How to know if it is truly dark in a darkroom?
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rbiemer
Unabashed Amateur
Thanks, folks!
The closet I am planning to use is in an interior bathroom--no windows and not any in line of sight to the bathroom door--and there is only the single overhead light fixture.
I am not, yet, setting up an enlarger and so do not have to worry about light from any equipment.
I am going to need to practice loading the film holders and the daylight tank and check that the film holders are also light tight.
So, some night this week, I will sacrifice some of the film and just see what I get.
The last time I did any wet processing was in the late 70s (in high school) and the printing dark room was not ever very dark, in fact there was no door at all but a short labyrinth--something like an "s" shaped path. That was painted flat black but the darkroom itself was painted white. The film room was a small room inside that space.
Keith, thanks for the chuckle!
With any luck, my first developed 4x5 film will be completely blank! 🙂
Rob
The closet I am planning to use is in an interior bathroom--no windows and not any in line of sight to the bathroom door--and there is only the single overhead light fixture.
I am not, yet, setting up an enlarger and so do not have to worry about light from any equipment.
I am going to need to practice loading the film holders and the daylight tank and check that the film holders are also light tight.
So, some night this week, I will sacrifice some of the film and just see what I get.
The last time I did any wet processing was in the late 70s (in high school) and the printing dark room was not ever very dark, in fact there was no door at all but a short labyrinth--something like an "s" shaped path. That was painted flat black but the darkroom itself was painted white. The film room was a small room inside that space.
Keith, thanks for the chuckle!
With any luck, my first developed 4x5 film will be completely blank! 🙂
Rob
ChrisPlatt
Thread Killer
Shut off all light sources in darkroom and wait ten minutes; your eyes should adjust to detect any light leaks that might fog paper.
I have had several darkrooms, including one in a basement and one in a bathroom, both without windows.
The absence of windows made lightproofing easier, but I was never confident enough to handle film, exposed or not.
I have always loaded my daylight tanks in a large changing bag, while sitting comfortably at the dining room table.
Chris
I have had several darkrooms, including one in a basement and one in a bathroom, both without windows.
The absence of windows made lightproofing easier, but I was never confident enough to handle film, exposed or not.
I have always loaded my daylight tanks in a large changing bag, while sitting comfortably at the dining room table.
Chris
ray*j*gun
Veteran
Plus 0ne and do the work at night just in case.
esearing
Established
You can put black out curtains on a rod on the inside of the closet door. My darkroom closet is in a garage side room and gets some light at bottom of the door if the garage doors are open. It is fine for printing and not enough to fog paper. for changing film you can also turn a cardboard box on its side facing you so that your body blocks any other glowing objects in the room like thermometers or timers. If using a bathroom be aware of mirror and polished surface reflections.
Dante_Stella
Rex canum cattorumque
Keith's graphic is funny but in fact correct.
If it takes you 5-10 minutes to see a light leak with eyes that focus and can see at like EV -10, a loose piece of film of moderate to low speed (100-400), with no lens focusing that light on it, won't see it - and at worst, it's probably going to be uniform and imperceptible fog that is well within the margin of error in your development technique. You're probably imagining the types of shaped light leaks that happen when you get pinholes in a bellows. Doesn't happen that way in a darkroom; the more acute problem is forgetting part of a plastic tank and having film fog from the top down. But that is happening when you have the lights on.
Worrying about leaks? Been there, done that, 1000 times. You can drive yourself nuts trying to blot out every light leak, especially around doors. If you feel there is a problem, shield the film from the leak with your body and just hurry the hell up loading that daylight tank. If you're doing it right, a roll of film is only out of the can/backing paper (and out of the tank) for between 30 seconds and a minute, and even then, the part of the film not yet on the reel is shielded by the palm of your hand. Also, film is not transparent prior to development, so the outer part of the film is shielding the inner part of the roll. Remember there is still an antihalo backing on the film when you are loading it.
Dante
If it takes you 5-10 minutes to see a light leak with eyes that focus and can see at like EV -10, a loose piece of film of moderate to low speed (100-400), with no lens focusing that light on it, won't see it - and at worst, it's probably going to be uniform and imperceptible fog that is well within the margin of error in your development technique. You're probably imagining the types of shaped light leaks that happen when you get pinholes in a bellows. Doesn't happen that way in a darkroom; the more acute problem is forgetting part of a plastic tank and having film fog from the top down. But that is happening when you have the lights on.
Worrying about leaks? Been there, done that, 1000 times. You can drive yourself nuts trying to blot out every light leak, especially around doors. If you feel there is a problem, shield the film from the leak with your body and just hurry the hell up loading that daylight tank. If you're doing it right, a roll of film is only out of the can/backing paper (and out of the tank) for between 30 seconds and a minute, and even then, the part of the film not yet on the reel is shielded by the palm of your hand. Also, film is not transparent prior to development, so the outer part of the film is shielding the inner part of the roll. Remember there is still an antihalo backing on the film when you are loading it.
Dante
If there is any doubt ... I highly recommend one of these! :angel:
😀
