What's new
Medium Format Forum

Register a free account now!

If you are registered, you get access to the members only section, can participate in the buy & sell second hand forum and last but not least you can reserve your preferred username before someone else takes it.

Darkroom equipment

M

macmx

Member
I hope this is the correct place to post this in the forum. It did not seem to fit anywhere else.

I am expanding my darkroom, and I want to be able to make larger prints (up to 40x50 cm). I am having a particularly hard time finding an easel, developing trays, tongs, squeegee and drying rack (maybe they should be suspended for drying) for this size of prints.

Can anyone help me find a online source where I can order these things, which also ships to Denmark? Can someone enlighten of any particular care I should take when printing these sizes like handling between processes or pressing afterwards?

Any help or comments are much appreciated! Thanks.

Mc
 
Mc,
your size requirements don't seem extra ordinary to me. For prints that size, I use the developing tray side on and roll the print through the developer. For bigger sizes, I've used decorator's paint troughs which are available in several sizes.

For the easel, use the enlarger base board with weights on the corners, or steel rules to keep the edges flat. For very big sizes, turn the enlarger head 90 degrees and pin the paper to a wall. Print as big as you want that way.
 
I have bought two metal rulers for exactly that purpose. Only problem is that once the rulers have been placed on the paper, it is hard to move to paper for small crop/angle adjustments. I usually crop the photograph by adjusting the easel with the aperture fully open and no filter, so I can see the images properly. Then turn of the enlarger, open the easel, put in the paper and then expose.

Also, it is difficult to do borders properly. It might be futile, but I enjoy having even, symmetric, white borders around my printed images. Some of them get framed without passepartout as well, sometimes incorporating the black borders of the negative.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top