Settin' up a darkroom!!!!

[Alia]

Hi everbody, this is my first post, yay!!!

Anyway, the reason I'm here is I am planning on setting up a b&w only darkroom in the next year or so.

My idea is to buy the enlarger first and then buy more stuff every payday until I can actually set up my room.

My question is, what advice can you experienced photographers out there offer me on what I should buy??? I've looked at ebay a bit, and theres plenty of options, but I don't want to buy a hunk of junk and don't really know which brands are decent.

For some reason I tend to lean towrds Omega or Beseler....

 

[ksmattfish]

Beseler and Omega are good.

There are lots of posts about setting up darkrooms in this section. Be glad to answer any specific questions.

Good luck, and welcome to the forum.

 

[Alia]

ok, thanks for the welcome! I'm sure I'll narrow it down to specifics as I get closer to purchase time...

 

[Tyjax]

I would encourage you to think creatively when it comes to darkroom accessories. Especially if you are on a budget. I put together my darkroom for a grand total of about 200 dollars. I just kept my eyes open for alternatives to the things I needed that were not neccesarily darkroom related. Just a for instance. I was struggling to find developing trays reasonably. (15 dollars for a single rubber tray!!!???!!) I was in Walmart and saw these rubbermaid type dishpans for about 99 cents. Hmmm, Thnk think think. I just cut off the top 4 inches and VIOLA. Developing trays. Think out side the box. It works.

 

[Josh]

yup,

My first dark room was $180 US (almost 10 years ago though =)

I just made some trays for 20x24in print that cost $5 each (rather than the $50 each to buy).

Things you will need:

Inlarger (I like Besler and Omaga)

Filters (no subsitutions on that)

Trays (see above post)
P.S. you only need to have 2 trays. A stop bath is not a nessesary thing (develop and fix)

eisle (spelling? some way of knowing were to place your paper. If you don't need borders you can just use any bord or cardbord that is the same size as the print you are making)

Fine grain finder (for focosing your inlarger...ebay)

beeker (or any contaner that has messerments on it so you can mix your chimestry. You need two: one for develop and one for fix)

Daylight film developing tank (sorry you have to buy it...around $25)

Film squigee (buy one...they are cheep)

Twine and cloths pins for hanging your prints to dry (hair dryer works too)

Gee I think that is it. oops You need to have an inlarging timer too.

FYI I did buy an enlarger on ebay once and the shipping made the cost more than a local use equipment store.

 

[havoc]

I just got a whole Darkroom setup off ebay for $145, It was only missing a grain focuser and filters. I picked those up at the local used photo equiptment shop for 20 bucks, so it is still possible to get a good deal.

Unfortunatly the enlarger is a vivitar, not an omega or beseler. It works fine though.