my black and white film is a bathroom I share with three other people. So, my set-up has to be easily put together and taken apart every time I develop film. The only things that are (semi-)permanent are my DIY film wash hose that's attached the the left-hand sink and the bathroom window blacked out with construction-grade black trash bags and painter's tape. And those both could be taken down and put back up without too much trouble. The room is 99% dark once I black-out the bathroom door (from the inside) with a large black sheet made of the same black trash bags, hung with painter's tape, and secured to the floor with a rolled-up bath mat. My chemical jugs are stored in a cardboard box on the floor to the left of the sinks, the tanks and equipment go into a duffel bag that sits on top of the box, and my stool folds up and fits in the corner. Altogether taking up about 3ftx2ft of out-of-the-way floor space.

At the moment I use mostly Kodak photo chemicals: Kodak Xtol Developer, Kodak Indicator Stop Bath, Kodak Rapid Fixer, Kodak Hypo Clearing Agent, Kodak Photo Flo. Occasionally, I develop using Agfa/Adox Rodinal Developer or Photographer's Formulary PMK Pyro Developer with Photographer's Formulary TF-4 Archival Fixer. My equipment is a mixture of professional stainless steal tanks and reels, and DIY plastic and Tupperware/Rubbermaid containers and pitchers.

I develop film using the lift-rod method. While processing film (dev, stop, fix) I work in total darkness with film in open containers. Each chemical has it's own container. The developing film is transferred from chemical to chemical using a lift-rod. To agitate I use the lift-rod to lift, lower, and rotate the film reels within their containers. To keep track of my film, chemistry, and equipment in total darkness I keep to a strict routine and place all tanks in the exact same order and locations each time. Afterwards, I hang my film under a ceiling fan to dry.

Unfortunately, I do not have enough space for an enlarger or photo paper trays, so printing is out of the question. Instead, I scan my film straight from the darkroom and either print digitally or through a professional photo/print lab. 

More photos and technical info after the jump.

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Kodak Retina IIa

A new toy.











Canon Rebel XT
Canon 35-128mm f/3.5-5.6 IS lens
ambiate lit
-overhead tungsten

My uncle made a decent Goodwill find of this antique rangefinder camera. He bought it, took it apart, cleaned it up, put it back together, and tried to sale it on ebay, but couldn't get the $50 he asked for. So, he gave it to me.

It's a German-built Kodak, a 35mm folding rangefinder camera with a Schneider Xenon 50mm f/2 lens and 1/500s-max leaf shutter.

It was produced between 1951 and 1954 and sold for about $170 (about $1100 today). It competed with other German and Japanese rangefinders as a simpler, more user friendly alternative.

At some point between ending up at Goodwill and being disassembled by my uncle, it lost its original cold-shoe (but still has a working X-sync socked), lost the original lens aperture lever (requiring a small tool/pointy object to change the f/stop), and when opened the lens sits less than parallel with the body (probably causing some scheimpflug-ish focusing issues).

But it still functions well (except for a little sticking in the 1s and 1/2s shutter speeds). It doesn't appear to have any light leaks or lens defects, and also came with its original Kodak FVII/32 UV filter (also made in Germany).

I ran a roll of Ilford Delta 3200 through it, but won't be able to process it for a week or two.

more info about the Retina IIa can be found here