Hi to you all

Irv_b

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Mar 3, 2019
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My name is Irvine and I'm a 5x4 shooter
I have been hooked on film shooting exclusively for the past 8 or so years, after starting photography with digital camera but soon got bored with editing hundreds of shot from one session. I have a few to many 35mm, a couple of medium format and a Linhof 5x4. I also have a wooden half plate camera as I am getting into wet plate photography. Although I have a range of cameras I'm not into the technical aspect of photography I love the visualisation then taking of the shot and the anticipation when developing. I have construction a bit of a darkroom in my loft and should spend more time up there printing than what I actually do, so I need a shove to get back up there more often
I hope I can give as much as I can get from you guys on here as I've already had a look around and enjoyed the range of posted pictures
 
Hello Irvine and welcome to the forum.
I am interested to hear more about your loft darkroom. My computer room is up there and my tiny darkroom occupies the gable end wall with a dam central heating boiler right in the middle so I struggle for enlarger head room.

Curious to know if you have water up there or are you just using buckets of water like I do. Some snaps would be grate to see as well :)
 
Thanks Ian
My darkroom is also up against the gable end of the loft and I have to enter through the loft hatch by a ladder as we haven't actually renovated the loft as such.
Ah yes the water issue :) Although I am a Plumber by trade I haven't modified the water tanks to give me easy access to a supply, I also carry water up in a bucket at the start of a session. I'll get a couple of pics at the weekend.
 
Welcome Irvine. Well done.
I once had a darkroom in the roof space. It was so low that the enlarger had to be mounted at about forty-five degrees to fit and I needed a magnetic easel. Happy days, eh!
One of those plastic jerry cans that campers use is much easier than a bucket. It won't spill if you knock it and it has a tap.
More importantly, do you have some images? We like images.
 
Welcome Irvine. I've had darkrooms without water in the past and it's relatively easy if you have access to running water nearby, I wouldn't want to be carry water up a loft ladder although the jerry cans David mentions would be ideal. There's also the issue of disposing of chemistry, cleaning dishes, tanks etc. These days I wouldn't be without a running water supply in my darkroom.

Ian
 
In practice, apart from washing fibre papers, relatively little water is needed in a darkroom. I discovered that Edwin Smith had no piped supply in his darkroom, which encouraged me greatly.
I suppose that in Irvine's situation, two jerry-cans, one for clean and one for waste, would be useful. One small advantage of the jerry-can method is that if you keep the clean one topped up, it will lose a good deal of the dissolved gas that mains pressure forces in and you will get fewer bubbles on the film. It's a good idea to filter the water.
In Irvine's case, I suspect that the ladder and the narrow hatch are the major obstacles, although plumbing will have given him a special expertise in navigating small spaces.
 
Welcome Irvine.
I have a loft darkroom, and I use a couple of plastic water carriers. One for fresh, and one for contaminated. The prints go in a tray until I take them to a washer. Easy enough, and less to fail. YMMV.
 
Sorry about the delay guys been a busy weekend here are some pictures I have taken sorry about the line going across one of them it happen intermittently on my scanner - any suggestions to stop it would be welcome ., currenty I spend ages trying to get rid of it in lightroom
 

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Is there any dust on the calibration part of the scanner bed?
 
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