Lighting the darkroom

[AndyJ]

I just installed a "growlight" flo panel over my "work" desk and they do indeed glow but only faintly and for a short period. I seriously doubt that the glow can really affect papers after 20 secs have passed.

My problem is that once in a while, when the light is off, there's occasionally a flicker of light. This happens about every couple minutes or so. Not sure why.

Does it have a base like CFLs do? There could be some capacitors in its circuitry, or something in the unit that has some capacitance, that's discharging after the light is off.

[jeroldharter]

Simple incandescent bulbs or halogen bulbs.

The halogen bulbs are hot and can quickly heat up a small room. Flourescent tubes or cfl's have an afterglow which can fog photosensitive materials. I tried to replace my halogen bulbs with cfl's and t did not work due to the afterglow.

[Black Lightning]

I don't know if this has been recommended yet but a fluorescent light can be made into a safelight. I do realize this is not what you are looking to achieve but this seems tangentially relevant to this thread.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produc...uorescent.html

[Colin Graham]

Leigh, I should have mentioned that I have a Thomas safelight, but I wanted a light to use to evaluate prints and replace the small Ott light I have been using, as well as lighting the room when I am not actually printing. But yes I agree, wrong choice for a darkroom.

These are a little on the costly side, but after 2 years I'm still on the same set of bulbs. I spend between 4 and 12 hours a day in the darkroom and it was worth spending a little extra to have some decent task and print-viewing lighting. There is a slight filament glow after shutting the lights off (I have mine on a dimmer) but it only lasts a second or two. The only problem I have with them is they are an extra source of heat in the summer. https://www.solux.net/cgi-bin/tlisto...rproofkit.html