Matthew Cordery
13-Aug-2005, 00:19
Finally! After much trepidation, I managed to finally get to use my make-shift darkroom this evening. It's not so much a dedicated room as it is an area in the back of my garage that I've curtained off with light-proof curtain material. Anyway, yay! no more rental darkrooms at hideous dollars per hour.
Onward, part of this setup is my safelight (duh). I chose to give the Optiled festival lights a try because of both their low heat output, brightness, long-life, and spectral qualities. Looking at the spectral response of Forte Polygrade FB, I chose the amber light since it appeared that it's sharp spectral response fell off the sensitivity curve of the paper. The only other real option was the red light and I didn't want to be working in a cave. I installed the bulb in a cheap desk lamp and attached it to my enlarger timer. The lamp is actually sitting right next to my enlarger, pointing away from it and on the opposite wall. For the sake of brevity, I exposed the paper for 8 minutes in 1 minute increments and saw absolutely no hint of density after development (which I did in the dark to ensure no additional exposure by the safelight). If you want to check them out,, the company is at www.optiled.biz. I actually bought my bulb off of ebay last year.
Onward, part of this setup is my safelight (duh). I chose to give the Optiled festival lights a try because of both their low heat output, brightness, long-life, and spectral qualities. Looking at the spectral response of Forte Polygrade FB, I chose the amber light since it appeared that it's sharp spectral response fell off the sensitivity curve of the paper. The only other real option was the red light and I didn't want to be working in a cave. I installed the bulb in a cheap desk lamp and attached it to my enlarger timer. The lamp is actually sitting right next to my enlarger, pointing away from it and on the opposite wall. For the sake of brevity, I exposed the paper for 8 minutes in 1 minute increments and saw absolutely no hint of density after development (which I did in the dark to ensure no additional exposure by the safelight). If you want to check them out,, the company is at www.optiled.biz. I actually bought my bulb off of ebay last year.