LED Safelight options?

[John Brady]

I have bee looking for the best current, affordable option to light up my rather large darkroom, 14'x22' with 14' ceiling.
I'm aware of the Heiland LED Safelight, but at almost $300 I want to see what others are recommending for black and white printing.

I hear about people using red led lights but this sounds kind of risky? So what are your thoughts on lighting up a darkroom if you were going to do it today?

John Brady
www.timeandlight.com

[jp]

I use a tracklight with red led bulbs. They have a very sharp spectrum cutoff so they are OK with paper. Don't get color changing leds. Just simple cheap red leds which are 1970's tech.

[Pere Casals]

I use this $8 one, perfect...

189394

You may also use an RGB bulb with remote command, you may adjust light level and selecting white or red...

[bobbotron]

I bought a number of these, put one into use in my dark room. Did the Kodak safelight test and it passed 100%. I've heard some people don't like them but... works for me!

https://www.superbrightleds.com/moreinfo/led-household-bulbs/g11-led-bulb-5-watt-equivalent-led-globe-bulb-27-lumens/440/1477/

[malexand]

I bought a number of these, put one into use in my dark room. Did the Kodak safelight test and it passed 100%. I've heard some people don't like them but... works for me!

https://www.superbrightleds.com/moreinfo/led-household-bulbs/g11-led-bulb-5-watt-equivalent-led-globe-bulb-27-lumens/440/1477/

Ditto. I have used these for the past year. Work great, no problems with oc paper or ortho film.

[PRJ]

I use the same ones. I do put rubylith over them, but that is just for peace of mind.When I did the cd test they had a slight orange tailing off so I figured the rubylith wouldn't hurt.

[StuartR]

Personally, I have not met a red safelight that I like...there is a Thomas Duplex Safelight with all the filters on ebay for 125 dollars. I think that will give you a much better option. I have never had any fogging issues with mine, even with the louvres open, and they can be much brighter than any LED or red safelight I have seen. I think they create a much more pleasant working environment. They may not be as safe for certain work or processes, but I think the trade off is worth it. The biggest downside is that they are not instant on, so if you use an enlarger system with an exposure meter, it might not work for you.

[j.e.simmons]

I use the superbright bulbs in red for X-ray film and amber for paper. No problems.

[jp]

My superbright LEDs will create some fog to Xray (kodak ektascan bra) after a few minutes such as developing in a tray, but are fine for loading film holders which is pretty quick. Of course I do have about 8 of the lights in my 6x8 foot darkroom. If I had one light it would probably be fine for tray developing. No issues with paper as that's substantially slower.

[Pieter]

I prefer an OA filter (I guess you can use an LED bulb in the safelight housing) or Heiland LED safelight for MC paper. I used to use an Osram sodium safelight but the bulb burned out is are no longer available, at least at a reasonable price.

[John Kasaian]

I got a short string of all red LED Christmas lights on end of season clearance at CVS.
No complaints & plenty of light.
Test out any you buy first, of course!
Kind of cheerful looking!

Q:What does a reindeer say before he tells a joke?
A:"This one will sliegh you!"

[Eric Woodbury]

I have used the Christmas lights. Works fine. Lots of light. During the darkroom remodel, I decided I wanted the safelights less distributed than a string, so I now use the LED bulbs noted by Bobotron. Both the red and the amber work. And for tough little spots where I want more light, I use red LEDs powered by an old wall wort (plus a resistor).

[cowanw]

I have used the Christmas lights. Works fine. Lots of light. During the darkroom remodel, I decided I wanted the safelights less distributed than a string, so I now use the LED bulbs noted by Bobotron. Both the red and the amber work. And for tough little spots where I want more light, I use red LEDs powered by an old wall wort (plus a resistor).

Wort (/ˈwɜːrt/) is the liquid extracted from the mashing process during the brewing of beer or whisky. Photographically, the reference to Henry Talbot is "Henneman throw a little more of that wort in!:)

[Bruce Barlow]

Cheap Christmas tree lights. Dunno if they're LEDs. Don't care. They're connected to a wall switch with a dimmer.

[Eric Woodbury]

cowanw, whoops. Should be:

WART. Those little power modules that fill my drawers and bins. Chargers for old cell phones and the like.

[cowanw]

cowanw, whoops. Should be:

WART. Those little power modules that fill my drawers and bins. Chargers for old cell phones and the like.

:):)

[John Brady]

Personally, I have not met a red safelight that I like...there is a Thomas Duplex Safelight with all the filters on ebay for 125 dollars. I think that will give you a much better option. I have never had any fogging issues with mine, even with the louvres open, and they can be much brighter than any LED or red safelight I have seen. I think they create a much more pleasant working environment. They may not be as safe for certain work or processes, but I think the trade off is worth it. The biggest downside is that they are not instant on, so if you use an enlarger system with an exposure meter, it might not work for you.

So after much consideration, I chose to go the traditional route with the Thomas Duplex Safelight. Unfortunately, I missed out on the $125 one on eBay, instead I found a $25 body only plus freight. I then purchased brand new filters from freestyle and a new bulb, all in $275.

I have 14ft ceiling in my dark and my room is 14x21, I hung the light about 7ft off the floor and added a switched ceiling outlet. It takes a while for the bulb to warm up but once it does, the light this thing puts out is incredible! I am very happy that I went this route, thank you Stuart for confirming what another friend recommended to me also.

