Darkroom story since 2008.
My first darkroom was in my own bathroom in Tomsk, Russia. It has a temporary formation, as it’s usual for bathrooms. First enlarger was UPA-601. Not the worst one but still awful. Then, thanks to my friend, I’ve got a Krokus 4SL. It has bubbles in condenser lenses and this caused defects on prints. Anyway, I was able to print from type 120 film.
The second darkroom was in my living room in the same apartment in Tomsk, Russia. By this time I’ve got a quite decent thing: Krokus GFA 69s with more or less good condensers. Enlarger has been stored in a saray since 90’s in a countryside of Novosibirsk, Russia. Let’s say it didn’t smell or look good. After CLA enlarger was ready to use. Later I made custom glassless negative carrier frames out of aluminum, bought Industar-23U 110mm and Vega-11U 50mm.
The third and current lab is in Saint-Petersburg, Russia. I’ve dedicated some space for it in second room of my apartment. I made a wooden skeleton, wrapped it with studio background paper, built an improvised door out of roll curtain. Light tight! By that time I bought Meopta Opemus 6a with Color 4es head. Later added Durst Laborator L-900 with Rodenstok 80mm and 50mm lenses. Then Changed Meopta to Omega B-8 with Schneider W.A. Componon lenses.
In April 2019 I’ve bought a new item for my darkroom which is DeVere 504 enlarger with Ilford Multigrade head on. And few months later I also got a huge 50×60 Kaiser easel. These things barely fit into my shack. At the end of 2019 I’ve finally sold my Durst Laborator 900 because DeVere 504 completely covered Durst’s functionality.
