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The trade schools that once trained workers for the photographic equipment repair industry have all closed down. A weird little side effect of most people movi
by DoreenMichele 5y ago
The trade schools that once trained workers for the photographic equipment repair industry have all closed down.
A weird little side effect of most people moving to digital cameras. Digital cameras have their upside. I took a photo development course in my twenties. I don't recall if I completed it. Probably not.
I have a serious medical condition and it puts one at risk for lung bleeds. Years ago, on an email list for the condition, someone who kept a health journal for their child was able to track their lung bleeds and determine they were being triggered by darkroom development work.
I've had several somewhat serious photographers in my life, one of whom set up a darkroom in their home. I'm glad to have digital cameras available for me because I can't safely do darkroom work. The chemicals are a danger to me.
But it's weird watching old style cameras become something of a dying art and it makes me think of that bricklayer who, late in life, found his skills in demand for doing historic restoration.
This looks like a really excellent resource for anyone interested in this hobby.
- Cerium 5y agoRegarding the bricklayer - if you have not seen it there is a great series showing how industrial chimneys made of brick were climbed for inspection and repair. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F04dGK1_wYA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F04dGK1_wYA
- th0ma5 5y agoAlso regarding mortar... Adhesive in a caulking gun is replacing some uses of mortar.
- retSava 5y agoI used to work in a photo store, one of those 1-hour photo things, around 2002. Most commonly asked questions were "did you see anything 'weird' wink wink?" Yes. "did you look at _all_ the photos?" You didn't have to, but the printer running unadjusted was crap since it kind of tried to level the exposure and color tint to some average. I always looked at every pic and adjusted according to how I imagined the photographed wanted it to look like. Loved taking those machines apart and see how they worked on the inside. Also, for a low-wage manual worker that didn't get a lot of training on the job, one of the chemicals we filled up with from large canisters (for C-46? E-46?) had a warning label it would react with ordinary house-hold cleaner chems and form mustard gas. That was kind of stressful.
- BBC-vs-neolibs 5y agoC-41 for print film, E-6 for slide film.
- xdennis 5y ago> one of the chemicals we filled up with from large canisters (for C-46? E-46?) had a warning label it would react with ordinary house-hold cleaner chems and form mustard gas Presumably you're referring to the bleach stage (or blix stage which is bleach + fix). I'm pretty sure regular bleach is more common in households than C-41 bleach. Edit: Bleach + ammonia makes mustard gas, and ammonia is contained by some window cleaners. I think it's a lot more common for someone to mix bleach and window cleaner (thinking it works better) than to mix window cleaner with photographic chemicals.
- psychomugs 5y agoBig downside is digital rot [1]; my favorite few-years-old digital cameras are already dying (granted, I don't baby them) while my Leica M2 will probably outlive me as long as metal can be formed into gears and springs. Sorry about your health conditions, but I'm pretty sure that modern chemicals are much safer than they were in the past. Black and white chemistry is largely benign; the worst was apparently formaldehyde in older C-41 kits which has since been replaced. It seems like too much trouble to make color prints by hand anyways. [1] https://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/digital-rot.htm https://www.kenrockwell.com/tech/digital-rot.htm