Hi Thanks for having me on here!

[Ellwood Taylor]

I have a question straight away but I should give a little background first. I have inherited my father's Durst m700 enlarger with a colour head and various other equipment. I used to help him develop enlarged prints and film in the 70s. He won a Minolta competition once and was a member of the RPS. I have every intention of learning the craft of developing and using his equipment but I'm a complete novice. I'm fine with my way round the camera it's just the darkroom side of things I was just to young to learn properly. I remember timing things and rotating the cylinder with the chemicals but that's it. I will listen hard and learn as quick as I can. I would appreciate it if anyone could point me towards any literature, blogs, threads, videos etc please.
Thanking you in advance.
Ellwood

 

[Fujidave]

Hi Ellwood, welcome to the forum hope you enjoy it here.

 

[Jeff15]

Hello and welcome.................

 

[terri]

Welcome to TPF! We're happy to have you on board with us.

We have a lot of film enthusiasts here. I'm going to move your thread over to the film forums, where you'll likely get lots of help for your pending darkroom. Have fun!

 

[webestang64]

Welcome!

I tell all noobs to a darkroom should go out and find some old photo books. Thrift stores I go to always have some sort of photo books cheap.

These cost me $2 each.


Found a PDF manual for you enlarger if needed..... http://ebgy.free.fr/photo/docs/durst_M700.pdf

 

[Derrel]

Welcome aboard,Ellwood! The basics of developing film,contact printing,and making prints and enlargements,should be easy enough for you to learn in a week or so!

 

[Dave Colangelo]

Welcome!

I taught my self everything I needed to know to run my darkroom (B&W only) with this forum and some careful internet searches and reading so self teaching and good results are quite possible with nothing more than a high speed internet connection. My advice would be to first shoot a roll of B&W film, get 24 or 36 exposures that are half decent to work with. Get the roll processed and scanned at your local lab. The scans will provide you some reference to get started printing.

To actually print you will need:

• An enlarger
  • With a good bulb
  • with negative holders for your chosen film format
  • With a lens that will project a working image. Typically that means the "standard" lens for the format so a ~50mm for 35mm film and ~90mm for medium format.
• A timer for the enlarger: You dont actually need this but it will make your life simpler. All you really need is a way to turn the enlarger on and off at specified times, a timer and a good switch will allow you to do it yourself but an enlarger timer will make it easy. These can be had on various used outlets for cheap.
• A safety light to hang in the room
• 3 deep trays big enough for your paper size (Developer, stop, fix)
• Chemicals
  • Developer - I like ilford multigrade
  • Stop (optional depending on who you ask)
  • Fix - I like ilford rapid fix
• A darkened room. I use a windowless bathroom partially because it has running water. You dont need I running water but it will help quite a bit.
• Photo printing paper: I like Ilford RC (chose your finish)

Some optional items that will help the process

• A paper easel to hold the photo paper, this makes your prints and focusing repeatable
• A grain focuser, you can eye focus but if you really want tack sharp prints
• Tongs to move the images around if you don't want to stick your hands in chemistry all the time
• Dedicated measuring cups to mix up your chemistry and make sure none of it ends up in your next batch of cookies

If you have questions, ask here, there are lots of very knowledgeable people on this forum that are very willing to help.