Topic: Darkroom Tents

[Miles]

No that No. 2 son is offski to Keele later this month, I can start to plan my first darkroom.  I'll have the loft bedroom and before I go all out with essentially "building" work I was wondering if anyone had any experience with Darkroom Tents ?

Nova seem to be the only people ...

http://www.novadarkroom.com/cat/71/Nova_Tents_&_Blackout.html

Not cheap but, If I find that I don't use it as much as I think I will, or I'm totally crap at it it will be less embarresing than taking down a stud wall 

[mickld]

Seems expensive. I can imagine this being valuable if you needed a mobile darkroom, but expensive for testing out whether or not you like playing in the darkroom.

Can you maybe drape a couple of curtains, even temporarily, in the space you would plan to pitch the tent? I actually looked at these some time ago when I was planning on creating a darkroom, but it turned out to be very easy to darken the garage sufficiently (at night, at least). But I'm just dipping my toe in the fixer at the moment too.

If you are taking over a bedroom then water is a bigger issue than light, I suspect. I was lucky enough to exploit existing plumbing that the previous occupants had installed to run a washing machine.

[Mike (happyforest)]

Haven't used one myself but did read that Roger and Frances Hicks have used one with good reports.

http://www.rogerandfrances.com/subscription/darkroom.html

I have also wondered if the grow tents used by hydroponic gardeners would be any good.

http://www.growell.co.uk/extra-large-xl-budbox-grow-tent.html

The limited headroom (2 metres may be a problem.)

The also make blackout sheeting

http://www.growell.co.uk/total-blackout-reflective-sheeting.html

Not sure how robust this material is if you were to use it as a temporary black out.

Mike

[Francois]

I would be tempted to try and cut costs by DIY.
2 refrigerator boxes taped together...
Or a bunch of PVC pipes used to make a frame and some black fabric sewn around it...
Sealing windows with corrugated cardboard and tape...
Using single tray processing (which I do even with a big darkroom)...

[Diane Peterson]

refrigerator boxes sound way cool!

[Miles]

Ok, cheers.  The only window in the loft is a small velux already fitted with a blackout blind so maybe I'll look at blackout material for the light coming up the stairs instead.  Laura's good with a sewing machine 

Cheers.

[CarlRadford]

Grow Tents and grow Lights have been widely used within the wet plate collodion community for those wanting a portable-ish darkroom instead of pay serious money for a proper dark box.  The only issue is that you need to seal the opening that are in place to allow electricity and pipes etc into the tent.  Given that you are likely to be using one indoors and can control the light outside of the tent I can see no reason for not trying out one of the bigger models.

[Francois]

There's also the possibility to make one entirely out of black duct tape...
Then again... maybe not

[Miles]

My dad would do that 

[Karl]

A rise in darkroom orientated threads seems like a good thing to me. It seems a costly way of doing it but if you have the dough then why not (or you could buy some great equipment instead). Without knowing your set up I can only share what I'm up to - using the study as a temporary darkroom where I can print and develop. The main issue is the glass door leading to the garden, plus it's a shared space for working from home, PC use, etc. I've been squirrelling away equipment via ebay for a few years so I've got the kit. Black out will be double-folded black cloth sewn into panels. I might insert cardboard in to the centre of the panels and sew around that. Then I'll tape them around the frame of the glass door. Gaffer or masking tape around the door frame and a draught excluder (old scarf) on the floor. I'll have to carry prints to the bathroom for washing.

I'm nearly there. I reckon I'll have a functioning space to try out by early  next week as long as the http://www.ag-photographic.co.uk/ chemical delivery arrives!

[Francois]

I discovered a trick totally out of laziness (yes, it happens to me too ).
I process everything in one tray. Pour in the developer... pour back in the bottle, pour in the stop bath...pour back in the bottle... and so on.
At the rinsing stage, I just put the tray with the print in it to rinse in the kitchen sink I have in the darkroom. It washes my tray and the paper at the same time... and since RC paper takes only 2 minutes to wash, I can use that time to make my mind about what I should change. I then squeegee the print dry and use the hairdryer if I want a dry print really fast...