Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2004/05/13

[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]

Subject: [Leica] Who Still Has a Darkroom?
From: vick.ko at sympatico.ca (Vick Ko)
Date: Thu May 13 03:51:59 2004

I do!!!!

It will be three years now since I've used it, because it was our TV
room, then room to nurse our baby son.  That was 3 years ago, and now, I
feel that it is okay to do prints, but I haven't gotten there yet.

I hope soon though -

Vick

-----Original Message-----
From: lug-bounces+vick.ko=sympatico.ca@leica-users.org
[mailto:lug-bounces+vick.ko=sympatico.ca@leica-users.org] On Behalf Of
Jim McIntyre
Sent: Wednesday, May 12, 2004 9:36 PM
To: Leica Users Group
Subject: Re: [Leica] Who Still Has a Darkroom?


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

_______________________________________________
Leica Users Group.
See http://leica-users.org/mailman/listinfo/lug for more information



Replies: Reply from jorg at mindspring.com (Jorg Willems) ([Leica] Who Still Has a Darkroom?)
Reply from disfromage at ameritech.net (Richard Wasserman) ([Leica] Who Still Has a Darkroom?)
In reply to: Message from mcintyre at ca.inter.net (Jim McIntyre) ([Leica] Who Still Has a Darkroom?)