Author Topic: Reasonable Price for a Darkroom (Read 3880 times)

original_ann · « **on:** November 04, 2013, 10:21:32 PM »

I received a call this weekend from a Photographer friend who told me about one of his friends who is looking to sell his Omega D2 4x5 enlarger along with timer, lens(es), neg carriers, grain scope, easels, trays and all the wet-side accoutrements. Can't remember whether this included the safelight. But $350 for everything. I'm not sure if I'd spend as much time in a darkroom as I would have years ago, but I've always been interested in considering if a fair enough deal came along. So... anyone know how reasonable or 'overpriced' this is? I tried to negotiate it down and they were firm about the price. All stuff in great condition.

LT · « **Reply #1 on:** November 04, 2013, 10:22:54 PM »

buy it, now. it's a good deal. provided it all works

... but only if you let me come round and use it occasionally? I'm about to lose my DR for a while

I dont think the trip to the states would be too arduous for a little light printing

Francois · « **Reply #2 on:** November 04, 2013, 10:36:17 PM »

The price on these things varies a lot from region to region, especially the enlargers.

Info Red · « **Reply #3 on:** November 04, 2013, 10:45:06 PM »

Do you know anyone in the photo department of the local college/university/jr. college? Seems as though a lot of former darkroom owners are donating their gear to various schools as they switch to digital, so you might see if any of the donations will remain unused in the schools. I know where I teach there have been probably 5 to 10 enlargers donated in recent years, and the school has no more room for them, so they have been passed along to some of our film students. Sometimes they're just junk or parts material, but sometimes a good one comes along. Same thing goes for Craigslist - at least in our region.

Mark

Verian · « **Reply #4 on:** November 04, 2013, 10:53:44 PM »

Having just got my own Darkroom equipment together I think a lot of the appeal lies in the fact that what you are looking at is complete and ready to go. I paid £175 for my enlarger with 2 lenses, carriers, some filters and other small bits and pieces. All the other things I needed and didn't already have probably cost me another £150, (tray warmer was a bit of an expensive luxury I guess). I could have got pretty much the same set up for the same money but an initial outlay of £325 seemed a lot, so I did it piece by piece, but I could have saved myself a lot of effort to be honest.

For me, probably the most important thing is wether the enlarger suits your needs or not, if it does then everything else is a bit of a bonus to my mind. $350 is about £220, seems reasonable to me.

original_ann · « **Reply #5 on:** November 05, 2013, 12:48:13 AM »

Thank you for the feedback. I'm leaning toward doing it because it will be somewhat turnkey or plug'n'play (yikes, did I just say that?). My basement has a low ceiling. I have no idea if it's dealbreaker-low, since I don't know what that threshold is. How much clearance am I going to require?

MitzyG · « **Reply #6 on:** November 05, 2013, 03:41:46 AM »

I basically just made a deal for about the same stuff. Beseler 4x5 enlarger, all peripherals, timer, safelight, chemicals, trays, etc. for $175
My local photography store is (I think, and more's the pity, if I am right) cutting way back due to the owner retiring and his wife running things now and they had 3 enlarger they are just trying to unload, apparently. I bought the biggest, most versatile one with the most extras. I was prepared to go up to $250 so I guess I would go for it, if I had that kind of money.
Edited to say - Oh, I think the Omega is a better machine than the Beseler, so if you will use it, go for it.

KevinAllan · « **Reply #7 on:** November 05, 2013, 07:40:46 AM »

I've received all my darkroom kit for free, apart from two negative carriers. But I live in a fairly densely populated area where there are enough opportunities to go and collect the gear, which may not be the case for you.

Francois · « **Reply #8 on:** November 05, 2013, 02:46:20 PM »

Quote from: original_ann on November 05, 2013, 12:48:13 AM

My basement has a low ceiling. I have no idea if it's dealbreaker-low, since I don't know what that threshold is. How much clearance am I going to require?

Are the ceilings finished in your basement?
I'm asking because I saw a picture somewhere where the guy was actually rising the head in between the floor joists. And if the ceiling is too low, you can always lower the table! Cutting four legs is not that hard.

