I want to set up my own Darkroom.

Crown's_Photography · Mar 18, 2025

Hello everyone, I got into photography when I was a freshmen in high school and have not used a darkroom since graduating (graduated in 2004). I use digital for my business but film has been my medium of choice. I shoot both 35 mm and medium format, I love my Brownies and have a few different models. That being said, I want to create my own darkroom and would like some help with figuring out what the best type of enlarger and lens to start with. Ideally I would like to process both color and black and white. I will be using a spare bathroom as my dark room and will have limited space. HELP!! Lol.

Ozzie_Traveller · Mar 18, 2025

G'day CP

What you're describing is much the same that I wanted / did as a teenager, all those (many) yrs ago

If it helps with ideas ...
I started using the bath in the bathroom and as my worktop, via a sheet of 1/2" / 13mm plywood x 3/4 of the length of the bath, thus allowing some space to drop completed prints into the water underneath my work-bench to start their washing process

For an enlarger, I suggest you look for one with a sloping column, so that as you crank upwards, the centre of the image also extends away from the column's attachment to the baseboard

Brands ... any of Durst or Meopta or LPL (the 6x6cm model was a good one if you can find one) - and there are likely to be others around too. Lenses - most enlarger lenses will be 50mm (for 35mm images) and 75mm for 6x6 images, and most are 'pretty sharp to the edges'. Try whatever is on the enlarger before going for an expensive brand-name lens ... you might be pleasantly surprised

Print developing dishes - look for pet litter dishes, they'll be cheaper that 'official' photo dishes
Exposure timers - practice counting seconds, it's cheaper and very effective

A Neg focus device is most useful (again if you can find one), and
For a baseboard - start with a white cardboard where you use a felt-pen to outline the paper sizes you're using, and shuffle this card under the image for composition etc ... then carefully lay the photo paper onto the felt-pen outlines and 'have fun'

Hope this helps
Phil

Crown's_Photography · Mar 19, 2025

Ozzie_Traveller said:
G'day CP

What you're describing is much the same that I wanted / did as a teenager, all those (many) yrs ago

If it helps with ideas ...
I started using the bath in the bathroom and as my worktop, via a sheet of 1/2" / 13mm plywood x 3/4 of the length of the bath, thus allowing some space to drop completed prints into the water underneath my work-bench to start their washing process

For an enlarger, I suggest you look for one with a sloping column, so that as you crank upwards, the centre of the image also extends away from the column's attachment to the baseboard

Brands ... any of Durst or Meopta or LPL (the 6x6cm model was a good one if you can find one) - and there are likely to be others around too. Lenses - most enlarger lenses will be 50mm (for 35mm images) and 75mm for 6x6 images, and most are 'pretty sharp to the edges'. Try whatever is on the enlarger before going for an expensive brand-name lens ... you might be pleasantly surprised

Print developing dishes - look for pet litter dishes, they'll be cheaper that 'official' photo dishes
Exposure timers - practice counting seconds, it's cheaper and very effective
A Neg focus device is most useful (again if you can find one), and
For a baseboard - start with a white cardboard where you use a felt-pen to outline the paper sizes you're using, and shuffle this card under the image for composition etc ... then carefully lay the photo paper onto the felt-pen outlines and 'have fun'

Hope this helps
Phil

Thank you so much for your feedback. I will definitely check out those brands of enlargers. Everything else I can find in kits that are not that expensive. I can't wait until I am able to be in a darkroom again.

Ysarex · Mar 20, 2025

Some reading to consider: https://www.amazon.com/Overexposure-Hazards-Photography-Monona-Rossol/dp/0960711864

themedicine · Apr 29, 2025

Crown's_Photography said:
Thank you so much for your feedback. I will definitely check out those brands of enlargers. Everything else I can find in kits that are not that expensive. I can't wait until I am able to be in a darkroom again.

Geez, you and are in a similar boat. Graduated 2003 from high school but did get to do darkroom for 3 more years in college. I just got myself a bessler 23C series 2 for 100$ on craigslist and everything works. Just building up some STUFF like trays and chemicals to get started doing prints again. I think I'm going to let the shop in town do the Film for now, since then I get a good scan of them too.

Good luck and I hope you get yours up and running soon.

webestang64 · Apr 29, 2025

As far as lenses go I use Rodenstock. Nikkor are very nice as well.

Kotobukicat · Nov 22, 2025

I know that it is considered bad form to post to an older thread that hasn't had activity in a while, but I have one little tip that I discovered when I was in the same spot that you are at right now, almost five decades before. I was setting up my first darkroom at around fifteen or so from garage sale finds. There was no internet or e-pay. Though the extended family was financially well off, my single mother and I were not. So I made do with what I could find or make a few bucks to purchase. I did not have a contact print frame, I needed one to make proof sheets when I developed a roll of film. My neighbor had a "barn cleaning sale" and in the junk was a 2 foot by 18 inch piece of unfinished butcher block about an inch and a half thick. I paid 50 cents for it. I took it home, sanded and finished with several coats of poly u. I went to the hardware store, and bought a piece of double thick glass with the same dimensions. Then I took duct tape, and edged the glass with it so as not to get cut, then made a "hinge" out of duct tape and attached it to the butcher block. There I had just made myself a contact print frame. I placed a sheet of photo paper on the wood, arranged the negative strips under the glass, lowered the glass and exposed. Worked great. Total spent not including the poly U and duct tape which I had was just north of 3 bucks.

Believe it or not, I still have that contraption. I m sure that duct tape is brittle and would need replacing if I wanted to use it. I now have what I guess would now be considered an antique contact printer with its own light source. But if it failed, I could re-tape my teenaged invention and go right back to making contact prints.

Just remember that you do not need the latest and greatest to make good images, both in camera gear and darkroom stuff. My enlarger (B&W) was elderly when I was young. Plastic dish trays were my paper trays, and the only real splurge that I made was for a brand new in the box plastic "daylight" tank and reel for film. Every thing else was either used or re-purposed. And I was actually able to make decent prints!

Someday I will tell the story of when the neighbor's cat decided that my home made film drying cabinet was the idea spot to have babies. Don't worry, I did not evict her or her brood....

Good Luck!

Joe