Changing Up My Darkroom and Home Studio

[Pieter12]

New Copy Setup in Studio by Nokton48, on Flickr

I've been copying RC Silver prints in my Enlarging Room, with ambient LED lighting. I have decided to move my Minolta Copy Stand into the studio area, and leave it set up on a permanent basis. From Harbor Freight a rolling cart (I have several), with an Apple Box Riser on the top shelf, makes a strong base with wheels for the copy stand. Easy to move around as I please. Recently donated to me, a pair of Broncolor Impact 300J Impacts, with well used strobe tubes working perfectly, and a nice matched pair. Standard Impact Reflector, attached 3M Polarizing Filters on both lights. Camera for 35mm film is a Minolta SRT-101 with SRT Diopter Eyepiece Correction, SRT Cable Release, 50mm F3.5 MC Macro Rokkor, and 55mm Minolta Hooded Polarizing Filter. All filters set for maximum polarization, lighting balanced to 1/3 fstop with Broncolor Incident Strobe Meter. With Ilford PanF+ rated at EI 25, I'm at F16 without polariizer exposure correction, so I did a bracketed series at 1/2 stops to establish a good baseline. This is a pretty good setup I'm intending to leave up all the time, and it's easily movable.

I also intend to use the setup for copying flat art and I have a Skier Box for digitizing negatives with the same setup. This will evolve.

How are you holding the prints flat?

 

[Nokton48]

I have about a dozen bubble levels from Amazon that do a nice job of weighting down the edges and corners. If you magnify the digiphoto, you can see four of them, one in each corner of the rc print. I bubble level the baseboard, and the camera as well.

 

[Nokton48]

Sinar Norma Handy Test 65mm F8 No 3 by Nokton48, on Flickr

Sinar Norma Handy Test 65mm F8 No 4 by Nokton48, on Flickr

Sinar Norma Handy 4x5 Test Ilford HP5+ 65mm F8 Super Angulon at Fll. Kingwood Gardens Mansfield Ohio, waiting for the Solar Eclipse to occur. HANDHELD camera focused hyperfocally. The cosine effect causes corners to be darker, could be improved with my 65mm F8 Schneider Center Filter. Silver image 8x10 print Omega DII 180mm Rodagon laser aligned, Arista #2 RC paper processed in Dektol 1:2. Print copied with Sony Nex 7 30mm Nex Macro Lens.

 

[Nokton48]

New Broncolor Flooter S Fresnel Pulso Spotlight by Nokton48, on Flickr

Saw this Broncolor Flooter-S Pulso Fresnel Spotlight, at World of Used Photography a few weeks ago. Went in Yesterday and asked Gary about it. Priced at $1000 but very expensive so worth it. Then he reduced the price to $700, which is about 30% of it's original catalog price in 2000. It's in good usuable condition, a little dusty inside but not damaged. I do have an air cushioned large Broncolor Light Stand, but I need to come up with a better base mount for this. Have a lot of parts so we will see. And as a bonus, I think this unit has the Gel and Grid Holder attached to it. Some of these Gel Holders screwed in the front, and some had knobs that screwed on the front. But I think it's here so a nice bonus. Gary is such a nice Guy, he even carried it to my car One of my Primo Heads is attached here. This will be quite useful to me, great for precision lighting backgrounds and myriad other uses. The current model Flooter is over Four Grand so this is another great Broncolor deal for me.

Octobox 150 Balloon Flooter S Strip Light Opus 1600J works great by Nokton48, on Flickr

Broncolor OPUS A2 arrived yesterday in excellent condition. Powers up to 1600J no prob in 1/10 stop increments. Through my Balloon Head I'm getting a full 1600J blast and it's small heavy and intuitative. You can "ping-pong" A&B channels for powerful sequence firing. Will work good with my EL/M and motorized Minolta SRM. The Flooter has the Gelatin/Honeycomb Holder so that is worth $250 I was going to order one. So it really sweetens the deal. I'm going to order the Honeycomb 5 Degree Grid from B&H when they reopen. I've attached Diffusion Material from Dick Blick onto the front of the Flooter, I'll use a lot of small magnets to hold gels and diffusion in place.

 

[Nokton48]

SONY DSC by Nokton48, on Flickr

A venerable Olde Studio Light comes to me, providing me with beautiful light indeed. A retro FOBA F1000, relamped by me to 120 voltage, 100 Watt Globe Bulb makes it look right out of the catalog, and quite useful to me. It's mounted to a FOBA Combitube for sturdiness. Gorgeous soft light, the bulb can be moved forwards and backwards to focus and fine tune the lighting. This unit is designed to take up to a 220V 1000 Watt Bulb, just way too much light and heat for my needs. But it is made to take it!