As for the price, it always something to negotiate. Yes, you do have a turnkey setup which is nice. But on the other hand, the price might be a bit high. Check on kijiji or craigslist for a similar setup and print it out. Often when the people see how long it's been sitting there and the price asked, they will lower their price.

It's a good thing if you know where the parts come from so you can make sure it's not damaged by reckless users.

original_ann · « **Reply #9 on:** November 06, 2013, 01:00:15 AM »

I have a drop ceiling, Francois - but it's a basement and I have no qualms abour 'ripping out' a hole. But still... realistically, how much height from the base does one need, I wonder. I want to build a countertop so it won't have adjustable legs, so to speak. Do I have to build something adjustable? I'm no carpenter

And thanks everyone about encouraging looking around. I have been keeping my eyes open casually for years. Prices are typically high in my area, but of all things, there is a posting out on Craigslist that has added another contender for my potential consideration: An Omega D5-XL with lenses, filters, neg carriers and timer for $100. These things usually go really quickly, but I sent an inquiry.

So back to reality...

Francois · « **Reply #10 on:** November 06, 2013, 03:31:21 PM »

When I rise my DII to the max, it takes 56 inches between the bottom of the baseboard and the top of the lamphouse.

The D5-XL is a very superior model. The XL stands for Extra Long Column.

Here is some information about the Omegas
http://www.classic-enlargers.com/

http://www.khbphotografix.com/omega/

original_ann · « **Reply #11 on:** November 07, 2013, 01:02:20 AM »

Oh wow, Francois... I've got to stop procrastinating measuring the height of my basement's ceiling. I think I'm afraid of what I'm going to discover.

Francois · « **Reply #12 on:** November 07, 2013, 01:01:42 PM »

You might have to go for the low table approach

original_ann · « **Reply #13 on:** November 08, 2013, 11:26:01 PM »

or the sit-cross-legged-on-the-floor approach? I would break my back or my knees either way! haha

)

Francois · « **Reply #14 on:** November 09, 2013, 02:07:38 PM »

You could get one of those little step stools as a chair

One think I like when working in a room with a low ceiling is having a low chair on wheels. I have one in the storage room under the stairs (about a 4' ceiling) and it makes going from one place to the other very easy.

If you don't plan on pushing the head to the top of the column, you can get away with about 44 inches of column height. When it's up, the lighthouse goes much higher than the column.

Jack Johnson · « **Reply #15 on:** November 09, 2013, 04:48:40 PM »

I'm still very slowly cobbling together my darkroom. Our current rental has a bathroom / laundry room with a nearly perfect gap between the sink and the shower stall, and my father-in-law made a very nice table to fit out of scrap wood (he's handy that way), on casters so I can move it around. I had picked up an Omega B-66 for a song on Craigslist (enlargers come up around here for maybe $300 every month, $100 every quarter, nearly free yearly) and it had everything but the neg carriers and a MF lensboard.

I picked up a MF lensboard and plan on using my Great Wall lens for that. I was misinformed about C-700 neg carriers being backwards-compatible, so I bought one 35mm neg carrier that doesn't fit back in July, and one that does fit arrived Thursday. Red LED Christmas lights for safelights (already tested), some tray space on top of the washer and dryer, not enough room in the sink, but enough room that I can mess with "fiddly little negatives" (Leon's term that I love). And for a blue moon I've been wanting to try two vertical 6x9 diptych contact prints as a 4x6 landscape. With any luck, today or Sunday should be the day.

But, the gist is the slower you go the cheaper it is. Stuff will trickle in via Craigslist or evilBay, you'll see things at the store and think about it in a fresh context, people will hear about it and give you things (I have two darkroom timers now), and it just slowly congeals. More than once I thought too long about buying something and two or three weeks later one nearly fell into my lap.

For me, the whole issue around neg carriers seemed to be the biggest deal with a used enlarger. Some brands have really good interchangeability across the ages, some less so, some (like the Omega) very good across just a subset of the models.

I ended up using the same online references as Francois when I finally got my neg carrier act together.

Best of luck!

-Jack

P.S.
On a sidenote, I'm pretty darned sure that I used a B-66 in college. I was fiddling with it when I was setting it up, but reading some manual I had pulled up on my phone, and my hands went to the right knobs without looking and it stumped me. I squinted and tried a couple of things and either it was some other enlarger with the same layout or it was a B-66. Either way, felt like an old friend. I can almost smell the chemistry. I was never great at it, but the darkroom always felt like the womb.

