What you need

The short version

A room you can make dark, running water within reach of it, a window or an extractor, a table that can get wet, and the willingness to keep chemicals away from food. That, with a modest set of laboratory basics, is enough for the first two levels of the course. The rest is acquired in stages, and the laboratory planner is the itemised, priced version of this page.

Stage by stage

Stage 0, safety and the chemistry laboratory. Nitrile gloves, safety glasses, an apron, dedicated containers and utensils, a balance that reads to 0.1 g, graduated cylinders, a thermometer, storage bottles, labels, an eyewash bottle. Before any chemistry.

Stage 1, black-and-white film processing. A daylight developing tank and reels, a changing bag if you have no darkroom, the first developer, stop and fixer, a wetting agent, clips to dry film. This is the first negative.

Stage 2, the pinhole camera. Materials and tools for the modular camera the course builds: a light-tight body, sheet metal for the pinhole, a tripod mount, black paint, and either photographic paper or sheet film. The course also teaches how to make the pinhole itself.

Stage 3, contact printing. Photographic paper, trays, a safelight (built or bought), a contact frame or a sheet of glass, and a light source. This is the first print.

Stage 4, the enlarger and the timer. A purchased enlarger, or the course’s LED enlarger build; the timer build; an enlarging lens and easel.

Stage 5, the emulsion laboratory. Better glassware and measurement, a stirrer, a means of holding temperature, silver nitrate and the halides, gelatin, coating tools, glass plates.

Stage 6, alternative processes. A UV exposure source (built or bought), brushes or a coating rod, suitable papers, and the process chemistry.

!Important

Nothing here has to be bought at the start. The course is sequenced so that each stage is needed only when its part begins, and the planner marks every item as essential or optional, buildable or purchasable, new or second-hand.

What you do not need

A commercial darkroom. A chemistry degree. An oscilloscope. Expensive glassware at the start. A lens: the first camera the course builds has none. A working knowledge of electronics or woodworking: the builds teach what they need.

What you cannot do without

Ventilation, eye protection, gloves, and the safety data sheet for every chemical you buy. Pages that need a darkroom, a UV source or mains-powered equipment say so in their panel, and say what can be improvised and what cannot.

Three budget paths

The planner lays out three routes. Explorer covers the chemistry laboratory, film processing, the pinhole camera and contact printing. Complete Silver Darkroom adds the enlarger, the timer, fine printing and a broader chemistry set. Full Pure Silver Laboratory adds emulsion making, glass plates, the sensitometer and densitometer, the UV system, the alternative processes and a larger chemical inventory. You can stop at any of them and have learned something complete.