Converted to film

[stradibarrius]

Welcome Zack, Film is just more fun for me. I think like you learning something new is exciting and fun. Hope to see some of your shots soon.

[Grif]

Welcome; another linux user (since 1993). Don't be surprised to someday get a hankering for 1950's-1970's photo equipment too. I'm sure the EOS gear is nice and capable, but it doesn't represent the breadth of awesomeness of equipment choices.

I'll see your linux, raise you my Altair 8800 and I still have the first edition of Operating Systems: Design and Implementation by Andrew S. Tanenbaum. Good memories. Too bad he and the linux crowd seem to be at odds with each other.

The cool thing about film now,,, I can afford the Nikon F subminiture dream system I lusted after in the late 60's. 4x5's are free if you buy the lens (ok,,, almost, free for a good user). Heck, I've got an Orbit and a Symmar with a bit of fungus, and a ratty case I'll bet would sell for less than $175. Mamiya Cxxx TLR's are an amazing value if you're into the minature formats. (ok,,, I'm just fishing for format snobs,,, flame on!!! ;-) All in good fun...

All joking aside. Love my F, will never get rid of it. I'll likely not shoot that much 35mm. When that was all I had, it was a constent fight for me... ASA 25, tripod... With a large format mind set, owning a Nikon and not liking TriX 35mm prints was a bad thing;-)

5x7 b&J, 4x5 Linholf. I may actually get rid of everything but the Nikon, Linholf and try to find a clean C330 with 4 lenses.

I've got a Pentax 645 that may be the reason I'm going to be embrasing the Bi life style. 20 rolls of film, processing and scanning, shipping almost $400. Oh, and try getting 20 rolls of film in and out of Mexico. Was fairly smooth, I did my homework, but the folks with digital cameras just breazed on thru.

Digital and film are different hobbies for me. Like was mentioned in a previous post, going out with the film camera is a totally focused outing for me. Way different than grabbing a bunch of family shots at the reunion or wedding party. I guess that sort of makes me an outcast from both sides of the fence ;-)

Darkroom being built as we speak,,, I do miss the odd smell of Dev and fixer for some reason.

[NB23]

Film Rules.

[zackesch]

Since this is a darkroom forum, I do need some help on basic equipment. The only room i can use as a darkroom is my bathroom. The bathroom is broken into two sections, there is a door that seperates the tub and toilet from the sink and counterspace. Im thinking that this would either make a good seperation between wet and dry space, or with the doors being perpindicular with each other, do everything in the closed off section. When both doors are closed, the closed off section has no light leaking in at all. Now, with that out of the way, I know a safe light is needed, or will a bulb that has the safelight coating on it be fine. Before i use my enlarger, do I need a enlarger timer? Any info will be greatly appriciated.

[MattKing]

Welcome!

You should be sure to look through the Darkroom portraits and temporary darkroom threads at the top of this forum.

Some safelights are just bulbs with the right glass or coatings, while others are regular bulbs behind filters. There are also LEDs that work as safelights, and more exotic light sources that emit light that is safe.

For B&W printing, tiny bits of dim light can leak in, but for film, not so much.

Remember that you will need a source of electricity, and you will also need white light too.

You might want to do a dimensioned sketch, indicating where electrical and water sources are, and post it here.

[Bill Burk]

Welcome zachesch,

My first safelight was a 2W neon bulb. I think the instructions told me to cover it with some amber paper. Holy cow, I still have it and it still works. The generic red bulbs are not safe enough for most papers today.

You really should look for a good quality OC (dark amber) safelight filter (or whatever the paper maker recommends), with a fairly dim (15W or less) bulb kept several feet away.

If it doesn't come your way, you could work in the dark. You would miss out on the joy of watching the print develop, but your print would be better than it would if it got exposed to light that wasn't good for it.

Timers are easy to come by. But you could use a metronome or any other way to count out the seconds.

[Rafal Lukawiecki]

Zackesh, welcome to film, and the darkroom, and to being able to influence almost every aspect of image taking, and above all, of the creation of a beautiful, tangible print. Digital is useful, definitely utilitarian, and leads to its own, interesting forms of art, but, ultimately, for an artistic soul the sensation stemming from the chosen process of creation is as important as the final output. I also do, and very much appreciate digital, but film makes me happier.

I hope you enjoy the process and your results, even if the road ahead is full of surprises, and some obstacles that one needs to overcome, at every stage of this journey.

[andrew.roos]

Welcome zackesch. I'm also a design engineer (electronic) and know exactly how you feel. Enjoy your new camera and darkroom!

Andrew

[Sirius Glass]

Welcome to APUG and film zachesch!

[andrew.roos]

Since this is a darkroom forum, I do need some help on basic equipment. The only room i can use as a darkroom is my bathroom. The bathroom is broken into two sections, there is a door that seperates the tub and toilet from the sink and counterspace. Im thinking that this would either make a good seperation between wet and dry space, or with the doors being perpindicular with each other, do everything in the closed off section. When both doors are closed, the closed off section has no light leaking in at all. Now, with that out of the way, I know a safe light is needed, or will a bulb that has the safelight coating on it be fine. Before i use my enlarger, do I need a enlarger timer? Any info will be greatly appriciated.

If there is enough space in the inner, light-tight area to put up a separate shelf for the enlarger then this would allow you to create a wet/dry separation in that space, and save you trouble of having to light-proof the other area and put a second safelight there. You could still use the tub for print washing (assuming it is in the non-light proof area) since this is done in the light. However I don't know whether this scheme is practical given your space.

If you are able to paint your bathroom, then you may find that matt black paint on the door jamb and the area of the door that is in contact with it will remove any residual light creeping into the darkroom. Try turning off the lights and sitting there for 5 minutes to allow your eyes to adjust and then see whether you can see any leaks. I found some around my door (despite also using draught exluders to fill the gap between the door and floor/wall) so I painted the mating surfaces with black PVA and now I can't see anything at all.

I use a red safelight bulb. However when I tested it I found slight but noticable paper exposure at around 60 seconds exposure to the light. Rather than change the safelight, I put a black material shroud around my enlargers that prevents the safelight from shining directly on the paper, and also serves to soak up any light spill from the enlarger. My trays are under the safelight, so I simply put the paper in the developer upside down to prevent any fogging.

A timer is useful but not essential. I started out with just an analog clock on the wall that makes an audible tick every second. I counted the ticks to get the correct exposure, which for my setup is typically in the 15s to 1 minute region (at f/11). I've since been given a timer by a camera club member who doesn't use it any more, and it does simplify life as it allows one to dodge or burn without worrying about having to turn the enlarger off at the right moment. But it's certainly possible to manage without one.