Safelights

[Black Lightning]

When I set up my darkroom over 13 years ago I started with a clean slate; an open floorplan basement and no electrical fixtures in the corner where I wanted the darkroom. This allowed me to make a really clean looking minimalist lighting setup. I went to the home improvement supplier and bought a pair of ceiling mount two bulb dome fixtures. I wired the fixtures so that each of the two bulbs can be operated independently. In one socket of each fixture I use a 15 watt white lightbulb and in the other socket I use a 7 1/2 watt red utility lamp. I was planning on using the small red safelight bulbs available at Adorama and B&H for about $20 thirteen years ago but on one of my hardware store trips during the construction I found the red utility bulbs which look like the exact same shade of red as the safelight bulbs for $.20 each. I bought a whole bunch of them. I do not remember if I conducted any safelight test back then but most of my darkroom time was spent processing film and printing in color so I rarely used the safelights anyway.

After a ten year vacation from the darkroom and a total restoration of the darkroom last fall I am printing some black and white stuff I've accumulated over the years. I am using Ilford Multigrade RC Paper and Kodak Polycontrast filters. I was having a devil of a time with contrast. All of my negatives seem really contrasty to my eye but I was not getting satisfactory contrast with any filter below # 3 1/2. It was driving me nuts because I do not recall having to so aggressively manage contrast when I was using the school darkroom years ago. I then noticed after cutting some test strips that a few of the test strips and full prints which were all out in the safelight while I was cutting paper was grey where the white border from the easel is.

I did a informal safelight test by exposing a print exactly as one which yielded a nice print and then left the print on the easel. I placed a film processing tank on the exposed paper for five minutes to mask a circle. After another five minutes I added another tank to make another circle for an additional five minutes. I developed the print and I was dumbfounded at what I saw; The circle masked off by the first tank was properly exposed. The rest of the sheet was black, even the circle which got only five minutes of safelight after exposure. My safelights are anything but.

This raises a few questions:

Can red safelights be used with Ilford Multigrade paper?

Are my safelights really unsafe or am I expecting too much out of them in conducting my test?

I came across a safelight test on Kodak's website which seems like it should give me a definitive answer except I can't for the life of me make heads or tails out of what the steps are. Can somebody help me out with interpretation or offer another tried and true method of safelight exposure?

I would like to continue using my nice clean looking light setup. Does anybody sell OC colored safelight bulbs? The light fixtures are not big enough to accommodate the OC Jumbo bulbs available at B&H and Adorama.

[Black Lightning]

Nevermind. Kodak's website explained it. If the lightbulb is not specifically made as a safelight bulb it is probable not safe regardless of how it looks to the naked eye.

Also; the first sign of an unsafe light is poor contrast which manifests itself before fogging of unexposed areas is apparent.

[David de Gruyl]

Red LEDs seem to work fine... (which reminds me, I should do a test. But I am not getting fogging as far as I can see.). LEDs are very narrow color emitters, so they are fairly safe (and MG paper is red safe, as well as OC).

I use red safelight filters on 5x7inch safelights around the darkroom and a red LED headlamp so I can read / write and see fairly well while processing paper. Red is also safe for Ortho and X-Ray films, which I have been known to dabble in.

If you look at the color sensitivity of Ilford MG IV, you can see that sensistivity drops off above about 525 nm and is close to zero above 550 nm. Red is around 620-660nm and Orange is about 605-620nm. So long as white is blocked, either should be safe. That being said, OC (amber) is recommended because humans can see better at the same brightness.

[Jim Jones]

One way to check safelights is to raise the enlarger head with no negative to its maximum height, stop the lens down all the way, and give a sheet of paper exposures of 0, 1/2, 1, 2, 4, 8, and 16 seconds. Then expose strips on that paper under the safelight of 0, 1/2, 1, 2, 4, 8, and 16 minutes at 90 degrees to the first exposures. You may be suprised at the results as I was. Such a test gives quantative results that can be interpolated for flashing paper for highlight control as well as just testing the safelight.

[cyrus]

Any safelight has to be tested and re-tested no matter what.

I have had VERY GOOD experiences with amber LED lights. They pretty much light up my entire darkroom quite well, and yet have zero effect on prints.

[Roger Cole]

I have both amber and red LEDs on order from Superbright LEDs. They shipped a couple of days ago. I figure I'll try them both for safety and if the amber is safe, use those, if not, the red. And I'll have spares. Not only is human vision more sensitive to the amber but you can actually discern some color too and it makes judging contrast easier than red light, even if the latter is brighter.

I've been using a Patterson OC (which looks more red when it's on) safelight over the trays and a Jobo Maxilux LED bounced off the wall by the enlarger, both switched by my timer. I have a Duka 50 sodium, but I'm saving that nearly impossible to replace tube in it for when I get back into color as I know from experience that, used carefully, it's also safe for RA4.

Any experience switching the LED bulbs with timers? The site warns that they are very sensitive to noise spikes and the warranty is void if you use any kind of relay. As inexpensive as they are I figured I'd do it anyway and if it kills them, buy more and then stop doing it. My Maxilux seems to have no problem with it, but then I suppose it's filtered for just such an application.

[jp]

I get red LED screw-in lights from deal extreme. I've got 5 of them on a track light setup plus a big kodak OC 9x12"-ish safelight. No fogging or contrast problems.

[jk0592]

I use the amber OC filter that I bought 40-45 years ago. Time for a thorough test, but I do not see fogging in my prints...

[Kirk Gittings]

I have used all kinds of safelights. I have also found that without thorough and proper testing that you can get subtle fogging that makes your highlights just not feel quite right-but not obviously fogged. For many years I worked in complete darkness as I was comfortable that way from long hours of printing color. When I stopped printing color and got back into safelights for B&W I did some thorough testing for my Thompson's and found I had the doors too open and was getting subtle fogging. I've done it seasonally ever since. And also don't assume that what is safe for one paper is safe for all. The testing just doesn't take that long or much materials and the difference can give your prints cleaner and brighter highlights.

Steve Anchell explains a method similar to my own:

http://www.anchellworkshops.com/inde...room&Itemid=39

[Peter De Smidt]

I'm a fan of red LEDs.