This summer, the photojournalism labs will be receiving new digital equipment, while the original darkroom facilities remain unused.

The photojournalism lab in the basement of Cole Hall will be getting all new computer stations, and the old computers will be redistributed to faculty and other computer labs on campus.

The computer lab will be upgraded with 16 new IMAC G5 computers with 20″ flat panel monitors, four G5 dual processor computers with CRT monitors, which will be used as print stations, new desks and chairs and two new video projectors.

The new computers and desks will be installed at the end of the spring semester and will be completed before the summer courses begin.

The equipment was funded by Scripps foundation money and student fees paid by students that use the lab for class.

The complete upgrade will cost about $75,000, technical support coordinator Matt Duncan said.

Since the spring semester 2004, the darkroom facilities in the lab have been unused.

“It was a sad day when we shut down the wet labs. I’ve been here for 20 years and that’s the way we have always done it and suddenly everything is digital,” Photographic Technician Karen Grubb said.

The wet labs were shut down as a trade-off with digital technology; it was either new digital equipment or retaining the darkrooms, Grubb said.

Senior English major Ben Harmon thinks his knowledge of photography is suffering because there are no classes that make use of the darkrooms.

“I’ve learned a lot about digital photography and Photoshop, but I think there are a lot of things to be learned from manually developing photos like composition, color and camera settings become more important,” Harmon said.

The switch from film to digital in the photo lab has not come easy.

“It’s a transition that has been bumpy, when you are trying to make sure all the monitors are calibrated and the printers are working properly,” Duncan said.

There are hopes among both faculty and students that the darkrooms could be used for future classes.

“If we had more photo courses, perhaps we would be able to retain the wet lab facilities,” Grubb said.