clothesontheline
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What do you mean by correct spectrum?
Do I just cut back on all the times except for the developer?
... LED's might be fine, although they might fog your image (make it have a gray tone overall)... i think for this purpose the LED's might be fine, try to look one in the correct spectrum if not,you'll probably be fine.
even in .0xx mm makes a difference, although a general exposure of 10-30 seconds is fine, testing each one before hand would be best, but time consuming. you can have the kids test one, but it might take to long, although a quick development will be fine.
Get larger trays so you can develop several images at a time. Garden seed trays may be a good alternative.
What do you mean by correct spectrum?
Do I just cut back on all the times except for the developer?
as for an led... as has been mentioned almost any red led will probably do.. but if you have the chance to read specifications... i believe that anything around 660nm frequency would be considered safe, so if you have the opportunity to red the specifications, and have a choice, such an led, would be the best.
Don't do any of the red bulbs. OC is dark amber/brown, and none of the choices you made are brown...
You can't tell by the pictures, but this is what you need...
(there was a url link here which no longer exists)
I never saw your question to me sorry... Since this is going to be temporary, the led's seem the way to go definitely, especially since you can actually use them for something else afterwards. I don't know if those leds are safe or not, and looking through amazon, looks like most manufacturers omit the minor details of importance to us at the moment. Since you will be doing this for fun and i think you should not loose sight of that as your main objective, the led bike light on amazon, is sufficient enough. It looks like a red casing over a white led, so i'm not sure. but what you can do, is point it away from your working area so that you get just enough light to see what you are doing. if it is still to bright, then put a white piece of paper or something translucent, so that you still get light but not as strong. Remember, your not making technically perfect pictures, and i doubt you'll get much fogging, IF ANY from this led light, as long as it doesn't directly hit your working area... Just something quick.... when i worked alone in the darkroom at school. i would put the paper in developer 1st step... and wash it... once washed for a couple of minutes, the developer is gone. so for my first practice prints, i would turn on the light or take the sheet outside to see my exposure. OF course, don't do that, but what i want to say, is don't worry much about fogging the paper. it's only for a couple of minutes, and most likely won't happen, and even if it does, it won't be noticeable.
As for the plastic containers... those are fine, in photography, we want strong durable ones, because we'll be using them for a while, and so they become brittle over the years and eventually crack, but we'll have gotten our money's worth. You, on the other hand, only need a container for one time use... i suggest the cheapest one that can get the job done... these seem good for that... the cheaper the better.
so, first your developer which should be this
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/27029-REG/Kodak_1464726_Dektol_Developer_Powder.html
and you do have the right fixer... if you zoom in it says 2-4 minutes for rc paper, which is what you will be using.
the hardeners are usually for fiber paper, so you'll be fine with just 2 minutes.
just found an awesome site.. had been mentioned here before...
(there was a url link here which no longer exists)
this led goes into a regular light socket/lamp socket... and does not fog paper for sure, cheaper version of the one mentioned above, from the same site.
http://www.superbrightleds.com/moreinfo/led-globe/2-watt-g11-globe-bulb-360-degree/440/
Wow. That looks perfect; thanks so much for looking around! I'm not sure why everyone doesn't just buy safe and cheap LEDs like this.. photo marketing is something else.
I plan on ordering everything in the next few hours, so if you or anyone else gets this, do you think I should get 2 of those; and should I get amber or red?
The photo-marketers guarantee the spectrum of their lamps - not so with these sorts of LEDs. All it takes is a slight change in production processes to make these LEDs unsafe for darkroom work. As these LEDs are not represented as being usable as safelights, the vendor doesn't have any reason to worry about telling its customers about such a change.
That being said, I tried some similar LEDs and they worked out, so I am happy.
Order at least two. I ordered three from the source I used and one was damaged in transit.
Red is more likely to be safe than amber. If I was ordering now I would get both, because if the amber is safe, it is brighter, but I have other safelights in hand and I have experience testing safelights before use.
Side note: If I(and students possibly) could potential be processing about 60 or 70 prints, how often should I replace the chemicals and which ones?
Side note 2: On the Kodak Dektol package(zoom in) it says "useful range: 3/4 to 3 minutes" what does that mean ; have anything to do wth replacing it?
Everyone who has commented has been unbelievably helpful so far and I am very grateful!
I can wait to actually make a camera and get to making some prints!
-Michael Griffith
Clothesontheline
With regards to replacing the chemicals, don't worry too much about replacing the stop bath, you can use water for that if you want - it is the least important of the chemicals.
The developer will get slower and slower as you use it - but if I am printing on 8x10, I use 1L of working solution in a tray, and replace it about every 25 prints, if you are doing 5x7 you can probably do your 60 or 70 prints with one batch of developer.
The 'useful range' comment is how long it will take in the developer to develop the image - RC will be faster than fiber so a couple of minutes will be more than enough.
Fixer is trickier for determining life - I use Ilford Rapid fixer, which gets diluted 1:9 for paper. 1 L will last for about 20, 8x10 prints, which is about 40 5x7s, I think that what I would do if I were you is just mix up 2L of the solution, and that should handle all of the prints you generate in your printing session.
There is a special chemical that you can get to tell you if your fixer is still good, but since this is a one-shot deal for you, it is probably more trouble than it is worth.
A few thoughts:
You can make a pinhole camera from a paint can - take a nail and punch as small hole in the side of the can, then cover the hole with duct tape. In the dark, open the can, and tape your film or paper inside the can opposite the hole (paper will be curved along the side of the can). Put the lid back on the can. Now take the can out, and set it up, then remove the duct tape to make the exposure, and put it back after exposing. If using photo paper for your image, my guess is that you will need quite long exposures to get a good image (minutes, not seconds).
For your contact prints, you could do Cyanotypes - they have the advantage of not needing any chemicals for developing, you 'develop' in water. You can get a complete kit of the chemicals from photographers formulary. With Cyanotype you mix up the chemical, and then paint it on your paper to make your own photo paper - you can also paint it on fabric and print on a T-shirt.
For the LEDs, would ordering two be the best bet in case one doesn't work properly or one isn't bright enough to light the room by itself?Okay, to answer your other question first, the light bulb from superbrightleds, has specifications, which are the right ones.
Nice tip for the cameras! And yes, I plan on rinsing each print for atleast 5 minutes each.It might be useful, to mark each camera with a number... and write the times of proper exposure onto it as well (black marker)... e.g. pinhole camera no.1... expose for 25 seconds in broad daylight.
It's also important to wash the fixer off completely, so, make sure you wash for as long as time permits in the final water rinse. Remember, the final wash time only begins after you put the last piece in... so say you've been washing for 8 minutes, and you put a photo in out of the fixer... you need to start your time over again.
Again, thanks for willing to go through the effort of showing darkroom practices to the younger generations.
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