Crowd funding is becoming increasingly popular among creatives. With more sites springing up and more artists asking for funds, Don’t Take Pictures spotlights projects that benefit the arts community.

 This month’s crowd funding roundup presents a darkroom enlarger that makes silver gelatin prints from your smartphone.

Enfojer – A Darkroom for Smartphones

The explosion of smartphone photography apps has indicated to some photographers that there is a waning interest in analog photography. But the desire to make tangible prints from digital images is still strong. While searching for an easy and affordable way to make such prints, photographers Vanda Voloder and Ilija Stepi´c blended the two technologies to create the Enfojer, a portable enlarger and darkroom that makes silver gelatin prints from smartphones.

Instead of printing out an inkjet picture from your home printer, you can now make a silver gelatin print using quality photo paper and traditional chemistry. The kit contains everything needed for a small and simple darkroom, including a battery powered red light, small trays for chemistry, tongs, Ilford black and white photo paper, and the enlarger itself. The Enfojer works similarly to a traditional enlarger and produces prints up to 6x6 inches. Simply place your smartphone into the specially designed holder, adjust the image size, expose the paper, move the paper through the chemistry using the timer app, and hang to dry.

While the Enfojer is not a replacement for professional darkrooms, it fills a void with its portability and, at just $284.90 for the entire kit, affordability. Designed as an entry-level darkroom, the Enfojer is also capable of making prints from negatives and is ideal for schools that want to teach darkroom techniques. For more advanced photographers, the possibilities for experimentation and modification are limitless, or it could simply reignite a love of analog in a photographer who have either forgotten its magic or never had the chance to experience it. 

Read more about Enfojer on their website.

This product was only partially funded through Indiegogo and is accepting pre-orders to move into production.

Do you know of a crowd funding project that benefits the art community? Let us know at info@donttakepictures.om