Who still uses a darkroom?

[Strevo]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

Hello,

 

I'm curious, does anyone still print using traditional methods? Or does everyone use neg scanners for their workflow.

 

I now tend to print a 8x10 in the darkroom for images I like. If I want them online I scan using a flat bed.

[fotografr]

I still have a complete darkroom set up in the basement of my home, but have only used it two or three times in the past 10 years. When I do shoot film, I tend to scan it and do a digital workflow.

[Advertisement]

The Leica Q3 is available for pre-order at B&H Photo Video and Adorama

[topoxforddoc]

I do both - wet prints and scan/digital print. I prefer wet prints, but sometimes I don't have the time.

 

Charlie

[klaush]

I still have my darkroom, 35mm - 5x4. But more and more I use the digital workflow.

 

Klaus

[MPerson]

Strevo - same as you but being early retired I can plan a darkroom session a couple of times a week without having to fit it around work and/or family. Mine's in a shed down the bottom of the garden!

[KM-25]

I am currently building a large fine art darkroom in a friend's basement. We have over 350 square feet for both a darkroom in one room and a mount and frame / lounge area in the other.

 

We have three enlargers, two that handle up to 4x5 and have both cold light and condenser heads with compensating timers. We also have the ability to handle print sizes up to 40".

 

While I do sell prints from the scanning workflow, I prefer to get the computer out of fine art and black and white landscape photography completely. Silver gelatin commands a much higher price and is by far more popular for the discerning fine art photo buyer.

 

It feels darn good to be reducing the amount of digital I shoot more and more every day.

[leicar888]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

I love making prints in my darkroom! My Saunders/Omega LPL 670MXL dichroic enlarger never disappoints me when I print my Leica-based negatives. The attached photo shows some of my 8x10 prints from my father's World War II Leica negatives drying while hanging from clothespins.

Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here…

Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members!

[tgray]

I do. Not as much as I'd like, but I do. I want to build a darkroom in a house at some point, but I need the house first...

[dfoo]

I have one, and I love the prints I get from it.

[Michael Hiles]

I have a darkroom. I scan negatives and slides mainly for cataloguing purposes, and for posting here. The real deal is a silver print on the wall, sometimes as a gift. Not for albums and bottom drawers. I don't do much - running out of wall space.

[maxspbr]

I only uses a darkroom. And as often as I can (usually one night per week).

 

Those enlargements I want to post here, I scan with a flatbed (very simple one, as my scannings can easily demonstrate).

[Lucklik]

I'm still the happy owner of a darkroom and I'm using it about 10-20 times each year.

I prefer to shoot film over digital.

[MattLain]

I do!

 

I don't like it, I love it!

 

black and white from 35mm up to 6x9. 9.5x12in. up to 20x24in.

 

colour - medium format only - usually 9.5x12in. or 16x20in.

[tbarker13]

I gave mine up two years ago when I moved homes and really started getting into digital.

But now I'm in the process of converting my attic into a workshop/darkroom. Basically, I'm setting aside about a fourth of the space for a darkroom.

Can't wait to do some wet printing again.

[Todd Adank]

never saw a point of doing photography with out a darkroom, I know digital is great for many reasons but the work flow of film is such that I can not let it go. The darkroom is where the magic is revealed and made permanent. The dark, the smell is part of the experience that goes into that final image. The pride of getting it right from previsualisation to framing. When a fine silver print is on a wall I see the craft and the struggle to learn the craft in the print. Its one of the reasons I only shoot with manual cameras, if it doesn't work out its you and so it goes in the darkroom also. The market bares this out also, when prints are sold the one printed by the photographer almost always goes for much more. I have a print made by a old friend, that's not very good but the fact that he had made it with his hands makes it special to me. I just don't get that from my digital files. Is that sentimental sure but lots of things drive the human psyche.

[thomasw_]

I think what KM-25 wrote is along the lines of my thinking. As I think the look of wet prints are more aesthetically pleasing, I do all of my printing with an old focomat 1c enlarger in the dark. I love the creativity of the wet printing process. I do work with some standard principles, but I am of the view that there are always details to be learned in the dark. I will wet print as long as the materials to do so remain available.

[Guest kirkmingle]

Yes, at the moment I do it every week. Adox baryt paper -> Dektol -> Tetenal Indicet -> Fixer 1 -> Fixer 2 -> water -> Kodak HCA -> wash

 

it's soooo fun!

[KM-25]

Some Ilford paper showed up at my door today..

 

A 100 foot roll of 30" inch wide photo paper that is...

[micky]

Every year ten million people put up ten billion digital "photos" somewhere on the net, what's the point doing the same as the rest of the world.

Film and papers is not only individual, IT IS THE ART!!!

Besides, working with my hands gives much more satisfaction than hanging in front of the computer.

[Advertisement]

Hallo,

Look here: Interesting Leica gear

[alifie]

I do.

 

Converted the loft space to a darkroom and workshop with real stairs up to them, makes it very easy to pop up for an hour or so. Even in England it can get hot up there in the summer so I treated myself to air conditioning, wonderful! When I was building it I was asked by many people "fitting a Velux window?" errr... it's a darkroom.