Silver Halide Darkroom Tools & Reference
3D Studio
6 tools

Darkroom Equipment

A darkroom is a lighting problem before it is a chemistry problem. These are the items that let you see what you are doing without fogging the paper.

2Developing3Stop & Fix
Darkroom Equipment illustration

About this category

A darkroom is a lighting problem before it is a chemistry problem. These are the items that let you see what you are doing without fogging the paper.

How these pages are written Specifications come from published manufacturer documentation. Development times are stated for a small inversion tank at 20 °C. Always treat them as starting points and confirm against the data sheet for your own materials.
Wear PPE & Ventilate Nitrile gloves Eye protection Cross-flow air Label every bottle Dispose of fixer properly
Darkroom Equipment Develop

Safelight

The dim coloured light that lets you see your hands without fogging the paper.

Developing stage
Darkroom Equipment Develop

Developing Tray

A shallow ribbed tray that holds one bath and one sheet of paper at a time.

Developing stage
Darkroom Equipment Develop

Thermometer

Development time is meaningless without temperature — this is the instrument that makes it mean something.

Developing stage
Darkroom Equipment Develop

Darkroom Timer

An enlarging timer with a foot switch — because your hands are always wet.

Developing stage
Darkroom Equipment Stop & Fix

Film Clips

Weighted stainless clips that hold a wet strip straight while it dries.

Stop & Fix stage
Darkroom Equipment Develop

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Accurate volumes are the difference between a repeatable process and a guess.

Developing stage
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