Not Broncolor but from Switzerland, and they were hooked in with Broncolor. BTW FOBA has sold it's factory machines, and is closing up shop end of this year, the end of a very long history.

 

[Nokton48]

First Test of NPL 8x10 HRU 1000mm F32 18 pops Octobox by Nokton48, on Flickr

First test of Negative Lab Pro, a program which converts large format negatives (small ones too) into nice looking positives. This is 8x10 Fuji HRU XRAY Film, D23 replenished. Neg copied with Sony Nex-7 (36mp) with 50mm Zeiss F2.8 Touit, an AWESOME optic.

1000mm f16 Rodenstock Apo Ronar test, I adjusted the curves and prefer this new version.
18 pops effective f64 aperture. Two stops were required to compensate for bellows draw. The 8x10 Norma is infinitely extendable. I could have upped the power pack to something bigger, but in this case I decided to go with multiple pops. Beautiful wrap around lighting and notice the attractive specular catch lights, thanks to the Broncolor Octobox 150.

 

[Nokton48]

All Cleaned Up New Glass Table Overhead 8x10 Norma by Nokton48, on Flickr

Went to MPEX and picked up Super White and Studio Black Seamless Paper 1/2 wide size, then cut it down with my Chop Saw in the garage. The paper burned and smoked quite a bit but got a nice clean cut, here the Super White is installed. Boxed up all the clutter and shelved it. On the right is my 8x10 Overhead Set 8x10 Sinar Norma, I've been shooting tabletop with this, and the 165mm and 121mm Super Angulons. A Friend wants to sell me his 210mm Super Angulon, I will get it eventually, that will complete my set. I'm enjoying shooting a lot of test film with my Minolta SRT's, testing the new lighting. A lot of fun. And I need a better way to hang the custom cut paper rolls, I have ideas on how to do it with stuff from Lowes.

 

[Nokton48]

SONY DSC by Nokton48, on Flickr


I've had these two original FOBA Combitube Light Stands up for a while, now I've set the original other pieces to complete these two 1600J strobe spotlight units. Adding the counterweights make these a lot safer, now they won't tip over. I'm cutting down some Honeycomb Grids to fit the fronts of these. Repurpose what I already have. Anyway these are small footprint Retro Vibe Spots fully functional Broncolor workhorses.

 

[Nokton48]

SONY DSC by Nokton48, on Flickr

1960's Sinar Norma meets 2000's Broncolor TTL Ambient and Flash Metering. I am a solid User of the Olde original Norma TTL Sinarsixes, I have four of them, and all the accessories. Shown here are the 4x5, 5x7, and 8x10 Sinar Norma Meter Cassettes. These are all on the money (YAY!) Gossen Lunasix TTL Meters. Have always enabled me to NAIL the exposure. There are over a dozen variables which are minimized by using TTL Metering. Now, 2000's Era Broncolor Meter Probes measure both anmbient and Flash Lighting TTL, including mixed light situations. My goal here is to learn this new to me technology, which completely eliminates wasteful film bracketing. And my time to shoot and process the extra frames. Exposures are controlled TTL to 1/10 F/Stop TTL, and my Broncolor Pulso Power Packs can be remotely controlled via these FMC2 Meters. I was also told that Larry in Broncolor Service (GREAT GUY!) modified the earlier FCM Meter, by increasing the cells inside from two to four. Yay. These are matching FCM2 Meters, they are reading identically for me. So a bit of a learning curve ahead but all worth it in the end.

 

[Mr Bill]

Went to MPEX and picked up Super White and Studio Black Seamless Paper 1/2 wide size, then cut it down with my Chop Saw in the garage. The paper burned and smoked quite a bit but got a nice clean cut, here the Super White is installed

Hey, nice looking setup.

FWIW a standard hacksaw will pretty easily cut through a roll of seamless without too much smoke.

 

[Nokton48]

Hey, nice looking setup.

FWIW a standard hacksaw will pretty easily cut through a roll of seamless without too much smoke.

Hey Mr. Bill,

Thanks! I'll give the Hacksaw a go, with my roll of Studio Black. Just bought a nice new one from Harbor Freight.

 

[MattKing]

So...
6 years in.
How is Phase 1 of your Darkroom Renovation going?

 

[Nokton48]

So...
6 years in.
How is Phase 1 of your Darkroom Renovation going?

So....
Since you are a Moderator, can you help me change the thread title?

One of the things I like about my photography, is the endless invention, and endless adaptation aspect of it. It's great fun!

 

[Andrew O'Neill]

So....
Since you are a Moderator, can you help me change the thread title?

One of the things I like about my photography, is the endless invention, and endless adaptation aspect of it. It's great fun!

What do you want to change it to?

