B&H has a back to school special darkroom....

[johnastovall]

I just got my B&H newsletter and was amazed. They are offering what they call "The Brilliant Darkroom." Film and the darkroom are not dead at B&H.

"The darkroom - where silver halide rules and pixels run scared – where the decisive moment is committed to eternal preservation and the inkjet pales in comparison."

More information...

Only thing missing is a paper easel.

All for 310...

[Daniel W.]

Funny thing is I'm waiting for school to start so I can get back to the darkroom. The tax payers kindly funding my Ilford or HC110... and 20 Bessler 23's (which at any given time 3 or 4 will work depending on who took what lens where, what bulb is where and what neg carrier did or didn't fall apart.)

[chris00nj]

Originally Posted by Daniel W.

Funny thing is I'm waiting for school to start so I can get back to the darkroom. The tax payers kindly funding my Ilford or HC110... and 20 Bessler 23's (which at any given time 3 or 4 will work depending on who took what lens where, what bulb is where and what neg carrier did or didn't fall apart.)

At least I am funding something good these days.

[venchka]

Where are there 20 enlargers in one place?????????????????????? Besides the University of New Mexico.

[dmora]

[Valerie]

Originally Posted by chris00nj

At least I am funding something good these days.

A school darkroom in the Houston area??? I am impressed... I've only 7, and 12 students who have to share them. :-(

[Daniel W.]

Three light-tight rooms for developing film (BW only) but we only use one to keep the kids from making out in the film rooms...

One large room with developers and island sink for the chem.

I'll post a picture sometime, we have maybe 10-12 up in the room and at least 8 scattered around the school district / in storage (when the two other high schools stopped doing film we got their darkroom equip but after summer of "strategic inventory taking" we lost enlargers, got overhead projectors, and a digital projector. Because... they were "ALL" classroom projectors and other schools needed what we have. Great, eh?)

@Chris, I'll send you a print sometime so you can get a return on your investment. There's some great 24" Oriental RC that needs to be used...

@Wayne, the previous instructor was a huge gearhead, and when a film-photo class counted as "high tech," he had a huge budget. In the three decades he taught here, we accumulated two 4x5 cameras (but only one lens+board?), a very broken Mamiya 645 body (sans lens), a box full of gra-lab timers that don't time, a box full of enlarger lenses (Mostly Nikon and Bessler, there's a Leitz that I love using though), and enough Leitz Tiltalls to hold up a truck. However, when he did leave, the new guy wasn't informed of the gigantic stock of sheet film or color developing kits, which all sadly expired. We're waiting on an approved disposal order.

Have a baggie full of Arista Premium 400 and Tri-X that some stranger loaded for us in my top left drawer. Downside is that we only have single-reel tanks, one reel at a time.

[johnastovall]

Make sure that Leitz enlarger lens gets a good home. I'm always willing to be a foster parent for one.

[Daniel W.]

We're shutting down the film program when our current instructor retires (pretty soon). Right now it's on "my" bessler in the corner. On top of the drawer with all the paper larger than 8x10 and Contrast filters. I may give you a call sooner than that, we're constantly cutting back the film area to get new digital gear. Not quite there yet though (40 something film bodies+lenses vs. 16 digital bodies+18-55's and 70-300's.)

For the first semester I should be the only one in there, we're still teaching the basics Aug-Dec, then shadowgrams in Feb, real pictures (Heyy k1000's and Arista 400) in March.

Does anyone have a preferred mixture ratio / timing of HC110? We've been doing 1:9 and a longer develop time just because of the large volume we make, but since it's only one person (and I'd like to speed up the process)...

[venchka]

Time in the 10 minute range, + or -, seems to work well for me. I don't know anything about HC-110 except that I can see why schools like it. I am very fond of Xtol 1:3, 7-10 minutes, continuous agitation.

If y'all have a garage sale, holler! I could use some trays, odds & ends.

[wclavey]

Ahhh, HC110... takes me back to high school... back to the late 60s & early 70s... actually, it was our fall back developer for xray film when the hospital supply ran low on xray developer, too.

Like Wayne says, let us know when the garage sale is for the disposition of all that stuff...

[Daniel W.]

Trays have already been called by the science department. They're great for bovine cranial dissection. Probably a few easels, some bamboo tongs, cheap enlarger lenses. If I get a release to let stuff go this year I'll post what I can. (Odds are I'll end up buying it from the school and reselling here). HC110 is all we have and I love it with the Arista, I think we may have some Ilford stuff, not sure if its for paper or film.

Also have a huge pile of expired color Arista kits, any idea for salvage ?(been sitting for at l6 yrs in dark storage)