• Hey Guest!
    British Car Forum has been supporting enthusiasts for over 25 years by providing a great place to share our love for British cars. You can support our efforts by upgrading your membership for less than the dues of most car clubs. There are some perks with a member upgrade!
    **Upgrade Now**
    (PS: Upgraded members don't see this banner, nor will you see the Google ads that appear on the site.)
Tips
Tips

NEW TOY!!! [like I need another hobby]

Share this page

Banjo

Banjo

Yoda
Country flag
Offline
I off-handedly commented to a co-worker, knowing that he recently closed his photography store, that I was kinda looking for a used enlarger for my pipe dream of putting a darkroom in my basement.
Well, he made me an offer I coulden't refuse.
I just got home with a vintage 1989 Durst AC800 enlarger and a huge box of accessories, and chemistry, and paper and stuff to get me started. And I got it for a song.
the enlarger is a bit more complicated than I was looking for. It has a programmable head unit for color prints and all kinds of features that I'll probably never use, but it'll definatly be a good unit. It'll do prints up to 16x20.
I personally plan on sticking to B&W prints.
Now I gotta clear out my old pantry in the basement.
 
Congrats. All my stuff is in a big box in the back of the closet. No room or time for it anymore.

A Durst with a color dichro head is a good one all the way 'round. I have a condensor head for my Besseler, but I only needed it for doing really big enlargements from 6x7 negs, the Dichro always did a better job for everything. Do some research and you'll find reasonable color setups for multigrade paper filters to dial into the head, that way you don't need to worry about getting or using contrast filters for your B&W work.
 
Supposedly this unit has filters built in as part of the "color computer" but I got a pack of filters in the box of accessories too.
This thing is really set up for being in a production facility. you can program in channels to be set up for certian size prints, papers, autofocus, easils and other stuff. that way you can recall a channel, and it's already set up to go.
I'll take a picture of it this weekend and post it.
I'm really quite new to all the terminology. It's been over 10 years since I've been in a darkroom, and even then it was very limited.
But now I've gotta go get some rolls of B&W film to get some fresh shots to play with.
 
My brother and I built a darkroom behind our garage. Had two doors, plumbing - state of the art back then. Found a bunch of discards that we fixed. We developed photos for years and rented it out to photo students when they couldn't get to the lab at school on the weekends. Great times!

Congrats on the new venture.
 
Sounds like fun... Most of my photowork is digital these days, so it's not really worth the expense of setting up a darkroom for the few times I shoot film... Plus I don't have the space either

So what kind of camera are you using to shoot the B&W photos with? And now that you're getting more serious, you need to start throwing some of the good stuff on your Flickr account... /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/devilgrin.gif
 
My only 35mm is a Vivitar SLR I've got the standard lense, and I think one or 2 more. I've gotta look. I've been 100% digital for some time, but there's something about film.... I guess it's kinda like rebuilding a 50 year old British car.
This guy's still got a good assortment of lense filters and such, at his shop. So I may go back and get a few more goodies before it's closed for good.
I'll definatly have to start posting to flickr again... My account has been dorment for a while.
 
Banjo..sounds neat...may be a place to fit in some old classic car shots of the years before much in color.....some recreations like the old British ads...I wouldn't mind seeing my actual cars in a rendition of B&W enlargements....keep us posted
 
I shudder to think what I've got tied up in darkroom gear. For that matter what I have in photo gear generally. All worth about a buck-ninety-eight now. /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/frown.gif

Film still beats digital, IMO. Like vinyl 'n vacuum tubes beats CD's 'n solid state. But it won't be long...
 
If you’ll be developing your own film, stay on top of when the developer was mixed and don’t be tempted to process a roll with a questionable batch. You can print the same shot all day until its right, but you only have one chance to get a good neg. (or slide). I’ve only lost one roll that way, but there were a couple shots I really liked that couldn’t be printed. /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/cryin.gif
 
It's been about five years since I did any darkroom work. I had everything set up in a spare bedroom next to the bathroom so it wasn't too inconvenient to get the water I needed or to wash prints in the tub.

