Recent content by Letters to Theo

Thank you all. I am using off-the-shelf sodium hydroxide bought at a DIY store, maybe that is the culprit.

Here it is.

No, definitely no fixer residues—I’m certain of that. I always use sodium sulfite and then wash my prints for at least thirty minutes. The deposits we were talking about are a different matter, they appear as a fine white powder. The marks I am referring to, when observed at an angle clearly...

Thanks all. I use the classic formula (Anchell’s “Formulary Thiourea Toner”). I’ll try diluting it, the redevelopment is extremely quick so there might be some margin to reduce the concentration. It seems to me however that the only effective solution is maximum attention and 110% focussing...

Hi all. The title pretty much says it all. For the past few months, I’ve been focusing heavily on toning, but I’m finding it extremely difficult to leave the darkroom with a sepia-toned print that doesn't show even the slightest mark on its surface. I’m sure you know what I mean. The defects...

Thanks for the advice. I'll do a test, just out of curiosity.

Just a few words to report back. Problem solved. As many of you pointed out, it was the safelight — either it was too intense, or the old filter wasn't providing a suitable spectrum for Retrobrom. Anyway, I bought an ADOX Supersafe 220 darkroom light, and my unexposed white borders came out...

Molt bé, molt bé.

Thanks everyone for all the input. I’ve been in the darkroom this afternoon to install a second socket for the safelight a bit further away from the wet area, I'll run the test this week and see what the verdict is. Could I ask you which LED strips you’re referring to? I’ve seen a model on...

Thank you koraks, thorough as usual. It's an old Kaiser lamp, a white light with an insertable red filter, in a plastic housing. I still can't understand why Ilford MG FB Classic doesn't show any fogging though, especially as it is slightly more restrictive regarding spectral sensitivity...

Thanks, everyone. The paper in question is Foma Retrobrom, from a recently opened pack. I’ve been using Lith developers with this paper for years under the same red light without any issues. (But that doesn’t count, since as far as I know Lith process doesn't suffer from safelight fogging.) A...

Hi everyone, this is my first post here, though I’ve been a long-time reader of the forum. I’m looking for some help regarding darkroom safelights. I’ve never had any issues using a classic light-red safelight—until a few days ago. I recently developed a bromide-iodide paper that came out...