 

[Nokton48]

Changing Up My Darkroom and Home Studio

 

[Nokton48]

I'd love to learn to make Salt Prints. Andrew your work is lovely

And Thank You for the thread title upgrade!

 

[MattKing]

Darn,
I always found the old title worth a chuckle .
Alas, in my Moderator role, I figured that if someone new to the game came across it, they might be scared away by the prospect of 6 years and counting! for Phase 1!
FWIW, I've been enjoying the thread for 6+ years.

 

[Nokton48]

SONY DSC by Nokton48, on Flickr

Today I finished machining and Assembling my Irving Penn inspired style Articulating Photographic Background Mount. The idea is to make a "V" shaped set, using two rolls of seamless paper, or two canvas backgrounds. The Punching Bag Mount ($25) came from Amazon, sawed off Impact Background Metal Hanger (cost $5 each) from B&H, and some large Washers from Lowes finishes this. Next comes mounting this to ceiling, parts ordered today from B&H to facilitate this.






This clever fellow gave me the idea to make this up.

 

[Nokton48]

FOBA Atelierstativ 50er Katalog 1 by Nokton48, on Flickr

Some of you out there might want a bigger camera stand for your 8x10 Normas. Here is a good one to consider LOL

A Broncolor Boxlite 40 (like new) is on it's way to me. Can't wait to get it.

 

[Andrew O'Neill]

I'd love to learn to make Salt Prints. Andrew your work is lovely

And Thank You for the thread title upgrade!

You're welcome! And thank you for the compliment! Salt prints are easy to make.

 

[rduraoc]

FOBA Atelierstativ 50er Katalog 1 by Nokton48, on Flickr

Some of you out there might want a bigger camera stand for your 8x10 Normas. Here is a good one to consider LOL

A Broncolor Boxlite 40 (like new) is on it's way to me. Can't wait to get it.

There is a similar one for sale close (-ish) to me, and I even think the seller is more interested in getting rid of it than he is on making money. If only I had the space...

 

[Nokton48]

Very Nice. You would need something BIG to transport it, like a Semi.

Three 1600J Broncolor Primo power packs, purchased for Fifty Dollars each. In back left is my Olde Pulso 2 power pack, and in the front left, my NEW 1600J Pulso A2 pack, with six month warranty. As you can see, a "10" power rating meaning the caps are putting out full output. Yay. The A2 will even do TTL with certain Hasselblad models. And it can ping-pong if you are shooting motorized film cameras. All of these units are putting out the same output, measured with strobe meter. At 1600J I'm at F45 ISO 100, through the overhead Hazylight. Also I have two more Primos 3000J each, and another Pulso A that needs a fuse repair. And an Opus A2 1600J firing through my Octobox 150. Packs roll around, off the ground with dollies from Harbour Freight.

Five Broncolor 1600J Power Packs all aok by Nokton48, on Flickr

 

[Nokton48]

New to Me Broncolor Boxlite 40 by Nokton48, on Flickr

This New to Me Broncolor Boxlite 40 just arrived yesterday from a studio in Germany. Plugged her in, and POP POP POP Love it. However, the modeling lights are a different story; they are very dim and deep dark orange in output color. So I guess these are 220V modeling bulbs (take four E14 40W frosted), have not opened it up Yet! Printed out the instruction book, downloaded from Broncolor website. Indeed 220V and 120V bulbs are listed, sooo Ah-Hah. Ordered four 120V Broncolor 40W Boxlite 40 Bulbs, they have two in stock and now shipped, two are being drop-shipped from the supplier. The modification of the mounting apparatus is very interesting, it works fine! Anybody here have input regarding USA Boxlite modeling bulbs? I see some Cheap-Cheap E14's on Amazon, not sure if they are the same thing? So for me best to go through B&H, a trusted Broncolor Dealer of good repute.

 

[Nokton48]

Satco S3381 40W 120V E14 Broncolor Boxlite Bulbs by Nokton48, on Flickr

These are the Broncolor Boxlite 40 Modeling Light Bulbs that arrived yesterday from B&H. I searched the internet, not finding ANYBODY else that has these S3381 Satco Incandescent Bulbs. Looks like they are DISCONTINUED, being replaced with LED equivilents. So I jumped back on B&H and ordered another four of these. So today I have six more of these coming at this point, and I will have four extra for backups/replacements.

BTW the Boxlite 40 is $2836 new from B&H; I paid about $450 including shipping from Germany, which is about 16% of the new cost. Again quite a Broncolor Bonanza as far as I am concerned.

 

[MattKing]

I think we have those bulbs in our dining room chandelier
Is the colour temperature of the light critical for you? If not, they look like fairly standard chandelier bulbs, and as a special purpose bulb, they should still be available in incandescent.
Our chandelier bulbs are about $2 each at the Dollar store