[Luis-F-S]

Have used Thomas Duplex safelights for some 30 years. Still have the original bulb in mine. I even bought a second light as a spare in case mine ever dies. You can get the bulbs much cheaper through electrical supply houses.

[Barry Kirsten]

I made a small LED safelight by converting a halogen reading lamp. I used 12 x 5mm clear LEDs with a wavelength of 660nm. Perfectly safe. I've recently bought one of these: https://www.ebay.com/itm/24W-Deep-Red-625nm-630nm-660nm-LED-Lamp-Light-Bulb-PCB-Driver-Plant-Aquarium/392047280911?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&var=661004159937&_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649 I find that they're very bright and should be used with a dimmer, which I haven't yet obtained. When I get it all together I'll do safety tests and report back.

[Tin Can]

Barry great link to a huge variety of interesting LED!





I made a small LED safelight by converting a halogen reading lamp. I used 12 x 5mm clear LEDs with a wavelength of 660nm. Perfectly safe. I've recently bought one of these: https://www.ebay.com/itm/24W-Deep-Red-625nm-630nm-660nm-LED-Lamp-Light-Bulb-PCB-Driver-Plant-Aquarium/392047280911?ssPageName=STRK%3AMEBIDX%3AIT&var=661004159937&_trksid=p2060353.m2749.l2649 I find that they're very bright and should be used with a dimmer, which I haven't yet obtained. When I get it all together I'll do safety tests and report back.

[Pere Casals]

660nm. Perfectly safe.

Regarding the suitable wavelength, I guess that not always the deepest red is the best choice. There is a trade-off between paper sensibility and human eye sensibility.

With same perceived "illumination level" we may expose less the paper with an orange source. Also orange light may allow to pre-view better how the prints are before openning lights.

Sodium lamps have been a good choice:

https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/3/3f/Low-pressure_sodium_lamp_spectrum.svg/1920px-Low-pressure_sodium_lamp_spectrum.svg.png

So a LED around 600nm may also be interesting.

Some sodium lamps did not work because also having emissions in the shorter wavelengths. Today LEDs are cheap and we may try several nm to see what allows to see better without fogging paper.

Perhaps we may need more than one safe light, depending on the materials we use, of course, this may include ortho/orthopan film.

I'm using deep red, but I plan to explore a 610nm solution. Using 610 nm LED may require a filter on the LEDs to block any nm spread in the shorter side, the shorter the wavelength the better we see, but at the same time it would be more important to block the shorter wavelength that can be there.

I was thinking... a way to obtain a pure monochromatic orange would be using a powerful laser through a difuser, this would not require filters, 1W lasers in the 638nm are popular... perhaps this can be explored, the advantage is that allphotons are exactly 638nm, with no spread.

[Pfsor]

Don't know, Pere, but the less spread the light source has the more your posts are spread... :confused:

[koraks]

I ordered a few meters of red and white LED strips and two power supplies; I've still got a remote controlled switch laying around and am planning to combine this into a convenient white/safe light setup, distributing the cut strips over the darkroom. Let's see how it works out but for paper, I expect no problems as I already use a mix of cheap red LED bulbs. I'll post back once I installed and test it.

[Martinzo]

I think that using LEDs will help you to save a lot of money. I've read on some sites that this technology is not consuming a lot of electricity. In this way, you make some economies. I also bought a few LED lamps from one of the best manufactures. You can visit LITELUME's website (https://www.litelume.com/) to read more details about their technology and their product. Now, in my house, you will find only LEDs made by these guys. I am very pleased with their product because I never had any problems with it. I never changed any lamp from them.

[John Layton]

Interesting (I think) aside...that my "bargain" Delta large-sized globe style safelight/bulbs, supposedly "OC Amber," are actually slightly redder than other "OC-specified" light sources - but not as red as "red specified" ones. About perfect I think!

[MrDen]

...

Heiland also propose a LED safelight yellow 590nm and red 630nm.
Not only the red 630nm / white 6000K.
What to think about this one?

And the durst labolux?
I got one, still haven't really tested it.
Don't know what to think about it...

[Tin Can]

I used to recommend Led 1 watt bulb. They improved it as is now brighter.

Test and bounce off walls.

[Eric Woodbury]

I've been using these in both RED and AMBER.

https://www.superbrightleds.com/moreinfo/globe-bulbs/s11-led-bulb-75-watt-equivalent-led-globe-bulb-27-lumens/440/

I prefer the RED as it works with everything (I have some Russian paper than requires RED). If you have color blindness in the red, it could be a problem. Developing prints look a little more contrasty in RED than in AMBER. Take advantage of this to see if you need to adjust the contrast of the print. Of course, RED makes skin pale (especially mine) than it is, but AMBER makes me look green.

If the light is too bright, either bounce it off the wall or put a piece of black tape over some of it.

My 9 x 12' darkroom has 7 of these bulbs in pendant and clamp reflector fixtures (the cheap ones from Home Depot).

[j.e.simmons]

Adox makes a red led safelight in 230v. Mirko says they are looking into making it in 110v. They recommend it for working with their new Polywarmtone emulsion.