I’ve finally decided to take the next logical (is there anything logical about this?!) step in the pursuit of black and white film photography and start doing wet process contacts and prints. This is, of course, happening on a budget, so I’m trying to do it all as inexpensively as possible, lest it take 6 months to get to where I can make a print.

What are the bare minimums needed to do this? I’ll address some of these in separate posts later, but for now, The List:

1. A darkroom. My office/den room is the choice here. Yes, blacking out our bathroom would be easy (I already load film into developing tanks there using just a bedsheet to cover the door) but it’s a cramped temporary space and the only bathroom we have. No problem for the 2 minutes needed to load film. Big problem for printing.
2. Safelight. I’ve seen a 635nm standard-E26-fitting red LED bulb on SuperBrightLEDs.com which is supposedly quite safe for VC papers and is cheaper than the hordes of old school safelights on the ‘bay.
3. An enlarger. I barely missed a Bogen 22A Special in Goodwill a few months ago, but as Kelli pointed out, “perhaps something else is meant to come along”. She was right of course and I was able to find a Beseler 23C-II via Ebay. The Bogen, while compact and lightweight, would have limited me to 6x6cm medium format (assuming a holder could even be found for that); I have one camera already that does 6x9cm on 120 film. The 23C-II will enlarge from 6×9 and make prints larger than anything I plan to make from all the formats I shoot or plan to. It’s exactly the right amount of enlarger for my needs.
4. Lenses and holders for the formats I need to enlarge. I have the 50mm I need for 35mm printing, and can find others easily. Holders are also readily available (another reason to opt for the 23C series) and at a pinch can be fabricated using stiff black matboard and gaffers tape for this enlarger.
5. Timer for the enlarger. I’ll probably try to pick a very basic one up cheaply to get started, but I’m looking at building a custom f-stop timer using an Arduino, which won’t cost much more than the cheapest available timers on Ebay and will be nearly infinitely expandable to fit my specific needs. I can write software and wield a soldering iron, I don’t need to spend more on a used GraLab 300 than I’d spend on making a truly flexible timer.
6. Grain focuser. I’m quite sure my 10x loupe isn’t the tool for this job. But I’ll make do for now while I’m just practicing.
7. Multigrade Filters. Ilford is pretty much the only game in town here. The Beseler needs either 6×6 size for the lamphead filter drawer, or under-the-lens types. The 6×6 filters aren’t too expensive brand new, and are my preferred choice. I can get started without these if I need to.
8. Paper, chemicals and storage. I’ll start cheap and simple (8×10 variable contrast RC paper) while I get a handle on this. Dektol for the developer. I have all the other chemicals I need already.
9. Trays. I figure a set of 3 11×14 sized trays will serve me well here. Not expensive new. My holding/wash tray can be anything big enough to hold the prints and sturdy enough to carry to the bathroom with water in it. Bigger can wait for a while.
10. Contact printing setup, for contact sheets. This is easy, I’ll stick a sheet of paper on the enlarger baseboard, put the sleeved negs on top, put a piece of glass from a cheap 11×14 frame on top of that, weight down the edges, and have at it.
11. Easel. I can initially get away without, or make a mask using matboard cut to the sizes I need. Eventually I’ll want suitable sized easels though.
12. Dodge and burn tools. I have all I need to make these already.
13. Spotting ink and brushes. A must have for later, but for getting started I can survive without.
14. Patience. Lots of it. I don’t expect to make fine prints within an hour of setting this all up. I’m learning a craft and that takes time. My initial “fine prints” may well be scanned from work prints, worked up digitally and sent for print.

More to follow on some of these.