Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2004/05/12
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Marc, Buried under boxes of Christmas decorations, kids toys, and other miscellaneous (mysterious) material is my darkroom. I have a wonderful Durst M800 with a glass carrier and a tack sharp Schneider lens. Trays, timers, graduated cylinders, thermometers, tanks, tongs, enlarging frames are all there. I even have a hand-made "apron" my mother-in-law made for me. Alas, I haven't made a print in over a year. But like you I am not willing to give it up. I can't afford a high-end printer or scanner (the cheapy model does OK for the net). But the writing is on the wall I feel. Even though I don't have the top quality electronic machinery, I can tell you that sitting in front of my terminal "spotting" out dust specs, adjusting contrast, doing the "dodging and burning" electronically is sure a heck of a lot faster, accurate and cheaper than the traditional wet darkroom process. And given the testimony from a number of LUG members to the quality of Epson 2200 and ilk prints, it's only a matter of time and budget before my poor 20+ year old equipment gets permanently retired. Does make me a bit sad though...many a night was spent there, in the soft red light with my radio tuned to a classical station, making prints that still hang in my house. jm ----- Original Message ----- From: "Marc James Small" <msmall@infionline.net> To: "Leica Users Group" <lug@leica-users.org> Sent: Wednesday, May 12, 2004 5:41 PM Subject: [Leica] Who Still Has a Darkroom? I moved into my present house almost two years ago, and dedicated a room in the attic for use as a darkroom (it had originally been the Servants Quarters' when this house was built in 1897). I have never completed fixing it up as such, as I now scan my negatives and slides and, now that I am getting a bit familiar with this, I have no strong desire to go back to chemical work. I can load film into tanks in a changing bag and processing is no big thing. But I am unwilling to give up, quite yet, on the ability to produce chemical prints as they still are better in quality than are scans, at least with my current gear and at my current level of expertise. I suspect I will never finish making the putative darkroom completely light-tight and air-conditioned but, still, I cannot quite give up on it. I have a grand set of gear (a Leica V35 and a Beseler 23CX-II with Rodenstock APO enlarging lenses, all sorts of trays, tongs, timers, lights, &c &c) -- Hell, I not only have 16mm and 127 reels but I have not one but TWO print driers. And finishing the darkroom would be a matter of five or six hours or less. Dreams die hard. I spent a magnificent number of hours over forty years in a darkroom and I guess it is time to admit that I'll probably never enlarge another negative. But I'm not willing, yet, to come to terms with this reality. So, like Tina, I can and do process film but scanning is becoming just so damned EASY! Marc msmall@infionline.net FAX: +540/343-7315 Cha robh b?s fir gun ghr?s fir! _______________________________________________ Leica Users Group. See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information