eTone Darkroom Developing Equipment Kit

Name: eTone Darkroom Developing Equipment Kit
Price: 98.99 USD
Availability: InStock
Rating: 4.1 (70 reviews)

Curated from 70 real Reddit conversations

Refreshed on: April 1, 2025

eTone Darkroom Developing Equipment Kit

Brand: eTone

Price: $98

Snoop Score:

4.1

Sentiment

0.0

Popularity

0.0

Technical

6.9

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Snoop's Take

The eTone Darkroom Developing Equipment Kit is a comprehensive solution designed to facilitate traditional film processing with a full set of darkroom trays, chemical storage bottles, clips, gloves, and additional essential tools. It aims to equip photographers with everything needed to develop film at home or in a professional setting. Consumer feedback, however, paints a less flattering picture with recurring complaints. One reviewer noted, 'Purchased one but instructions are in Chinese,' a quip that sums up the frustrations around language barriers, inconvenient bottle designs for C-41 processing, and even excessive mechanical noise likened to 'an old drill making a hole in concrete.' These issues, along with limited tank capacity, have stirred discontent among users. The overall sentiment is less about the promise of an all-in-one kit and more about its practical pitfalls. In conclusion, while the kit boasts a robust list of accessories and careful design elements on paper, the persistent negative feedback regarding usability and design flaws makes it a less recommended option for serious darkroom practitioners. Experts would advise weighing these concerns against its comprehensive inclusions before making a purchase decision.

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Nice. First thing I did was check total volume and did some calculations to make sure one could get enough developer in there.
Insightful Chatter

Purchased one but instructions are in Chinese.
Negative Feedback

4.1

eTone Darkroom Developing Equipment Kit

Buy on Amazon for $98

Home Darkroom Setup

7 / 10

Educational Purposes

7 / 10

Professional Film Development

6 / 10

Hobbyist Exploration

7 / 10

See how this compares to all Film Processing Equipment

Where it needs some work!

Areas to watch—feedback on possible improvements.

Chinese instructions and language barrier

“Purchased one but instructions are in Chinese.”➕

Limited tank capacity without extension arm

“How big of a tank does one of these support?”➕

“as it comes it can only fit a two spiral 1520.”➕

Inconvenient bottle design for C-41 processing

“Those bottles are great, but really inconvenient if you get a C-41 1L kit.”➕

Compare On All Talked About Dimensions

Product Name	Price	Score	See Details	Buy Now
YCCLDIPL Darkroom Film Processing Equipment Kit	$159	7.0	Details	Buy
eTone Darkroom Developing Equipment Kit Film Processing 120 135 35mm Color B&W Film	$119	6.9	Details	Buy
CineStill CS41 Liquid Developing Quart Kit for Processing C-41 Color Negative Film	$44	6.2	Details	Buy
eTone 3X 1000ml Round Container Darkroom Chemical Storage Bottles	$16	6.1	Details	Buy
Jian Cheng Universal Compact Developing Tank 2 Spiral Reel for Processing	$32	5.9	Details	Buy
eTone 120-135 B&W Film Darkroom Kit	$55	5.6	Details	Buy
Paterson Photographic Patterson and Ilford Film Processing Kit	$133	5.0	Details	Buy
eTone 3x 1000ml Darkroom Chemical Storage Bottles Film Photo Developing Processing 1L	$19	4.8	Details	Buy
eTone 4xPCS Stainless Steel Film Clips with Lead Block	$12	4.5	Details	Buy
eTone Darkroom Developing Equipment Kit	$98	4.1	Details	Buy
eTone Darkroom 120 135 Spiral Reel	$20	3.5	Details	Buy
eTone 3X 1000ml Collapsible Darkroom Chemical Storage Bottles	$32	1.5	Details	Buy
JJC Darkroom Supplies Film Changing Bag	$38	1.4	Details	Buy
eTone 2x 2L Darkroom Chemical Developer Storage Bottles	$19	1.0	Details	Buy

Core Power Plays

The specs and strengths that make it shine.