Francois · « **Reply #16 on:** November 09, 2013, 08:55:14 PM »

That's one of the things I love about well designed stuff: you barely need instructions to operate it and everything is very intuitive.

Over the years, I've been able to pick up so much stuff at yard sales, church bazaars, antique stores, flea markets, dollar stores and such that it's pretty unbelievable. And most of it for fairly cheap.

Take developing trays for example. You can easily get away with some plastic containers from the Dollar store (think tupperware) and some hot glue to make the ridges on the bottom to prevent prints from sticking down. My digital thermometer came from the supermarket's cookware section (it's precise to 1/10° and has instant readout). Measuring cups are from the dollar store again. I store some chemicals in wine boxes with the plastic bag inside. Others are in rectangular Ocean Spray bottles. I use the syringe that came with an ink refill kit to measure out HC-110 directly from concentrate. The funnel is also a dollar store find, so is the print squeegee and the cookie tin I use as a squeegee board (screwed to the wall with four screws) and the digital timers. My film drying cupboard was from playwood with recycled electrical components and an old microwave stainless grill to hook the weighted film pins. For a long time, I used regular clothespins with a small nail in them to keep hold of the film. The bottom one was weighted down with a weight from a fishing kit. I keep photo-flo pre-diluted in distilled water inside an old windex spray bottle.

And that's not even counting the real photo gear I got left right and center. Even today, I say at an antiques shop an Omega enlarger timer in what appears to be near mint condition. I haven't asked for the price but I'm sure it's pretty low.

And with my donated DII, there was an old Time-o-Lite that was an electrocution hazard, very dirty with a badly oxidized front plate. Some Naval Jelly, a smooth polishing stone, a three wire cord, a bit of soldering and a few hours later, I have a perfectly working timer!

It's often worth putting a bit of elbow grease to fix the old stuff if you can get it for very cheap.

Adam Doe · « **Reply #17 on:** November 10, 2013, 03:11:58 PM »

Francois, any chance of you posting a snap of that film drying cupboard? It's something I'be been considering trying to build.

Francois · « **Reply #18 on:** November 10, 2013, 10:23:31 PM »

Film drying cabinet by Flaver-D, on Flickr

It's a simple thing really. It's a box with a grille at the top to hold the clips and a cookie pan held by springs at the bottom. The cookie pan acts as a drip pan to prevent electrical problems as underneath is a pair of ceramic lamp sockets and two 100 watt lightbulbs that act as a heater. A switch is on the side wall. It dries the film by simply rising the air temperature to increase it's capacity to absorb moisture. It dries film in around 20 minutes. If I wanted to go over the top, I could have used a small space heater of better yet a dehumidifier... but the two bulbs work just fine.

mcduff · « **Reply #19 on:** November 10, 2013, 10:41:47 PM »

Thanks for the pics Francois. I have this goofy clear plastic thing that is too narrow and about half a foot too short for 36 exposure film. The wet negs always touch the sides which bugs me. I might make one like this myself.

Adam Doe · « **Reply #20 on:** November 11, 2013, 02:03:49 PM »

Thanks for posting the pic of the drying cabinet Francois. Good inspiration. Now I need to figure out which end of a hammer is which.

Francois · « **Reply #21 on:** November 11, 2013, 02:30:03 PM »

I built this because it was cheaper but you can always look at what the kit furniture giants have to offer in terms of closets/wardrobe/broom closet cabinets

original_ann · « **Reply #22 on:** November 12, 2013, 12:19:33 AM »

That drying cabinet is really great, Francois! You're full of great ideas!

Francois · « **Reply #23 on:** November 12, 2013, 04:41:49 PM »

Thanks Ann.

If you get the D2, you'll need to re-align it. And if it moves roughly, there is a solution too.
I contacted William Schneider at Ohio University who put up a guide on how to replace the wheels on the carriage by ball bearings and how to align the enlarger.
It's a pretty neat resource
http://www.ohio.edu/people/schneidw/vico222/omega_enlarger_bearings.html