[Leica] Who Still Has a Darkroom?

[rzartarian at snet.net (Roy Zartarian)]

Lke others, I do wax nostalgic about the time in the darkroom, seeing 
that well-exposed print emerge in the developer tray,  polishing off a 
bottle or two of cold beer in the process, and relaxing with a measure 
of single malt  in that magic time after the last print has been pulled 
from the wash, squeegeed, and placed on the drying screen. And like 
others I haven't made a wet print in a couple of years.

Now fortunately or not I don't think I'm going back into the dark 
(unless, of course, someone offers me enough money to do so).  Black & 
white digital printing is now pretty much where I want it with an Epson 
1280, MIS Ultratone 2 inks, Roy Harrington's Quadtone RIP or Paul 
Roark's curves and a fine variety of papers including Ilford's Smooth 
Pearl.  It's now a matter of doing the same job with a new approach and 
different tools - and no trays to clean afterwards.

Roy

On May 12, 2004, at 9:35 PM, Jim McIntyre wrote:

>  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?
>
> [snip]
>
> 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!