I did B&W 4x5 and 8x10. The 8x10's I contact printed...nothing like a contact print. I used a cold light head on the Bessler. Tonal range seemed better then with the condenser arrangement. Someone gave me an industrial 16x20 camera that I was going to convert into an 8x10 enlarger, but never got around to it. Too many other projects.

It's a great hobby, but soon none of the big players will be offering any more materials for film photography. It will fall into to the hands of boutique manufacturers, and they will get their price. A lot of the traditional stuff is already discontinued, especially the papers. Kodak still lists Tri-X in roll film format, but who knows how long that will last. I suspect that the sheet films will be around for awhile longer.
 
Art said:
...soon none of the big players will be offering any more materials for film photography. It will fall into to the hands of boutique manufacturers, and they will get their price. A lot of the traditional stuff is already discontinued, especially the papers. Kodak still lists Tri-X in roll film format, but who knows how long that will last. I suspect that the sheet films will be around for awhile longer.
Click to expand...

Yup, Kodak papers are already gone. E-6 (and other chemistry) "small" batches as well.

I quit processing when we folded the newspaper over a decade ago, darkroom is now a 'storage bin' for computer parts inventory. Omega D-3 enlarger, lenses, Nikor processing tanks, trays, light table, lupes all in disuse... end of an era, kids. *sigh*


I love the smell of acetic acid inna mornin'... /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/wink.gif
 
I also see Home developing becoming a lost art soon. Much like tuning a set of SUs. Fortunatly, Like I said, i got several boxes of chemistry, and about 10 packs of various papers, so I'll be able to have fun for a while.
I did get some equipment for developing film, but I really don't plan on doing that. It's too easy to have it done professionally, without the risk of me goofing up an entire roll.
I gotta go get some film here soon. First off I gotta clear out my "darkroom" an I pulled a neck muscle this morning just bending over. I can barely move. C'MON advil!
 
WHOA! Process the film yerself! Practice loading the reel with a strip of blank film and LEARN to load it. Sheesh, Ben!

Incentive:
 
DrEntropy said:
WHOA! Process the film yerself! Practice loading the reel with a strip of blank film and LEARN to load it. Sheesh, Ben!
Click to expand...

Looks like part of my collection.

I'd sort of like another large format camera, but unless I get back into the world of "fine arts" I doubt I'll set up an enlarger.
 
Banjo said:
I just got home with a vintage 1989 Durst AC800 enlarger and a huge box of accessories, and chemistry, and paper and stuff to get me started.
Click to expand...

Since when did 1989 become vintage? /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/grin.gif
 
DrEntropy said:
WHOA! Process the film yerself! Practice loading the reel with a strip of blank film and LEARN to load it. Sheesh, Ben!

Incentive:
Click to expand...

wassat plastic Patterson garbage doing there Doc ???? /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/devilgrin.gif

I'd have figured you to be a stainless-snob like meself.
 
Plenty of stainless, too, Jim. Couldn't find my 10-up one so I threw in the TupperWare. Got it fer free while managing a camera store. Worked FINE for that price. /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/jester.gif
 
mailbox said:
Banjo said:
I just got home with a vintage 1989 Durst AC800 enlarger and a huge box of accessories, and chemistry, and paper and stuff to get me started.
Click to expand...

Since when did 1989 become vintage? /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/grin.gif
Click to expand...
It was more of a "wine" refrence... a fancy way of saying "made in the year.." Not really saying that 89 is is "vintage" as in older.
Although I was thinking the other day how an 87 car is now TWENTY years old!!! how'd that happen???
A 97 is TEN!! Heck! I still consider a 97 to be late model!
 
You're now Oficially OLD, Ben! /bcforum/images/%%GRAEMLIN_URL%%/smirk.gif
 
I used a lot of patterson stuff. What a pain in the neck to clean... I can't remember why I used it, I was shooting a ton of tech pan film for a long time and I think it was really hard to roll onto the SS reels or something. They used a special super-strong/stiff base that liked to be slid onto pattersons from the outside in, but not the SS from the inside out.

I used modified Beseler paper processing tubes on a motorized tumbler to do sheet film - worked fantastic, a lot easier than dip and dunk in tanks.
 
Back
Top