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I saved $250 by making my own DIY contrast filter holder for the Omega B66 enlarger

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Have you ever had a repeated inconvenience that finally makes you say to yourself “okay, I’m done with this garbage”? Well, that’s the exact feeling I had with using contrast filters on my enlarger. Anytime I wanted to use a contrast filter, I needed to use tape to hold it in place while I was printing.

The design of some Omega enlargers requires a removable “cradle” that holds the filters underneath the lens. After a bit of searching online, I found that B&H Photo sells a replacement filter holder for B series enlargers for the low low price of $269. Even used, these things are expensive. eBay had a few listed that were selling for about $79. Unwilling to part with my hard-earned cash for such a frivolous purchase I was left with the only other option- to build one myself.

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This pin-hole camera is its own darkroom and lets you develop film on the go

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The Pinsta Instant Camera is an interesting new pinhole camera that lets you develop and even enlarge prints using the camera as its own darkroom.

The project is currently on Kickstarter and was created by Oliver New, who believes that analogue photography is for everyone. He grew up watching his dad developing his photographs in their darkroom and wanted to share that magic with others in this digital age.

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If you want to learn the original art of negative retouching, this book from 1908 will teach you how

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We all assume that Photoshop and the art of retouching is a fairly new phenomenon. When you think of image retouching you automatically think of celebrities made to look taller and slimmer, of blemish removal to the point of obliterating skin texture, and head swapping those pesky people that always blink in group portraits. But did you know that image retouching has been around nearly as long as photography, it was just done in a different way. This fascinating book (now in the public domain), tells you exactly how to get started if you want to retouch your images directly onto the negative.

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Stuck for space and want to develop film? Ilford has announced new pop-up darkroom tent

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Have you ever wanted to try your hand at traditional film developing but lacked a space to set up a darkroom? Well, your problems are now over as Ilford Photo has just announced three interesting new products, including a portable pop-up darkroom tent.

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Ilford’s Darkroom Guide teaches you all you need to know about developing your own film

Getting started with something completely new can be overwhelming, and film developing is no exception. Film and paper manufacturer Ilford has published a series of videos that will help you to get started. From loading film to producing your very first print, this series will teach you all the basic darkroom techniques that you need to know.

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How to modify an Ikea clock to turn it into a red light darkroom timer

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Although the darkroom isn’t quite as common as it once was, it seems to be gaining a resurgence of late. Every day I see people buying and selling darkroom equipment in Facebook groups and various online classifies. But a lot of the older electronics kit just doesn’t work anymore, and repairing it isn’t always easy, or even possible.

But, now we have plenty of other options to replace some of those electronic items, even if they need to be modified. Ikea’s Klockis, for example, is potentially an ideal little darkroom timer, but it needs modifications in order to make it safe. In this video, photographer Markus Hofstätter shows us how he modified his Klockis for use in the darkroom.

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This photographer put a portable wet plate darkroom on a tricycle

In the digital era, I always find it impressive when I see photographers who still use wet plate collodion process. And it’s especially impressive to see all the fun projects and DIY stuff they make. Photographer Michaël Tirat has built his own DIY portable wet plate darkroom and he put it on a tricycle. It contains everything he needs so he can cycle around Bordeaux, France with it, take photos and develop them on the spot. We’ve chatted with Michaël a bit about his interesting project. He kindly shared some details about his build, the challenges he faced, as well as some photos.

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Feel old yet? This Stranger Things fan didn’t know what a darkroom was

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For most of us who own cameras, we’ve at least heard of a darkroom, even if you’ve never been used one or been inside one. It’s been a part of photography for as long as photography has existed, and there are many still around today, despite the world going digital. A lot of people still shoot film, and there are plenty of darkrooms around the world you can hire, even if you don’t have your own.

One appears in Stranger Things quite frequently, and it’s somewhere we often see Jonathan go to develop his photos and make prints. One viewer, though, seems pretty confused as to what the hell this “red room” is. This viewer took to StackExchange to ask the question. Poor Ansel would be turning in his grave.

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Maya is “the only darkroom timer you’ll ever need”

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One of the biggest issues in the darkroom is keeping track of time. Whether it’s for developing your rolls of film or exposing negatives onto paper in the enlarger, there’s just very little out there these days to assist with that, and using a phone can be tricky, especially if you’ve got wet chemicals on your hands.

But it seems there’s a new, modern solution to this particular problem; Maya. Billing itself as “The only darkroom timer you’ll ever need”, it has countdown timers, f-stop adjustments, a test strip mode, room light control (what?!?), and it’s modular so you can add more features to it in the future.

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How to develop your own black and white film from start to finish

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As popular as film has become, a lot of people still mention the cost of shooting film being quite high. And we’re not talking about the price of gear, because that’s dirt cheap these days. It’s the actual shooting process that can be expensive. As the rolls are made in fewer quantities, manufacturing is more expensive. Because labs are developing fewer films, their costs go up, too.

The biggest way to help knock down this cost, though, is to develop your own film. In this 36 minute video from photographer James Stevenson, we see the complete process from start to finish. James covers the kit, chemicals, accessories and entire the process from start to finish. James covers a whole lot of information, with some great tips. And best of all, you don’t even need a darkroom to do it.
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