Tray processing 5x4 and safelights

[dave clayton]

Hello all, just need a recap on some tray processing 5x4 film. Ive shot a few images on fomapan 100 the basic set up of the shot is a model aka the mrs sat in a window and lit with natural light thru a net curtain, ive metered for the highlight/midtone using a d300 and checked the histogram and tried not to clip the highlights looking at the digital trial shots they shadow/highlights looked fine with minimal over exposure.
After reading about the issues with the contrast ramping up during the development using fomapan, i was thinking about doing a 1 to 100 ratio at 20deg with rodinal and using a safelight towards the end of the development to monitor the contrast and visually check density of the negative to prevent the shadows not blocking up too badly. Would the use of the Red safelight cause any issues with the film towards the last 5 min of the development.

[tenderobject]

i think yes.. why would you use safelight with films?

[N Dhananjay]

Not sure what you are asking. If you are asking about development by inspection, the usual technique is to develop for about 2/3 or 3/4 of the time. Then view the base side of the negative under a dark green safelight (dark green - not because film is not sensitive to it - it os - but because that is the peak sensitivity of the human eye, so a few seconds peek at the negative is sufficient). The highlights will be visible on the base side against the general opalascent milkiness. It takes a little bit of practice to judge what a properly developed negative should look like (but not much). This is often done using a desensitizer or a pyro based developer (which tans and hardens the gelatin and serves as a desensitizer). Even with the dark green safelight, you only peek at the negative for a few seconds. It is not advisable to expose developing negatives to a safelight for long periods of minutes.
Cheers, DJ

[Peter Gomena]

The red safelight is only for orthochromatic films or for photographic paper. It will fog your panchromatic film in a jiffy. The dark green safelights are quite dim.

Frankly, if you have a well-controlled time/temperature/agitation setup and routine, and have thoroughly tested your film/paper combination, there is little or no need for development by inspection, especially with 4x5 film. Folks who are shooting ultra-large formats, where film is several dollars a sheet and only a very few negatives are made at a time, benefit most from safelight inspection. Some go so far as to buy infrared night-vision goggles to inspect their film.

[Jim Noel]

YES!!
if you want to check development visually, use a green light, 4" or more distant for 2 or 3 seconds.

[Bill Burk]

Some go so far as to buy infrared night-vision goggles to inspect their film.

It's not that big a stretch, night-vision viewers are a lot cheaper than they used to be.

[hmf]

YES!!
if you want to check development visually, use a green light, 4" or more distant for 2 or 3 seconds.

Is that meant to say four inches from the film?

[jnantz]

the green light works great
http://michaelandpaula.com/mp/devinsp.html


it takes a while to learn how to do it right though ( knowing what you are seeing )