Every day I like to review the Craigslist photo section to see what local people are trying to sell. One of my favorite ads are the "complete" darkroom set up. This is an example of what to avoid. Mediocre plastic toys posing as serious darkroom equipment. If you are considering setting up a real darkroom rather then the virtual one and don't know where to start my suggestion is first get some education in the process that will introduce you to proper equipment. I don't know about the Community colleges darkroom set up but Newspace is pretty well equipped with nice older gear and some good teachers.

From there I would equip a darkroom piece by piece rather then a set up like this. Cheap gear like this was built for the amateur hobbyist in the pre-digital age. Now that the analog darkroom is being abandoned you don't need to settle for the cheap stuff since lots of really great gear can be had for little money if one is patient and knows what they are looking for. That's why it is important to get some education on the subject first.

I hope to write some future blog entries about entering film photography on a budget from Camera selection to enlargers and darkroom set up.