¶ Welcome to Darkhain
Curator: Jascha (@nogod:matrix.org)
Matrix-Chat: #darkhain:x-hain.de (login required)
Darkhain is xHain's own analogue photolab. We have everything available for basic (and not so basic) black and white film development and printing.
This wiki is kind of under construction. Be aware of inconsistencies and incompletness!
¶ General Information
¶ How can I use the darkhain?
Before you dive heads first into our photolab, please ask for an introduction. Even with prior darkroom experience it would be excellent to be familiarized with the equipment and the space itself. Once familiarized darkhain is at your disposal.
Best way to get an introduction is to use the darkhain Matrix chat to agree on a date and time with somebody who is willing and available.
¶ When can I use the darkhain?
There are no scheduled times for darkroom usage. You can use it whenever it is free. Usually we post our plans to use the lab in the darkhain chatroom to allow for coordination with the other photo geeks. That way it is easy to avoid double occupation and disturbance of work flow.
Although not restricted, open Mondays are probably not the best time to work on your projects due to increased traffic at xHain. The risk of somebody entering the dark room and flooding it with light is quite high due to frequent xHain introductions.
¶ Do I have to bring my own consumables/chemicals?
No, you don't. Darkhain is equipped with chemicals for both film and paper development. There even is a basic stock of various photographic papers for printing as well.
If you have your own preferences regarding chemicals and/or specialized processes in mind, you can bring your own chemicals and papers, of course. In this case, please make yourself familiar with the best practices and regulations of chemical disposal as well as safe handling.
¶ How much does it cost to use darkhain?
The usage of the space itself is free.
If you bring your own consumables that is fine and you would not have to pay anything, although contributions that allow us to keep the equipment in working condition are highly welcome.
To cover for the costs of consumed materials we are asking for a fee depending on what and how much you do. Detailed pricing can be found in the table.
Payments can be done by cash into the piggy bank inside darkhain or by transfer from the Strichliste.
¶ Code of Conduct
This darkroom is a community project. It depends on all of us to keep it in shape and functional. Developing film and making prints takes a lot of time, effort and eventually money. To respect that, kindly keep the following things in mind:
- Keep the darkroom tidy. Remove litter and wipe up spilled liquids. Please keep in mind that some chemicals are very corrosive and shouyld be kept only in their designated containers and/or trays. Avoid spilling chemicals onto photo papers and films.
- Keep yourself tidy. Avoid touching equipment, papers, etc. with dirty and/or contaminated hands. A tiny mount of chemicals at the wrong spot can cause great damage.
- Handle all the equipment with care. If something is moving hard, it is probably not right.
- Please report any damage you find or do. Only if problems are known, they can be fixed. It is never about playing the blame-game, but always about keeping the space enjoyable.
- If an item has a place, please put it there after use.
- Keep the wet stuff (tanks, trays, etc.) as far as possible from the dry stuff (finished prints, papers, etc.) to avoid damage.
- Avoid handling negatives and prints made by fellow enthusiasts as much as possible. If you must touch or move somebody else's work, please do so with utmost care. Damage is easily done and hard to rectify.
¶ Equipment
¶ Photographic Enlargers
¶ Durst M605
¶ Description
- Suitable for 35mm Film up to 6x6cm negatives
- Technically color printing is possible with this enlarger. Currently we neither have the tools (like color measurement) nor the chemicals (or papers) avalable in the space and there are no actual plans to expand the darkroom for color printing.
- Unless you need the larger format, using the Durst M605 is highly recommended.
¶ Usage
Below you can find a short guide on how to use the enlarger. By no means this an exhaustive instruction. Please see also manuals and other resources for proper usage.
- Make sure the three filter wheels on top read "Zero"
- Set the slider on the right side of the housing to the format you need (135 or 120 respectively).
- Make sure the slit for that slider is covered tightly by gaffa tape as it is an impressive lightleak.
- Put your negative in the carrier. Pulling on the chrome tab kicks it out a little, making it easier to grab.
Yes, there is a crack in the glass, but please do not try to replace it, that's non-newton-glass which is somewhat harder to source. The negative carrier allows to mask the negative to prevent light spilling around the edges. - Make sure the enlarger is far enough from the wall so the zoom-crank doesn't hit it.
- Place your easel of choice onto the base plate
- With the enlarger switched on, your photograph should be projected onto the easel. Now youy can choose your desired framing and enlargment, matching your chosen paper. Move the enlarger head up for increased enlargement and vice versa.
- Focus your picture on the easel plane with the grain magnifier. It is recommended to do this with the lens at its widest aperture to allow for maximum focus controll.
Below some links for deep diving:
- Manual: M605 Operating Manual (jollinger.com)
- Getting started:
¶ Durst Laborator 138s
¶ Description
- Suitable for 6x6 up to 5x7" negatives
- The enlarger needs an external power supply that is sometimes used somewhere else at xHain. But all in all the enlarger is ready to use.
