Would this bulb work as a safelight?

No

No

No. You need a Wratten OC bulb. Usually 15 Watt, placed more than 1 meter away from your paper.
The old red bulbs were only good for orthochromatic papers and films of which almost none are available today.

Phil Forrest
 
Nope. Don't get it. Been there and done that.

Try to find a PATERSON safelight. Not expensive and I have never fogged any paper using these. Nice and bright, too. Have three of them in my basment darkroom right now,
 
The first bulb mentioned will not work...the coating on the bulb is too thin and will fog your paper...
Plus you might want to find out which bulb (color & wattage) the Paper Manufacturer recommends...not all work best with the red bulb...
 
68degrees said:
what about this one Phil? It doesnt say Wratten OC specifically but maybe it is.
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/15766-REG/Delta_35110_Brightlab_Universal_Red_Junior.html
Click to expand...


That one may work but like Nikon Sam mentioned, you should check your paper. That's why most folks just go for the 15W OC bulb. It's good for all papers as long as it's far enough away from your easel and loading areas.

Honestly, check Craigslist too. A few years ago I was forced to sell about $3000 worth in darkroom equipment and I only got $475 out of it all. My dream enlarger with my dream lenses. Easels half the size of a bed (slight exaggeration.) I gave away a few safelights, even.
You may be able to find one of the good light housings for a 15W bulb with a Wratten OC filter. Then you just have to go buy a soft 15W bulb and ensure that the lamp is light-tight with some gaff tape. These things don't burn out often and they are used only maybe 10% of the average use of a regular bulb so they should last you a long time unless you have wonky power in your building.

Phil Forrest
 
Phil_F_NM said:
... most folks just go for the 15W OC bulb. It's good for all papers as long as it's far enough away from your easel and loading areas.

Phil Forrest
Click to expand...

I havent seen any bulbs for sale that mention 15W OC. I want to just be able to screw it(them) into my bathroom fixture for the print session and then remove them after the print session so the bathroom can be a normal looking bathroom. Do you have a source?
 
more reading seems to say that red is for film and amber is for papers? Can anyone confirm this? It seems OC means amber and is safe for all papers as was mentioned.
 
Way long ago Green was used when developing film by inspection.

Red is good for most papers but you need to fog test ithem.

Check out the Kodak light about halfway through the listi gs at the following link. It will screw into any light socket and that style is relatively common in used darkroom equipment places.
 
68degrees said:
more reading seems to say that red is for film and amber is for papers?
Click to expand...

Red is for all kinds of ortho sensitized material - mostly technical film, these days, but it was standard in pre pan days. As the low light sensitivity cells in the human eye are insensitive to the red part of the spectrum, it is a rather poor choice for a low intensity illumination, and yellow-green, orange or yellow were used wherever possible. For the currently common blue/green sensitive variable contrast paper, orange (or sodium vapour yellow) is best and safest.

Old-school pan film can be inspected in the light of a very weak green lamp after a few minutes of development (YMMV depending on the type of sensitizers used).
 
Red works fine -- it's what Frances and I use -- but it has to be the RIGHT red. Too bright, or the wrong colour, and it'll fog. And yes, some screw-in red-dip bulbs, as sold specifically for safelight use, are fine, but as you'd have to test them first, you're unlikely to save time or money unless you're lucky first time.

Have you considered putting an ES male connector on one end of a piece of electric string, and your safelight on the other? Greatly reduces the 'draping' problem.

Cheers,

R.
 
RichL said:
Way long ago Green was used when developing film by inspection.

Red is good for most papers but you need to fog test ithem.

Check out the Kodak light about halfway through the listi gs at the following link. It will screw into any light socket and that style is relatively common in used darkroom equipment places.
Click to expand...

what link? I dont see a link?
 
Roger Hicks said:
Have you considered putting an ES male connector on one end of a piece of electric string, and your safelight on the other? Greatly reduces the 'draping' problem.

Cheers,

R.
Click to expand...

what is ES? Electric string? Im not sure what that is either. You mean hang it from a hook on the ceiling? Ive thought about that. I may have to do it.

Then I turned out all the lights and plugged in the Kodak safelight with #13 filter. IT was really dark. I dont see how that would be bright enough to be of any benefit. Ive seen photos of darkrooms with their safelights on and its bright enough to take photos in! Im sure the exposures were long but still. My ceilling in white the floor is white and the walls are light blue(dont say I told you so i dont want to hear it!)
 
Here is a trick passed on to me from an old time photographer. Put a brown paper bag or two over a 15 watt bulb, make sure no light leaks out, and voila - a safelight.

Of course I'd recommend a test before using extensively, but I used this in my first darkroom for several years with no fogging whatsoever.

Since it's only a 15 watt bulb, chances of a fire hazard are minimal. But I would not leave it on if you leave the room for any length of time.
 
Pablito said:
Here is a trick passed on to me from an old time photographer. Put a brown paper bag or two over a 15 watt bulb, make sure no light leaks out, and voila - a safelight.

Of course I'd recommend a test before using extensively, but I used this in my first darkroom for several years with no fogging whatsoever.

Since it's only a 15 watt bulb, chances of a fire hazard are minimal. But I would not leave it on if you leave the room for any length of time.
Click to expand...

thats awesome.

Why cant somebody make safelight sheets. Inexpensive red or orange amber sheets that wrap around ordinary bulb secured with elastic? Has that never been invented?
 
ES = Edison Screw. Standard US bulb fitting. Should be available as a small fitting to screw into the light socket and accept a piece of electric string.

Electric string = flex, cable, wire, whatever you want to call it. The stuff that connects to power supplies.

Yes, safelights are pretty dim: your eyes need five minutes to accommodate.

Cheers,

R.

Old Royal Navy saying: There are three kinds, yea, three kinds of string: brown string, hairy string and electric string.
 
Hey folks I'd like to share this info: when my safelight bulb bit the dust I decided to try red LEDs (you can buy strips with pure red LEDs and DC converters for them quite cheaply nowadays .. I did so at the german Conrad store)
They are much brighter that the usual safe light bulbs. To try if it's safe to work in this light I covered the half of a blank sheet hang the LEDs a few cm above the paper, switched them on and waited for approx. 20 minutes. I developed the paper and it was pure white on either sites (the exposed and the unexposed). No signs of the LED light at all.
 
You can get a Delta Bright Lab Jr. red safelight bulb that screws into a conventional socket. 11 watts, safe for b&w paper (but maintain distance and check fogging - I found it a little too strong in my 5 ft. x 6 ft. temporary bathroom darkroom), $17 at B&H:
 
k__43 said:
Hey folks I'd like to share this info: when my safelight bulb bit the dust I decided to try red LEDs (you can buy strips with pure red LEDs and DC converters for them quite cheaply nowadays .. I did so at the german Conrad store)
They are much brighter that the usual safe light bulbs. To try if it's safe to work in this light I covered the half of a blank sheet hang the LEDs a few cm above the paper, switched them on and waited for approx. 20 minutes. I developed the paper and it was pure white on either sites (the exposed and the unexposed). No signs of the LED light at all.
Click to expand...

nice! that sounds cost effective and safe. I think Ill try it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom