Nightvision goggles for developing film?

[oldlincoln]

+1 For the ATN Viper. Diabetes has made the sense of touch in my hands so I can't load reels and holders by feel. I find it easier to use than safe lights for X-Ray too.

[Eric Woodbury]

Here's a change of direction. I haven't tried this yet, but I'm suspicious that one could develop film under deep-red LED light. Most film, although not all (examples such as T-grain films come to mind), have very little responsivity to light beyond 650 nm. Most of us can see to 700 nm, except for those with red-green colorblindness. You can now buy LEDs that peak at 680 nm (http://www.marktechopto.com/pdf/prod...2012_05_17.pdf) that have virtually no light shorter than 650 nm. These LEDs won't appear very bright because human vision is falling off rapidly by 680 nm. Anyway, just a thought.

Test before you do.

[axs810]

I saw another forum member recommend these for xray film...so do you think if I try one of these (in theory) I should be able to develop under a safelight with film such as kodak 320txp?

Red LED - 630 nm

https://www.superbrightleds.com/more...Specifications

[oldlincoln]

I use 680nm illuminators bounced off of the ceiling for my NV device. No trace of fogging, but I can't see by them either.

[Bill Burk]

I've tested the ATN Viper with Kodak 400TMAX (TMY-2) specifically, which I believe has less sensitivity to near infra-red than Kodak 320TXP.

I've used the viewer with Tri-X without noticing any fog, but I didn't test the film sensitometrically for the difference with and without.

I believe the device is reasonably safe for Tri-X, I just haven't proved how safe or for how long. One thing I did is cut the light down with a patch of developed silver film (as opposed to black E-6 slide film which is completely transparent to IR). I'd recommend that precaution, because it extends how long you can use the viewer without any fog.

I tried other IR light sources from Radio Shack, but once you go too far into Infrared light, they don't provide the illumination the ATN Viper needs. It is a 1st generation device, so it cannot see too deep into infrared.

Human eyes can't see under the light though, even though you can see the LED clearly, you cant see by its light (p.s. I don't think it's good to look at it - that is bright IR.)

[Eric Woodbury]

630 nm will probably fog film. 630 is the peak and there is spill over on both sides.

Bill, you are right. Don't look at IR sources. Or UV. Even with some of the bright, very blue LEDs I use sunglasses. Your eyes may not see them as bright, but can be damaged even more so, for this reason.

[axs810]

Wait a minute...I think I got lost here. So are you guys using the ATN Viper with bounced LED or IR in addition to what is already being projected by the ATN?

Sorry this is a new subject for me so I just want to make sure I understand you all correctly.

[Sevo]

Regarding using deep red LEDs for development by sight: While we can see deep red bare-eyed, our capabilities there are restricted to very coarse silhouettes - I always found it very difficult to develop half tone films by sight when working in print shop labs brightly lit by arrays of red FL tubes. And that is a trivial subject in intense light, the illumination safe for photographic film is further down the spectrum, and you would have to evaluate tonality and not merely contrast.

[c.d.ewen]

I ponied up for a binocular viewer (NOBG1) from Night Owl Optics years ago and wouldn't think of being without it. I use a separate IR illuminator I got off eBay, as using the built-in one chews up batteries. I keep it about four feet away from the sink.

Tip: always keep a spare battery around. And another tip: be sure-fingered when turning the goggles off, or you'll be hitting that spare battery too soon. The image goes dark very slowly on power-down, so you want to be confident that you positively hit that button.

The goggles can be focused quite close up, but have a small depth of field. Focusing them at arm's length working distance means I have to bend over to read the under-sink timer; you get used to that.

Using the goggles for developing by inspection takes more practice than I want to do. They are indispensable, however, for klutz's like me who are constantly dropping things on the floor while loading film holders, etc.

Charley

[younghoon Kil]

To avoid the long drain/fill times, I use three tanks, but I don't use them in the "dip-n-dunk" method. The following method does away with the long fill and drain time; all three tanks are in a plastic tub water bath.

I turn out the lights and load film into the "stop bath" tank for the prewash, turn lights back on, then give a one minute prewash with constant agitation, then drain the "S" tank. When ready to start developing, turn out the lights, remove the "S" lid, put film in the "developer" tank with dev at correct temp, lift film holder up and down for about 20sec, my dev time starts at the end of the 20 sec, put the "D" lid on the "D" tank gently, develop and agitate by inversion method with lights on.

...

I'm going to follow this method to develop Foma films using CombiPlan tanks.
And for this step, I'm going to use night vision goggles.

I bought Jakks Pacific's Spynet Night Vision Goggles on eBay, but it was very inconvenient for me.

- https://www.amazon.com/Nightfox-Magn.../dp/B09L8LYN1Y

So I'm thinking of purchasing Nightfox Red(1x, 940nm, 1080p) from eBay(these goggles provide a comfortable adjustable head strap). The price is around $90 - $100.
If there is anything else I need to be careful about or prepare for, I would like to ask for advice.