Dark Rooms...

[ChristopherCoy]

How many of you still have a dark room even though the majority of your work is digital?

Do you still use it regularly?

Do you find it hard to find the chemicals and necessary equipment?

Have the prices on these items dropped considerably since the 'digital revolution', or have they increased due to the lack of availability?

[venchka]

Hardware is cheap to free for the cost of time & gas to go get it. Chemicals are readily available. New film is being introduced. It's all good.

What's digital?

[Valerie]

Yep.. got one. Cheaper that going to the therapist. No problem on supplies at all. I get most from Freestyle, and a bit from local places if I need it asap.

No digital at all for me (except for quick family snaps).

[johnastovall]

I'm in the process of setting one up. The last few weeks I've shot more film than digital and the last two cameras I bought were film.

[srwatters]

I'm digging film in medium format (645). I tried 35mm and wasn't as enamored with it. Scanning at high resolution is more of an art form that I wasn't willing to learn. I can get 28-30MP scans from my negatives and transparencies. That will more than compete with my 12MP Nikon D3. Sometime this summer I will have a 22 or 30MP digital back, so I'm not forsaking digital for film. What will be interesting is how much of each I shoot...

I have 20+ rolls in the fridge right now and shoot a couple per model session. We'll see how that lasts...

[ChristopherCoy]

I still have my Canon EOS Elan II 35mm that I used in high school, and I've been thinking about trying to shoot B&W and develop my own film/pictures again later on in the coming months. That used to be SO much fun! I was the 'teachers pet' and would spend most of my morning in the darkroom. I would even get out of other classes to do my pictures!

[Big Dog]

We just moved, so I had to take my darkroom down. The good news is that eventually a new darkroom will be built that will be much larger and, with luck, much better than the old one.

No problem with supplies if one knows where to go. This is true with a lot of things isn't it? You can't buy most darkroom supplies at Ritz, and can't get most film at the drug store, but that doesn't mean it's not available.

I mean, I wouldn't go to the camera store to get a prescription filled ...

[studiocygnet]

OK, maybe someone out there knows this: I moved about 6 years ago out to the edge of town, where we have septic systems. I did not set my dark room back up, although I still have all the equipment. When in town I used to just dilute the chemicals with running water and slowly pour them down the drain. However, I don't want chemicals in my septic system, no matter how dilute. What do you do with the exhausted chemicals?

[johnastovall]

Many discussions on darkroom chemicals and septic systems.