What the hell's that? I think it's a safelight! Oh... what's a safelight?

[Jay Decker]

Can anyone tell me what this is, e.g., manufacture? Are there instructions on the internet for it? And, whether it is worth keeping for the darkroom I'm setting up for processing film, wet plate, and possibly pt/pd. It has a big bulb inside and does not show any signs have been used. Yes, it works just fine.

Thanks,

Jay

[D. Bryant]

Can anyone tell me what this is, e.g., manufacture? Are there instructions on the internet for it? And, whether it is worth keeping for the darkroom I'm setting up for processing film, wet plate, and possibly pt/pd. It has a big bulb inside and does not show any signs have been used. Yes, it works just fine.

Thanks,

Jay

It appears to be a Thomas safe light. Yes it's worth keeping but you need to test the safety the light since some gelatin silver papers are "less safe" than others to put it crudely.

Wet plate probably needs just a red filter and plt/pld probably doesn't care though visually you'd be better off just using plain incandescents for plt/pld.

At one time these units sold $70 to $100 used. Not sure what they are going for these days.

Don

[Wayne Aho]

This is the Thomas Safelight, uses a low pressure sodium bulb (like a street light) of 35 watts. The bulb sells for over $100, but if you look online for a sox35, they run about $35 from places like the bulbman.
The transformer from BH is about $40, safelight filters are now $50 a pair (I have some used ones on fleaby right now). The yellow tape edged ones are for black and white, the red edge go into the movable vanes, are for color, or adjusting the light output. It takes about 5 minutes to come up in brightness, DO NOT switch it on and off with the enlarger (this will kill the bulb, possibly the transformer in very short time).

I like this safelight, you can read a newspaper with it, and it doesn't fog, despite all the warnings you will hear about it. Also, the filters will look wrinkled, this has no effect on the filter, its just a spacer between the clear glass, and the color glass.

They go for about $50-100 now days, not made anymore, but a google search will turn up some instructions.

I do wet plate, and it is excellent, you can really see the plate develop, I even pour the collodion with it on.

It is heavy, mount it to a beam, not just sheetrock.

Wayne

[Jim Galli]

Score! Have 2 of these at work. Takes a while for them to "warm up" but then it gets very light in the old dark room. They hang upside down. You pull the chain to "open" the doors and let more light out.

[Curt]

I've got one too, make sure you mount it to a stud in the ceiling, or you might wake up somewhere else. It's just like Jim says, has a warm up time is very light and use the chains to open the doors to adjust the light.
Good luck with the darkroom,
Curt

[Bill_1856]

It turns darkroom work from a PITA to nearly a peasure.

[W K Longcor]

The yellow tape edged ones are for black and white, the red edge go into the movable vanes, are for color, or adjusting the light output.
Wayne



Actually - the red edged filters in the adjustable flaps are for ortho type stuff ( with the flaps fully closed) -- for color work, there was a special set of filters with green tape edges ( also used fully closed)-- I used two of these for years. at the time, they were as good as you could get. Even the green filters for color printing were pretty bright -- at least when compared to other safelights.

[bob carnie]

I have three of them in the darkroom and really like working under their light.

[Jay Decker]

Excellent! It stays and goes up in the darkroom... Anyone have a manual that you could copy or scan?

[imagedowser]

Michael & Paula are another source for parts if you need them, they almost carried the lights along with the rest of the materials they sell (archival storage, mat board and of course, Lodima, etc) but Thomas decided to go belly up.

[Keith Pitman]

Must be the biggest packrat around.

[Chauncey Walden]

I also have one. You do have to test the safety with the papers that you use. Expose the paper up to its threshold and then test. With all filters in place and the vanes closed I had to cover 3/4 of the aperture on the side nearest the enlarger to get to 5 minutes exposure safely. The rest of the darkroom is nice and bright. John Sexton called them something like Thomas paper burners. Just test.

[bob carnie]

These suckers pound out too much light, I have mine at the lowest setting and even then I occasionally test for fogging.
I love them but have always been careful with the settings.

I also have one. You do have to test the safety with the papers that you use. Expose the paper up to its threshold and then test. With all filters in place and the vanes closed I had to cover 3/4 of the aperture on the side nearest the enlarger to get to 5 minutes exposure safely. The rest of the darkroom is nice and bright. John Sexton called them something like Thomas paper burners. Just test.

[Jay Decker]

Must be the biggest packrat around.