Standard film holder style loading process

“How do you load the negatives in it?”➕

“You can load them just like you would load a standard film holder, and yes, the holders are double sided.”➕

“I will save your product for later. :D”➕

Desire for larger (8x10) tank options

“Id pay for even a prototype, there’s such a void in the 8x10 tank realm.”➕

“if it’s good for 4 sheets of 4x5 like this you’ve got an 8x10 tank by default here.”➕

Enlarger timer performance and affordability

“I personally used the catlabs timer, and I love it.”➕

“I bought this timer on Aliexpress for 50€ and it works perfectly.”➕

“It is great. Supports down to 1/10 of seconds all the way up to 999 minutes.”➕

“I use that rewired to my good enlarger.”➕

Positive feedback on eTone roller for batch development

“With my present setup I can be processing on the inside of half an hour.”➕

“I absolutely love mine, but I tend do dev in huge batches and do some for friends.”➕

Multitone paper performance differences

“None of these are dealbreakers, but in combination they were enough to make me go back to Milford MGRC for most of my work.”➕

“FB was lacking on some black level indeed, you can still get reasonably good results from them tho, and considering its price... they were my go to papers since then.”➕

“This paper has been my go-to! Love the pearl!”➕

Battery‐operated red safelights performance

“it works good gotta remember to change the batteries ever so often.”➕

“There's one lamp in a few places that uses proper LEDs of the right wavelength.”➕

Positive feedback on eTone roller processor quality

“Many film oriented products, good quality and at Chinese prices.”➕

Feedback on agitation consistency and development results

“I did notice +1 development (1.21D vs 1.41D in Zone X) compared to my low “manual” agitation scheme, so I am still tweaking timing to get 1.7D.”➕

Hidden Hero Hacks

Unexpected tricks and side‑door uses you’ll love.

Announcements about new tank releases

“New tanks avaliable on monday!”➕

Advice on alternative motor bases and tank modifications

“I've never had issues with a unidirectional motor - people claim you'll get uneven development if the motor doesn't change directions every few spins or every minute or whatever. Never seen that myself.”➕

Roller-based agitation preference over manual inversion

“I like the roller base instead of standing there and agitating the tank.”➕

Buyer’s Cheat Sheet

What to check before you click ‘Add to Cart.’

Include test sheets for even development

“Sheet film processing tanks should come with test sheets of clear open skies... or some other even tone subject so that it can be demonstrated development is _actually_ even.”➕

Encouragement for darkroom beginners

“You've mastered a steep learning curve in an extremely short time. Impressive!”➕

“Still have a lot to learn and I’m sure it’s going to be a lifelong learning process.”➕

“You’ve got way better results than I ever had in the darkroom.”➕

“Srsly, I’m so happy when I see people embracing this great hobby/art.”➕

Discussion on equipment trade-offs and alternatives

“Honestly, a darkroom can function perfectly even without a tool like this.”➕

“So I can make some money doing what I love!”➕

“This is not suitable for a commercial lab!!!!”➕

“It makes no sense to invest in a tool like that and plan to make money.”➕

Demand for advanced darkroom timers

“I think I'd just quit printing if I didn't have a foot switch, it makes everything so easy.”➕

“Pretty much all you described was part of my original design ideation.”➕

“You've pretty much described the Gralab 450/451 there and for the same reasons I use it.”➕

“You just read off everything I'm looking for in my next timer!”➕

Uncertainty about C41 film compatibility

“I heard it’s only good for B&W but I want it for C41?”➕

General advice on assembling home developing kits and alternatives

“Your BF is in for a real treat.”➕

“^(I am a bot here to save you a click and provide helpful information on the Amazon link posted above.)”➕

“Has everything one would need to get started in one convenient package.”➕

Cautionary Callouts

Know the pitfalls before they catch you off guard.

Developer volume and agitation concerns

“Nice. First thing I did was check total volume and did some calculations to make sure one could get enough developer in there.”➕

“Minimum developer amount was the first thing i researched when i started to work on this project, i’ve gone through the most common developers data sheets and saw that most work within this volume.”➕

Challenges with agitation in DIY developing systems

“I could never get the base+tank to be level enough that it wouldn’t need to be adjusted every couple of minutes.”➕

“if I didn't pick it up and agitate manually a couple times the I would end up with uneven development on 120 film.”➕

“Jobo is consistent.”➕

Inconsistent temperature maintenance in roller processors

“That's the biggest problem I see with these sorts of rollers.”➕

eTone Darkroom Developing Equipment Kit

Curated from 70 real Reddit conversations

eTone Darkroom Developing Equipment Kit

Snoop's Take

eTone Darkroom Developing Equipment Kit

Home Darkroom Setup

Educational Purposes

Professional Film Development

Hobbyist Exploration

Where it needs some work!

Compare On All Talked About Dimensions

Core Power Plays

Hidden Hero Hacks

Buyer’s Cheat Sheet

Cautionary Callouts

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