COBBLER'S PAGE

By Brian Asquith (Librarian)

So that’s another piece of equipment to join the redundant list. I am fast feeling that way myself! It is not that the equipment has ceased to function. The AV projector and sound system still work as well as ever and the resulting pictures and sound cannot be matched by computer generated projection for quality. Vinyl recordings and tape have a smoothness of tonal quality that is absent in many CD recordings. One can handle the the range of volume easily when recording from vinyl or cassette tape, it’s nigh on impossible when working with some CDs. 

The air brush is a cheap tool when compared with Photo Shop. It is also tried and tested, and the skill of use is picked up in no time at all. So what about the darkroom which has suddenly become a place of ‘nasty chemicals’ not a place where you can create pictures. Where years ago we were encouraged to develop our transparencies, remember E6 and the CRC boffins with lots of formulas, liths, titles, etc. made easily for AV.

A packet of photo paper and a few of the chemicals mixed and you could have a print of super quality which you knew would last and last. Colour prints of quality, up to 20x16,can be produced in less than three minutes. These systems are still there and still being used with results that can only be matched with an expensive PC, printer and scanner. Practical darkroom skills are easily learnt and are hands on, which is satisfying when everything turns out right. With the most basic camera/darkroom set up very good results can be produced.

Not so with the latest technology. You have to learn a new language, it is more mechanical in concept, time consuming and results rely more on cost of equipment eg. bigger print size means a more expensive printer, scanner etc.

So why is the ‘nasty darkroom’ on its way out? It is not because the PC produces a better end product or that it is quicker. Cleaner? Well, that depends on how clean you are. The inks can be messy! Colour is probably the keyword. With a PC and a printer of sorts already in the house, adding a scanner for negatives/slides and the appropriate software will enable you to get prints in colour as you want them. You will also be able to organise your transparencies, though why anyone would to watch them on a TV screen/PC monitor as a slide show beats me when a slide projector and screen shows them to better advantage.