My first real darkroom

DraganB · Saturday at 1:02 AM

Hello friends,

It's finally here. I have my first real darkroom, no more guest bathroom I don't have running water, but that's not a problem for me.

I have a question: Do I have to turn on the heating element on my Aristo Coldhead, or can I use it without it?

Daniela · Saturday at 2:19 AM

Wow! Beautiful. Let creating begin!

koraks · Saturday at 4:15 AM

Such a nice space, congratulations!

DraganB said:
Do I have to turn on the heating element on my Aristo Coldhead

It should help getting consistent exposures. So yes, probably a good idea. But test it to be sure; do one session with the heater on to verify that everything works as it should. Then if you've established that, try a session without the heater and look for variations in exposure that you cannot explain otherwise.

miha · Saturday at 4:35 AM

Congratulations!

snusmumriken · Saturday at 6:09 AM

Superb! May it bring you lots of pleasure.

Before trusting your safelight, I’d advise you to test it by means of the coin test, with your usual materials in a typical process. My safelights were similarly bright, and I found I had to turn them 180 degrees to reflect off the ceiling.

Don_ih · Saturday at 6:56 AM

It's so neat! You are, however, missing an essential tool: the garbage can.

DraganB · Saturday at 7:16 AM

snusmumriken said:
Superb! May it bring you lots of pleasure.

Before trusting your safelight, I’d advise you to test it by means of the coin test, with your usual materials in a typical process. My safelights were similarly bright, and I found I had to turn them 180 degrees to reflect off the ceiling.

Thank you,

Yesterday i did my first session, i also found the light to bright and repositioned it to the door the other side of the room 6m away.

This was my first time to enlarge 4x5, it was a portrait of my son taken wide open with 240mm 5.6 nikkor. I did a 8x10 cropped a little bit, it turned out extremly sharp, with a loupe i could see details not seen on my scan, much more details, i could see every single grain particle sharply.

The print poped out from the paper, like 3d.

Last time i saw that was when a proffessional artist explained to me how to enlarge images in darkroom, now after years hunting exactly that, i am there.

Very happy right now.

DraganB · Saturday at 7:20 AM

Don_ih said:
It's so neat! You are, however, missing an essential tool: the garbage can.

Hi don,

Its on the other side of the room with the kodak projection scale and using small snippets and splitgrade printing i dont need a big one

DraganB · Saturday at 7:21 AM

koraks said:
Such a nice space, congratulations!

It should help getting consistent exposures. So yes, probably a good idea. But test it to be sure; do one session with the heater on to verify that everything works as it should. Then if you've established that, try a session without the heater and look for variations in exposure that you cannot explain otherwise.

Thank you i am going to test it.

khh · Saturday at 1:11 PM

Congratulations on the space! Looks like a nice setup.

snusmumriken said:
Before trusting your safelight, I’d advise you to test it by means of the coin test, with your usual materials in a typical process. My safelights were similarly bright, and I found I had to turn them 180 degrees to reflect off the ceiling.

If you want to test your safe light setup, the coin rest isn't really sufficient. Kodak has a good test prosedure.

Nicholas Lindan · Saturday at 1:25 PM

Plug the cold-light head's heater in about 1/2 hour before you start a printing session. Expect some exposure inconsistency even with the head warmed up - it is the nature of the beast. I used to leave the enlarger on except for the times when I was loading the easel or developing the paper. I finally got rid of the cold light head and life improved - YMMV and all that.

A compensating timer (properly an "integrator") can help a great deal with print consistency when using a cold light head. They haven't been made for some years, though RH designs may still have an integrating variation of their f-Stop timer.

If you plan to do split grade printing make sure the cold-light head has a fluorescent tube suitable for variable contrast paper. I had an early head that would print at grade 4 1/2 with no filtration, with a #00 filter I could get the contrast down to grade ~2 1/2, maybe.

As to the size of the garbage can - the bigger the better. Kodak projection print scales, split grade printing, f-Stop timing and metering work more to increase the quality of what you don't throw away. The waste basket only fills more slowly if you keep your standards at the same level as you increase the quality of your tools.

MattKing · Saturday at 2:18 PM

khh said:
Congratulations on the space! Looks like a nice setup.

If you want to test your safe light setup, the coin rest isn't really sufficient. Kodak has a good test prosedure.

+1.
The simple coin test tells you if you have an obvious problem with fog.
The Kodak Safelight test tells you if the safelight is decreasing the quality and repeatability of your prints, as well as whether you have an obvious problem with fog.
And yes, it is quite boring to do!
You might want to mount the safelight up high over the tray area, pointing up at the ceiling in a way that the light covers the whole darkroom. And if you have a safelight outlet on your timer, it can be really helpful to power the safelight from it, because the safelight goes off when you are actually exposing the print.