¶ Resources
¶ Film Development
¶ Processes
With darkhain's equipment and chemicals we are limited to black&white development only.
Please note that some films like Ilford XP2 (ilfordphoto.com) are sold as B&W, but require C-41 development (noted on the package). The C-41 process (Wikipedia) is a color process and cannot be developed at the space. You are free to bring your own chemicals, of course.
¶ Sizes
Most common film sizes can be easily developed with daylight tanks. Sheet film might need special procedures, depending on size. Below some information for film that can be processed at darkhain:
- 120 roll film (Wikipedia)
- 135 cartridge, normal 35mm (Wikipedia)
- 4x5" sheet film (Wikipedia)
- larger sheet film up to 40x60cm (open tray development only)
Our tanks are either made by Jobo (homepage) or by Paterson (homepage). Both tank designs are easy to work with, differing only slightly in handling.
¶ Chemicals
There are literally tons of chemicals for film development and as many quasi-religious arguments about them. Feel free to go down that rabbit hole as deep as you wish, there is a lot to discover. As darkhain is limited in space and resource, our chosen chemicals have proven to be reliable, fool-proof and cost effective with a long shelf life. They are suitable for beginners and experienced users alike.
Here are some maker's information:
If you need information for specific film-developer-combo, check out the Massive Dev Chart on digitaltruth.com.
¶ Usage
This should give a fairly quick run down of how to develop your own film.
- Prepare your chemicals. This step is highly dependant on the chemicals you use. It may involve mixing, diluting, temperature adjustment, etc. If you are going to use our Rodinal for development you have to mix up the correct amount beforehand as this a one shot developer, which will be discarded after use. Regarding the fixer it depends wether there is a working batch avaliable or not. For temperature adjustment you can prepare a water bath using a deep plastic tray.
- Take your film out of the camera. Unless you are sure that rewinding of the film was successful, you should do this in absolute darkness. For this, usage of a film changing bag (as described on lensnotes.com) is strongly recommended.
- Transfer your film from canister or spool (depends on your type of film) onto the spool of a day light development tank. Load everything into the tank and close the lid. All this has to done in absolute darkness. Please check Azriel Knight - How to Load Film Into a Paterson Developing Tank (youtube) for a nice demonstration.
- Fill your chemicals to the development tank and develop according to your chosen/given procedure. Again, times for film-developer combinations can be found on digitaltruth.com.
- Fix your film with fixer after development. Fixer can be used several times, it does not have to necessarily be disposed. Attention: fixer contains loads of silver that is harmful to aquatic organisms and water in general. Do not pour down the drain. There is a collecting container that will be properly disposed of from time to time.
- After washing you film it can be removed from the tank and hanged for drying.
There is a nice video of the whole process and some tools involved here: ILFORD - Processing Black&White Film (youtube)
And of course you can contact the darkhain community in the chat for assistance, demonstrations, etc.
¶ Scanning CanoScan 5600F
The scanner is stored in Darkhain, software is installed on the Lobby-PC.
-Put the scanner on the table and connect it to power and PC (Nothing fancy, just USB)
-Start "MP Navigator EX"
-Open the scanner and remove the Document cover (white clip-in thing on the lid)
-Negative holder is inside the scanner, numbers on your film should have the same orientation as the "R"on the negative holder.
-In the software: Specify the kind of film you have and the resolution you would like.
-"Preferences"Tab allows you to specify a folder the resulting scans should be saved to
-Close the lid, hit scan, repeat as necessary.
¶ Printing
A basic selection of papers by Ilford and Foma is provided.
Our equipment allows printing up to 40x60cm, limited by our largest developing tray.
¶ Processes
Darkhain is equipped for basic black&white paper development. If you fancy special papers or treatments like toning, please bring your own supplies.
If you are new to the game, check out this video: ILFORD - Making your first darkroom print (youtube).
¶ Papers
Only ever open up the packages in redlight and make sure they are put away before opening the door or turning on white light.
We have different kinds of papers. Fixed contrast, and Multigrade.
Most Papers we have are "PE-Papers" meaning, plastic, and drying flat.
There are also "Baryt" Papers, which are generally more archival and in higher esteeem for gallery-exhibitions, but need a press to dry, otherwise they'll crumple up.
¶ Fixed contrast
Will read something like "Soft", "Medium" or "Hard" on the package and that's the contrast you get. If you have no idea yet, we recommend starting with a medium contrast paper.
¶ Multigrade
We have multigrade papers by Foma. We also have several other brands of paper whose names seem to suggest they are variable. We do have filters that work with the Foma papers, not sure about the others. You can use the colour head to also set the required contrast, using the yellow channel for reducing it, and the magenta channel for increasing it. The amount will depend on the paper being used and how it responds, so check its user manual.
¶ Filters for Multigrade Papers.
There is a black box with mounted filters that, in combination with the multigrade papers will produce up to seven different contrast gradients from "Extra Soft" to "Super-Hard".
Please note that using these, you will also need to adjust your exposure times accordingly.