AboutJohn and Chris Expertise We are both professional photographers, with over 15 years experience. We can answer questions about photography, as well as questions about cameras from the 60s to 90s. (extensive 35mm, quite a bit of other formats.) Please, no darkroom questions.
Question Hello, my name is Kara and I'm 24 years old. I love photography, I take pictures of just about everything. Right now, I work, I'm a mom and I go to college so it's a hobby for when I have spare time. My question is I'm used to take you film to get it developed or loading my digital prints onto my computer. I want to do red room developing. How do I go about doing it? What do I need and I have a relatively big house would I be able to set up shop in my own house? I only picked this up and became really interested a few years ago, I want to get better and really do more creative work. Also what types of cameras do you have? I'm interested in quite a few of many different varieties. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you!
Answer Kara,
For a darkroom, first you need a room that you can make light-tight. You have to be able to ventilate it and you need running water. Hot and cold helps. I assume your interested in black and white. If not, and you want color, I'd strongly suggest you forget it. It's just not worth the trouble. Most pro's for the last 20 years haven't done their own color. As a matter of fact, I'm not sure I'd encourage anyone to spend any time even doing black and white. Kodak doesn't even make paper and chemistry anymore. You can still get stuff from other makers, but that gives you an idea where all this is heading.
Learning to process black and white isn't hard. You can learn it in an afternoon. Getting good at it can take years though. I'm not saying you can't get acceptable prints right away. But perfecting it as an art would take a long time.
Anyway.... hmmmm. What else would you need?? Well, you'll need an enlarger. That's usually the first thing. You should be able to get one cheap these days. Oh. First you should get a book. The Kodak Darkroom Dataguide is the best. I loved that book. Gives you all the developing times for the different developer and film combinations. Tells you everything you need to know. It's even waterproof! Then you'll need trays for paper. Mixing bottles. Film cans and spools. A timer and darkroom light. And of course paper and chemistry.
You asked what kind of camera I have. Well, I have 2. A Nikon D70s and Nikon D200. Both are digital. I haven't shot a roll of film or stepped foot in a traditional darkroom for 5 years. And I don't ever intend to again. I can do more with digital and I can do it faster. I consider my computer my darkroom now. I can do black and white, color and special effects right here.
If you are looking for a new film camera, I really don't have much advice. For example, Nikon only makes one now, and it is very expensive because it is a PRO model. If you want a tip on used... well, my last (and favorite) film camera was the Nikon F2a. If you would like something a little more up to date, there is always the Nikon FM3a. Canon says they still make film cameras (but I don't believe them, I think they just have a bunch left in their warehouses, because they haven't updated them in years). If I wanted a newer, auto-focus film camera, I'd probably choose the Canon Elan 7e. It's probably going to be hard to go and check one out though. Even though canon still has them, none of the camera stores really want to fool with film cameras so they don't stock them. Our shop only has one film camera in the whole store, and nobody has looked at it in at least a year.
Hope this helps. Sorry to sound negative (LOL, sorry) about film, but there just isn't much to say about it anymore. Especially for the hobbyists. Some pros still use film, and of course some die-hard hobbyists. But overall it's just not that viable.