I'm glad that you are! Thanks Keith!

[Wayne Aho]

For the manual, try this link;

http://www.backglass.org/duncan/darkroom/thomas_duplex_super_safelight_instr.pdf

[Curt]

Male announcer: The white zone is for immediate loading and unloading of passengers only. There is no stopping in the red zone.
Female announcer: The white zone is for immediate loading and unloading of passengers only. There is no stopping in the red zone.
Male announcer: [later] The red zone is for immediate loading and unloading of passengers only. There is no stopping in the white zone.
Female announcer: No, the white zone is for loading of passengers and there is no stopping in a RED zone.
Male announcer: The red zone has always been for loading and unloading of passengers. There's never stopping in a white zone.
Female announcer: Don't you tell me which zone is for loading, and which zone is for stopping!
Male announcer: Listen Betty, don't start up with your white zone shit again.
[Later]
Male announcer: There's just no stopping in a white zone.
Female announcer: Oh really, Vernon? Why pretend, we both know perfectly well what this is about. You want me to have a Thomas safelight.
Male announcer: It's really the only sensible thing to do, if its done safely. Therapeutically there's no danger involved.

Make sure the correct filters are in for the paper you are using and test for fog and adjust the vanes if needed.

[eddie]

i use my for wet plate with no problems. regular B&W filters.

[Jay Decker]

i use my for wet plate with no problems. regular B&W filters.

Excellent... a question that I have had. I'm getting close to pour my own plates.

[cyrus]

I'm getting one of these today for my new darkroom. 2 questions:

1- So let me get this straight: You need the yellow filters inside the light for printing with regular (say, Ilford) B&W papers, and the vanes open. Since the vanes are open, you don't need to have any filters at all in the vanes as long as you have the yellow filters inside the light, right?

(Of course if you're using more exotic papers, that may change)

2- If they're too bright, as some people on this board say, then why not just get a less powerful bulb?

[W K Longcor]

I'm getting one of these today for my new darkroom. 2 questions:

1- So let me get this straight: You need the yellow filters inside the light for printing with regular (say, Ilford) B&W papers, and the vanes open. Since the vanes are open, you don't need to have any filters at all in the vanes as long as you have the yellow filters inside the light, right?

(Of course if you're using more exotic papers, that may change)

2- If they're too bright, as some people on this board say, then why not just get a less powerful bulb?

1- Wrong - you DO need the filters in the vanes - wide open is just TOO MUCH of a good thing -- way too much light. For some very sensitive papers, you MAY want to almost close down all the way with the vanes. And remember, the unit goes up by the ceiling so that the light going through the filters in the vanes bounces off the ceiling and illuminated the room --NOT direct light from the unit.

2-Don't think there is such a critter as a less powerful bulb that will fit the Thomas AND have the proper color output. ( I may be wrong - lord knows I have been in the past).

[J V McLure]

I have one and have not been able to use it. With it on, it is so bright that I have trouble with the focus. If I turn in off, it takes a while to come back on. Any solution? I love the way it lights up my cave!

[jeroldharter]

I have one and have not been able to use it. With it on, it is so bright that I have trouble with the focus. If I turn in off, it takes a while to come back on. Any solution? I love the way it lights up my cave!

You need a larger darkroom. These are great safelights for a large room, like darkrooms in schools or businesses. I think they are a bit much for smaller darkrooms. I bought one awhile back because of the "it is so bright I can read the paper and it won't fog my paper" comments. Unfortunately, this thing is a beast for a small darkroom. It hums like a nuclear power plant and glows like one too. The light was great but fogged my paper without fail. I had the proper filters and closed the vanes. If I remember, when I reduced its output to the level that was safe for my paper, the light was no greater than my current safelight. But the thing is almost as big as a Jobo and weighs more. So I gave mine away to an APUG guy who was starting a home darkroom - with proper warning of course! I had seen them in large darkrooms before and they looked great but too much octane for my little space (8x16 feet).

[cyrus]

Just to update: I hauled a Thomas duplex safelight on the bus and the subway from sheephead bay to my studio, while getting a lot of curious looks. The bulb still works but I may replace it anyway. I don't know if they change after some time. The filters are all shrivelled up inside their glass casings too so I'm guessing the were never changed. I know where I'd hang it but I need to attach some sort of a pull switch to turn it off and on. That I don't know how to do since I don't know much about electrical things.

Incidentally you can indeed purchase weaker bulbs.