Old enough to remember darkrooms

[dminor7th]

. . . and fitting film on those stainless steel reels in the dark. I'm also old enough to remember Fox Photo, with the kiosks in shopping center parking lots. In fact, I worked for Fox Photo in Memphis, TN for four years. I remember when the Canon AE-1 was the darling of the upscale amateur market, and the Pentax K1000 (or was it 100) was the all-manual, standard issue for first year photography students. I shot high school sports for 10 years with a Nikon F1, manual focus, no motor drive, mainly on Kodak Tri-X that was push-processed to 1600 ASA.

And if you think I'm going to say "I miss the good old days of 35 mm film," you'd be wrong!

 

[terri40 12]

Welcome to the forum! Well, there are a lot of happy film users on board here who still love working with film, so if you felt like a walk down memory lane, have at it. There is nothing wrong with any of the processes you described. If you have reached towards shooting digital, that's fine too - we have forums for both! Be sure to check out out Galleries section if you want to post any of your work. Keep posting and enjoy!

 

[Tuffythepug]

I,too,am old enough to remember darkrooms, AE-1s and Pentax K1000s. In fact I've set up my darkroom again and still have an AE-1 although it lives at my daughters house for the moment. Had a K1000 for awhile but sold it years ago. Now I'm shooting mostly digital but still have a Canon A-1, Nikon N50, and an old Bronica 645 med format. I hope to live long enough to get my grandkids interested in the magic of the darkroom. There's still a place for this old technology I think.
Welcome, it's always good to see a kindred spirit show up

 

[unpopular]

... yeah, i remember those things also, and I'm only 30. I got into photography right durring the transition from film to digital; it was a pretty awkward period to be going to college. Well, my first round was still pretty film oriented, but my second round it was pretty clear digital was on it's way out.

I do miss 4x5 though.

 

[Railphotog]

I'm also an olde pharte who remembers a darkroom, but not with a whole lot of fondness. Had a separate darkroom in our current house for about 22 years, one in our previous house for about 10. Now the darkroom is where I store my camera collection and current gear, slides, negs, etc., as I gave away all of my darkroom equipment to a camera club some years ago. Don't miss it one bit.

I needed the darkroom way back when to make prints and enlargements to sell at local car race tracks where I was the photographer, and I spent a lot of time at it; it was work and not fun. I also needed black and white prints for my magazine articles on another hobby of mine, again a necessity and not for fun.

These days I'm having fun rediscovering images from film shot 40 years ago by scanning them. I can do so much more with the images in my computer than I could have in the darkroom, and I'm surprised at the decent quality too. Especially with the cheapo lenses I was using in those days on my Canon cameras - by Hamimex, Vivitar, etc.

Still having fun with photography!

 

[TamiAz]

My dad was into photography when I was a kid and I distinctly remember the smell of the chemicals in his dark room and the red light he would use. I also remember Fox Photo.

 

[Rick58]

. . . and fitting film on those stainless steel reels in the dark. I'm also old enough to remember Fox Photo, with the kiosks in shopping center parking lots. In fact, I worked for Fox Photo in Memphis, TN for four years. I remember when the Canon AE-1 was the darling of the upscale amateur market, and the Pentax K1000 (or was it 100) was the all-manual, standard issue for first year photography students. I shot high school sports for 10 years with a Nikon F1, manual focus, no motor drive, mainly on Kodak Tri-X that was push-processed to 1600 ASA.

And if you think I'm going to say "I miss the good old days of 35 mm film," you'd be wrong!

I,too,am old enough to remember darkrooms, AE-1s and Pentax K1000s. In fact I've set up my darkroom again and still have an AE-1 although it lives at my daughters house for the moment. Had a K1000 for awhile but sold it years ago. Now I'm shooting mostly digital but still have a Canon A-1, Nikon N50, and an old Bronica 645 med format. I hope to live long enough to get my grandkids interested in the magic of the darkroom. There's still a place for this old technology I think.
Welcome, it's always good to see a kindred spirit show up

... yeah, i remember those things also, and I'm only 30. I got into photography right durring the transition from film to digital; it was a pretty awkward period to be going to college. Well, my first round was still pretty film oriented, but my second round it was pretty clear digital was on it's way out.

I do miss 4x5 though.

I'm also an olde pharte who remembers a darkroom, but not with a whole lot of fondness. Had a separate darkroom in our current house for about 22 years, one in our previous house for about 10. Now the darkroom is where I store my camera collection and current gear, slides, negs, etc., as I gave away all of my darkroom equipment to a camera club some years ago. Don't miss it one bit.

I needed the darkroom way back when to make prints and enlargements to sell at local car race tracks where I was the photographer, and I spent a lot of time at it; it was work and not fun. I also needed black and white prints for my magazine articles on another hobby of mine, again a necessity and not for fun.

These days I'm having fun rediscovering images from film shot 40 years ago by scanning them. I can do so much more with the images in my computer than I could have in the darkroom, and I'm surprised at the decent quality too. Especially with the cheapo lenses I was using in those days on my Canon cameras - by Hamimex, Vivitar, etc.

Still having fun with photography!

Welcome Dminor.

Move over gentlemen. I still have hopes of getting back into film one day. Maybe after retirement when I have lots of time to play.

 

[Mully]

^^^^^ when you have time ..you will be so busy after retirement that you still be running short of time

 

[Rick58]

^^^^^ when you have time ..you will be so busy after retirement that you still be running short of time

You're probably right.

 

[terri40 12]

Have we scared off the newbie??

Yes, film and darkroom work are time consuming, but how much more than time spent on anything you have passion for (including working digitally)? It's all about being able to keep it fun, trying new things, and never to let go of your creative spark.

 

[snowbear121 53]

Welcome aboard.

I learned a few darkroom basics in high school - mid 1970s; then learned a few more when a couple years ago I retired and went to college. We had the kiosks up here, as well, though the company was Photomat.

 

[KmH]

:thumbup: Welcome to TPF! :camera:

 

[Tuffythepug]

I can understand Railphotog's feelings about the darkroom. He associates it with work and that is usually the opposite of fun. For me it's never been intended to produce any sort of income and the darkroom represents something entirely different. It's a stress-free place where I can work at my own pace and be away from all distractions. Yes, the process is positively archaic by today's standards, but I think it's worth keeping around. I love the instant gratification of digital photography; but I also have a real fondness for the slow, methodical, tactile process of developing and printing film.

 

[IceCanAm]

Welcome to the site.

 

[sm4him]

Another old fogey here; welcome to the party! My first SLR was an Olympus, but then I got a Pentax K1000 when I was about 21; still have it and I still put a roll of film through every now and then. I also still have a Nikon SLR.
FoxPhoto got a LOT of my money back in the day!! Oh my...the days of getting four envelopes of photos back and sorting through them to find the few that were real keepers! LOVE the digital age!!

I enjoyed my time in the darkroom, but never got into processing ALL of my film myself. At that time, I was also seriously into soccer--played keeper for about 15 years, won a state championship once, runner-up team once. Soccer took up ALL of my time and I didn't have time to spend hours in the darkroom.

Move over gentlemen. I still have hopes of getting back into film one day. Maybe after retirement when I have lots of time to play.

Good. When you retire, I'll start playing with film more again and I'll send it to you for processing. ;-)
I briefly considered equipping myself with a darkroom again, but I ended up dismissing the idea. I don't really miss the chemicals, or the time and space it took--and honestly, with my vision issues, I'm not sure I could see what I'm doing in a darkroom anymore!