Colin wrote:
> I've been trying to do it cheap, so ...
>
> A paper deal: Midwest Photo has RCIII/E 100cnt boxes 4x5 for $9
>
> Safelight deal: Home Depot (home repair shop) has 7 1/2 watt red lights
> for $1.35 each.
> (beats $10 in the camera shops!)
>
> Any else have other ideas/sources ?
Sure. For trays and measuring beakers, use pyrex baking trays and measuring
cups from the supermarket. They're inert, clean well, last a long time if
you maintain them, and they're cheap.
For a timer, use a metronome. Sold at all music stores. Set it for sixty
beats a minute and count seconds.
For an enlarging lens, look for one called an "Omicron-El." They were made
for Omega by Nikon in the '70s and '80s and they're very good quality
enlarging lenses that never sell for anywhere near what El-Nikkors do.
For drying racks, use pre-made plastic window screens from the hardware
store. If you want to get fancy you can build a rack for them, but you can
also simply stack them on top of each other. They work fine. If you print
RC, just hang them by the corner using wooden clothespins to dry.
For a squeegee to use for squeegeeing fiber prints, use a rubber window
squeegee from the hardware store or a windshield wiper blade from an auto
parts store.
For a sink, use a tabletop or countertop. Just wipe it down after you're
finished. Print processing temperature isn't critical and works fine at
ambient room temperatures.
If you want to get cheap about chemicals it requires some calculation. You
can buy the raw chemicals and make perfectly good solutions mixing your own,
but you need to work out amounts in advance so that you don't overbuy
anything. Also, you need to use them all up in order to realize the
savings--if you buy ten pounds of sodium sulfite and then give up
photography before you've used three pounds, you will have lost money, not
saved it. However, "measuring spoon" conversions are easy to work out, so
that you can mix up the chemicals you need in a jiffy without a scale.
There's one more really good moneysaving tip, but I just can't remember it
right now. Middle-aged moment? <s>
--Mike
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