In sum, I was looking for something a little sturdier. Another problem was that the focus seemed to shift all by itself, so I would have to check it before every exposure. The lens had enough play in it that grazing it when changing filters or changing the aperture temporarily would throw the focus out. The fine-focus knob was very stiff and difficult to turn smoothly. I can't say this enlarger held me back, but it was often frustrating to use. Even without comparing it to other models, I knew I wanted something better. The only enlarger I have ever used is the Beseler 67. This is not the place to skimp, although, of course, I only had a modest budget to work with, so I had some tough decisions to make.

The cornerstone of a darkroom is its enlarger. The Ansel Adams Guide: Book 1: Basic Techniques of Photography by John Schaefer is the most complete guide to black-and-white photography I've seen. Kodak offers a complete online class in Darkroom Techniques that I'll be taking a look at. I've added some rambling thoughts about the equipment I'll need to set up my darkoom. So around November, I began researching darkroom equipment and haunting eBay. We wanted a convenient way to be able to do our own high-quality printing. Anne enjoys taking black-and-white pictures as well, and we are both frustrated by the awful quality of black-and-white machine prints (at least from all the camera stores we've tried). In late 2002, however, my wife Anne decided that we should give ourselves a Christmas present of a home darkroom. Thus I was able to develop my own film, but still had to use the Art Center's darkroom for printing. My home darkroom consists of a Paterson 'Universal Tank' (two reels for 35mm) acquired thanks to the generosity of my friend Jim Flach, a couple of Jobo 1000ml graduates, and, of course, the chemicals required for developing (see below).

I then remove the film from the spiral and hang them to dry.My darkroom experience began in the Summer of 2001 when I took 'Introduction to Black and White Photography' with Bill Kelly at the Abington Art Center. I pour the final rinse over them, and agitate for 10 seconds or so with the 'swizzel stick' that comes with the tank, then allow to stand for about a minute. This leaves the spools of film in the bottom of the tank. After all the inversion rinses, I remove the patterson tank lid, and the funnel/light trap. Fortunately for me, I prefer Fuji Acros 100 and Ilford Delta stock so it's not a biggie for meĪs to how much washing up liquid - I scoop up 700ml of water from the tempering bath and add a single drop of ecover. I do occasionally give additional rinses at the 20 inversion stage, if the water that I pour out is still coloured - Kodak film seems to be worst for this - I've had it running pink after 6-7 changes of water. I think that the amount of rinsing is pretty much down to the fix you use, the regime I mentioned is the one that Ilford recommend if you can't use a pressure wash rinse a-la-Joxby. If however, you store the dev tank in your garage in -15'c winters, and bring it in 5 minutes before you're going to load the film then it would have an effect, and I'd pre-wash. If ambient room temperature is between 18-22'c (as it usually is in a centrally heated home), then the tank temperature shouldn't effect the chemicals when you pour them in. More than anything, the pre-wash is just to get the film, the tank and the spiral up to the 20'c that the chemicals are when you develop the film. If we're talking black and white, unless the temperature in my utility room is really low/high I don't bother with a pre-wash. Is this excessive? He says at one point that without the fix-remover he would have to rinse his film for an hour!ĮDIT EDIT: sorry BigYin it took me ages to write my post so didn't see yours there. The Youtube video where i saw fix-remover being used is here ĮDIT: actually, watching this video again (the video is in 2 parts and the final rinse is at the beginning of part 2) The guy gives his film a serious rinsing - one minute in flowing water followed by 1.5 minutes with the fix-remover chemical followed by 10 minutes back in flowing water. Pre-wash -> Developer -> Stop bath -> Fixer -> Wash -> Photoflo-> Dry (all at 20 degrees C)

We do have a water meter so i wouldn't be allowed to leave the tap running for 5 minutes!

The reason i thought a chemical fix-remover might be needed was that the guy in the video below uses it. TheBigYin thanks that's the info i was after. I've heard washing up liquid makes bubbles which is not really what you want. I'm not sure whether they are both as good as i've never used them but my eye is leaning towards ilfotol. Fixedimage, ilford ilfotol might be worth a look it's about £10 for a litre whereas kodak photoflo is the same price for half that amount.

Darkroom soak photoflow