Great space though!

MTGseattle · Saturday at 2:23 PM

Congratulations!

Sirius Glass · Saturday at 3:16 PM

Congratulations! I am still using my first darkroom too.

jvo · Saturday at 7:52 PM

what a a joy- the equipment, the space, and now the first print - the "baby" is birthed!

gordrob · Saturday at 11:22 PM

Nice set up. I vaguely remember when my darkroom was that clean and organized

RalphLambrecht · Sunday at 12:18 AM

DraganB said:
Hello friends,

It's finally here. I have my first real darkroom, no more guest bathroom I don't have running water, but that's not a problem for me.

I have a question: Do I have to turn on the heating element on my Aristo Coldhead, or can I use it without it?

View attachment 395594 View attachment 395595 View attachment 395596 View attachment 395597

the redlight brings back warm memories.

hardly any color · Sunday at 1:56 PM

Beautiful setup. Congratulations!

GregY · Sunday at 9:13 PM

gordrob said:
Nice set up. I vaguely remember when my darkroom was that clean and organized

Just what was running through my mind!

chuckroast · 2025-04-07T14:36:46-0400

gordrob said:
Nice set up. I vaguely remember when my darkroom was that clean and organized

If you don't keep your darkroom clean, you'll make dirty pictures.

chuckroast · 2025-04-07T14:44:26-0400

DraganB said:
Hello friends,

It's finally here. I have my first real darkroom, no more guest bathroom I don't have running water, but that's not a problem for me.

Congrats!

DraganB said:
I have a question: Do I have to turn on the heating element on my Aristo Coldhead, or can I use it without it?

You need to plug it in 30-45min before use. That brings everything up to temp for consistency's sake.

I have recorded the light output on the easel (with a LunaPro and enlarging attachment) for every lens/height combo I normally use.

Before I start printing, I install the lens of choice, move the head to the required height, and "focus" an empty negative carrier on the easel.

I then leave the light on for 30-45 seconds and measure it at the easel. If it does not essential match what I've recorded as "full output" in the past, then head isn't fully warmed up. The reason for the on time is that - even
with a preheater - the light output on my Zone VI VC CL head does rise in the first 45 seconds or so before
settling down, so I measure it then for full output.

chuckroast · 2025-04-07T14:45:57-0400

Nicholas Lindan said:
Plug the cold-light head's heater in about 1/2 hour before you start a printing session. Expect some exposure inconsistency even with the head warmed up - it is the nature of the beast. I used to leave the enlarger on except for the times when I was loading the easel or developing the paper. I finally got rid of the cold light head and life improved - YMMV and all that.

A compensating timer (properly an "integrator") can help a great deal with print consistency when using a cold light head. They haven't been made for some years, though RH designs may still have an integrating variation of their f-Stop timer.

If you plan to do split grade printing make sure the cold-light head has a fluorescent tube suitable for variable contrast paper. I had an early head that would print at grade 4 1/2 with no filtration, with a #00 filter I could get the contrast down to grade ~2 1/2, maybe.

As to the size of the garbage can - the bigger the better. Kodak projection print scales, split grade printing, f-Stop timing and metering work more to increase the quality of what you don't throw away. The waste basket only fills more slowly if you keep your standards at the same level as you increase the quality of your tools.

What did you replace your CL head with? I have my eye on the Heiland LED head but the price ... (and now with tariffs ... the PRICE

Nicholas Lindan · 2025-04-07T15:01:52-0400

chuckroast said:
What did you replace your CL head with? I have my eye on the Heiland LED head but the price ... (and now with tariffs ... the PRICE

Plain-ole Beseler condenser head, using a PH212 bulb.

GregY · 2025-04-07T15:08:36-0400

chuckroast said:
What did you replace your CL head with? I have my eye on the Heiland LED head but the price ... (and now with tariffs ... the PRICE

I also have a Beseler 45MXT....i bought it used with a similar cold light head.... after using it a while i swapped it out for a Zone VI VC head with timer. Brand new from Calumet and not cheap at the time.... it continues to work like a charm.
Arista also made a VC head....

GregY · 2025-04-07T16:02:21-0400

chuckroast said:
If you don't keep your darkroom clean, you'll make dirty pictures.

CR..... clean....and organized are often two different. It's many years since my dark room was quite as minimally appointed as the charming DraganB's den....

My first real darkroom

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