Secret Jardin DR100 as a Portable Collodion darkroom

Using the "Secret Jardin DR100L portable darkroom" for wet plate colodion work.

I was looking for a portable darkroom for doing wet plate collodion processing. Today I purchased at "Secret Jardin DR100L portable darkroom" from Dayton Hydroponics. At first glance the general construction of the materials appears good. The polls are heavy gauge as describe and will hold up well. The plastic corner pieces are of concern. I put it up in the front yard to check for light leaks. After taking it down one of the corners show stress marks that were not there before. This concerns me for the longevity of the part.

Setup easy and strait forward, it took me about 15 minutes by myself well within the 20 minute setup time describe by the manufacture. The instructions are very poor the only have photographs with no wording. I miss even the very poor description normally accompanying a product such as this. One thing that is not totally clear is to unzip the bottom off before starting to put the cover on. Disassemble is just as easy and takes the same amount of time. Again remember to unzip the bottom first before disassembly it will make it a lot easier.

OK now for how well it will for as a dark room. First the manufacture claims it is 100% light proof. To put it simply no it is not. After fettling with the air vents to stop the light from coming you will notice small pinhole around the stitching for the vents. This is minor for doing collodion but or higher speed films this could like to fogging issue. I would not us this to change ASA 400 film for my 4x5. These small holes could be sealed to eliminate the leaks. The concerns I have is the zipper and the Velcro flaps. If the flaps are not sealed down flat the large light leaks are possible. The other concern is the flaps open and close from the outside. Someone can ruin your day very quickly and you would not know it was coming until it was too late. The zipper has a potential for leaks. The closure is on the outside it is almost impossible to close it from the inside. A small gap will cause a light leak. With the highly reflective inside small leaks are amplified.

Overall this appears to be a workable dark room for wet plate work. Is it the perfect solution? No, it is not but remembering that we are using a product designed to keep light in not out. One option that I am thinking of is to get some black fabric and hang it on the inside as flocking to cut down on the light reflections. I will decide on this after I give it a try this weekend.

DR-100L This is the image form the manufactures website. I will post my own photos later.