How dark a room must a dark room be?

[welly]

Hey guys,

Just picked up some sheets of Velvia and FP4. I am currently without a dark changing bag as my local camera shop, who I ordered one from in November, have failed to supply. I'm absolutely eager to get started and get some film holders loaded. I have a couple of rooms in my house, to my mind, are pretty dark! So how dark are we talking so as not to fog or ruin my sheets of film?

Cheers!

Welly

[Gem Singer]

You need total darkness. so, make it as dark as you possibly can.

Work at night, if possible.

[Bill McMannis]

Welly,

You need TOTAL darkness for loading your film. My darkroom is in an inner room in the lower level of the house with no windows. I have a bit of a lightlock in that the room is U-shaped. Nevertheless, I only load film at night with lights out in the outer room. I also stow my darkroom timer as it has a luminous face and it is amazing how much light the thing generates.

If you have an inner room in a basement without windows, you may be okay, but check for ambient light.

Hope you get your changing bag soon. It will help.

[welly]

Cheers for the advice chaps! I have a small toilet, which has no windows at all and with the lights off, at night, it's going to be total darkness I would say. I'll check it out tonight and see how it is. I can always stuff some curtains at the bottom of the door where what little light there is may get in.

Just got ghosts and the boogie man to contend with in that room now!

[Gem Singer]

I use a dark color bathroom rug, folded in half, to block off the light at the bottom of the door. Stays in place very nicely.

[Greg Lockrey]

Remember that a pinhole is enough to make an exposure. A cheap way to make a darkroom is to make a tent out of black visqueen and drap it over the doors and windows. My garage served as my darkroom for years hanging visqueen off of the ceiling. Be generous with it's use too.

[Thebes]

Total darkness shmottle darkness.

I've loaded film in a "darkroom" that I could actually, just barely, read in. That one wasn't dark enough and I convinced the photo editor of the college paper to finally do something about it. She thought I was coming on to her when I insisted that I could read in the "darkroom" and wanted to show her. She thought I was crazy until I proved to her how much light there was, no one else had ever complained. I think it did fog my higher speed films but even it would probably have been ok with velvia if loaded quickly enough.

My current "loading closet" is the hallway of a dilapidated rv, which at night can be made dark enough I can only see the chrome trim of the shower doorway after my eyes have adjusted for a couple minutes. I have no worries about loading film there, no sign of any fogging, though I am a bit worried about souping sheet film there in open trays which I hope to try tonight.

You have no need for actual and complete darkness, you just need a good approximation. If you can't see your hand in front of your face you are plenty dark. I've souped sheet film open in similar conditions.

BTW, remember that with a pinhole light is directly shining on the film, not good and way brighter than ambient lighting where you can't quite see your hand in front of your face.

[iozone]

Many years ago I heard somewhere that a darkroom was dark enough if, after 10 -15 minutes in the darkroom you couldn't see your hand in front of your face. I have used this as a test since and believe it works great.

[welly]

I'll try that out tonight then!

One more question, when I open up the box of film (25 sheet box of Ilford FP4 and 10 sheet box of Fuji Velvia), what should I expect? I know there's an inner box and then the film will be foil wrapped. I'm assuming one foil envelope with the film inside? Is it then separated somehow? Excuse this question but this is a pretty big (and being as I bought the film here in NZ, expensive!) step for me

[IanMazursky]

Ive been in some large pro lab darkrooms over the years that are not light tight at all.
It didn't fog the film but im not one to try my luck. It amazes me how resilient film is.

I have found that slower speed film (100) can stand extremely dim light for a bit.
I had an old dark bag years ago that well wasn't all that dark
It never fogged my film but one day i decided to stick my head in and i promptly threw it out.
I didnt want to try my luck so i bought a calumet dark tent.

I think since the light is so diffused and for a short period of time it has a smaller chance of fogging the film.
To be safe, i would put a thick towel over the gap under the door. Dark bags from paper boxes work great for covering windows and gaps.
I just did my whole basement and i can load film and paper without a problem.