Borbin the 🐱

Precise timing is critical in analog photography, especially during the development process in the darkroom. This project presents a versatile darkroom timer built around the Arduino Uno R4 and Gamepad Input Shield, designed to support key photographic development tasks with tactile control and visual feedback. It features an 8x8 LED matrix for ambient illumination and implements five distinct modes: LED brightness adjustment, manual and timed enlarger control, chemical bath sequencing, and a general-purpose timer. Navigation is intuitive via joystick or button input, making it a practical and user-friendly tool for analog photography workflows.

This project uses the Gamepad Input Shield and Arduino Uno R4. Wiring details are available in the source code. The joystick or up/down buttons are used to switch between tasks, while left/right buttons adjust the state or settings.
The first 8x8 LED block is used to illuminate the darkroom.

The timer implements five tasks:
- LEDBrightnessTask: Adjusts LED brightness from 0 to 15.
- EnlargerOnOffTask: Manual control of the enlarger.
- EnlargerTimerTask: Timed control of the enlarger.
- DevelopStopFixTask: Three timers for develop, stop bath, and fix stages.
- GeneralTimerTask: A general-purpose timer starting from 0 seconds.

LEDBrightnessTask

Sets the brightness of the 8x8 darkroom illumination LEDs from min 0 to max 15.

EnlargerOnOffTask

Manual enlarger switch switched on.

EnlargerTimerTask

Timed enlarger switch.

DevelopStopFixTask

3 timers for develop, stop bath and fix.

GeneralTimerTask

General timer starting from 0s.

Arduino Darkroom Timer Github Project

This darkroom timer project combines modern microcontroller technology with the tactile simplicity of gamepad input to support essential analog photography tasks. Whether you're timing enlarger exposures or chemical baths, this tool offers consistent performance and flexibility for both amateur and professional darkroom enthusiasts. With five dedicated modes and intuitive controls, it provides a reliable and customizable solution for anyone working in a traditional darkroom. The open-source design invites further experimentation and adaptation—whether you're refining your workflow or building your own version.