Lights in the darkroom

[andreios]

Hello everyone,

after almost a two-year pause caused by moving to a different place, renovating house and basically life happening, I am finally very very near to having a darkroom again. It is a former "washing room" in our 1930s house, in the basement, much more spacious than my previous darkroom in the old place, and most importantly, unlike the old one, this one has running water!
Anyway, to get to my question - I have been reading various "show darkroom" and "build darkroom" threads here on the forum, where I got some ideas as to where to put what and how to organize the room itself, however, one thing that I still haven't decided is to where to put what kind of lights - it is especially in this matter where I would appreciate any hints and comments.

Besides "regular" darkroom processes like film development and bw printing I am also very keen on alternative processes, so I will need a large-ish table for paper coating etc.

I am attaching here a quick "sketch" with the measurements (metric)


My idea is to have one or two red lights over the sink, another separately wired red light close to the enlarger (I used to have one connected to my timer), then white lights over the sink (maybe a LED strip), one stronger light over the worktable /with additional desk lamp/ and one low wattage yellow light for alt processes over the table as well + one separate light close to the storage unit. Does that make sense? Or is it overkill?

Thank you

PS: Any other suggestions re: darkroom build will be appreciated as well...

[Doremus Scudder]

I like diffuse safelight in my darkroom. I have a couple of older Kodak 10x12-inch safelights suspended from the ceiling and pointed up plus a strip of red LEDs over the shelf above my darkroom sink. The shelf shields the sink from direct light from the LEDs, but light from them bounces off walls and ceilings. I have Kodak bullets hanging from the ceiling over the counter at each enlarger work station. These have pull chains so they can be turned off when not needed (I use them rarely - the diffuse safelight does the job for most everything). My darkroom is painted white except around the enlargers, so the light reflects well.

For white light, I installed track lighting: one track over the sink, one parallel to the wall where my viewing area is and one more more centrally. I have three or four light fixtures in each track. These can be positioned as desired and pointed in any direction; very flexible. With longer tracks, you can have every possibility covered and reposition lighting as needed.

Do make sure you have light over your fixer tray that can be switched on with wet hands. Mine has a switch close by I can hit with my elbow. In earlier darkrooms I had a light with a waterproof pull chain over the fixer tray.

Best,

Doremus

[Alan9940]

For safelights, many folks nowadays use red LED strips (Doremus mentions this.) I've had a Thomas Super Safelight for 40+ years and the only maintenance I've ever done on it is to replace the filter gels. Like Doremus, I like a more diffuse light in the darkroom so I keep the vanes closed; it's still nicely bright, though. I have a Paterson 10x12 safelight mounted on a wall to the side of the sink that I use for the few times I do DBI. I have a 4-bulb fluorescent mounted on the ceiling for general white light and a light over the fixer tray on a switch for examining prints prior to downstream final processing. The "print light" is of a wattage and distance from my fixer tray to emit a specific EV value at the paper level. I've long forgotten what the value is, but John Sexton mentioned it in one of Brooks Jensen's darkroom video tours he used to do. If you're a member of Lenswork's online membership site, I'm pretty sure all these videos are posted there.

[Graham Patterson]

The main thing I've found over several darkroom setups is to remember where you will be standing, and make sure you are not trying to work in your own shadow. Diffuse light helps a lot in that respect. I sometimes need to work with ortho materials, so I have one deep red light. This also means that I have separate switches to isolate the regular safe lights to prevent accidental exposures. Normally the general safelights are tied to the enlarger timer. Your work flow and movement around the space will show you what you need.

[neil poulsen]

In deciding on safelights, I took my direction from John Wimberley, in a darkroom workshop that he taught. I use two #1 RED, the 5" or 6" circular safelights with 15 watt bulbs. (He advised against using #1a LIGHT RED lights.)

The 15 watt bulbs don't offer very bright illumination, but they work fine, once my eyes adjust to them. I have 9 foot ceilings in my darkroom, so they're fairly high up. One is central in my darkroom, and the second is nearer the enlarger and fixer, and more distant from the developer.

[Doremus Scudder]

In deciding on safelights, I took my direction from John Wimberley, in a darkroom workshop that he taught. I use two #1 RED, the 5" or 6" circular safelights with 15 watt bulbs. (He advised against using #1a LIGHT RED lights.)

The 15 watt bulbs don't offer very bright illumination, but they work fine, once my eyes adjust to them. I have 9 foot ceilings in my darkroom, so they're fairly high up. One is central in my darkroom, and the second is nearer the enlarger and fixer, and more distant from the developer.

Strange. I use and like my three safelights with #1A filters. No fogging on any of the papers I use. I'd use the amber OC if I could, since they provide more usable light for the eyes, but I use Foma papers quite a bit, which fog under OC filters.

I had a Thomas safelight for about 15 minutes... Too bright, too noisy and it hung way too low in low-ceiling darkroom. I likely had one with a bad ballast; it really buzzed. My Kodak safelights and the LED strips are really quiet .

Doremus

[andreios]

Thank you so far for all the suggestions...
In my old darkroom I had two Paterson safelights (like this one), but that room was half the size of the current one, so I think I would like to add something more.

Doremus, you have mentioned red LED strips - I have installed several LED strips around the house, but the place I usually get them only has RGB strips with remote control units - is it something like that that you use or are there led strips with just red light without the need of a controller?

For an "over-fixer-light" I used to have a small lamp clamped to the sheld above - I liked that I can move it around depending on the size of the trays I am working with...

[Fred L]

This looks like a well laid out darkroom and not too small.

If the darkroom height allows it and you can find one, like others, I can't say enough about the Thomas Duplex lights. Much more comfortable on my eyes vs red led safelights.

As for coating alternative, I coat in the sink on top of a sheet of plexi. The sink is handy for washing the brush between coats. If you so this, I'd suggest having lights that aren't super bright.

Have fun setting up your darkroom !


-and I couldn't print without anti-fatigue mats, proper ones, not the large rubber ones with holes that you can find at home improvement stores.

[Alan9940]

I had a Thomas safelight for about 15 minutes... Too bright, too noisy and it hung way too low in low-ceiling darkroom. I likely had one with a bad ballast; it really buzzed. My Kodak safelights and the LED strips are really quiet .

Mine certainly has a hum, but I certainly wouldn't say that it buzzes. I've always had 8-10 foot ceilings in my darkroom, but it definitely is too bright (for my taste) with the vanes wide open. Honestly, after working with the Thomas in the darkroom for 40+ years I hardly notice the sound; and, at this point, total silence would probably drive my nuts!

[maltfalc]

https://www.kyleswitchplates.com/pre...ight-switches/