Cyan Color Cast

brbo said:

I'm a newcomer to darkroom printing and I don't use a safelight (for colour or bw).

(It's probably easier if you don't know what you are missing?)

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One has to ask why you don't use a safelight for B&W. They have been used almost since the inception of photography by William Henry Fox Talbot at Laycock Abbey in UK in the 19th C. Some have been good, some not so, but believe me it makes life one heck of a lot easier.

There is only one thing I will not use a safelight for when handling light sensitive material and that is film, not even Orthochromatic film, which is allegedly not sensitive to red light.

I also use my Duka with B&W materials (paper) on full power and even after several minutes there is never any fogging to be seen.

There are just too many 'Chinese Whispers' about what affects what in photography and if you believe them you would give up and start meditating to pass the time.

koraks said:

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koraks said:

I don't doubt you were right about that! But I also don't doubt that you have another problem hiding underneath it.

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That is an opinion. What is your basis for this? Even commercial labs have their own variables, so who can say what is right or wrong.

BMbikerider said:

One has to ask why you don't use a safelight for B&W.

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My "darkroom" fits two enlargers and one small man (that's me). Safelight couldn't possibly be placed further away from paper than 0.8m and I do BW prints maybe 5% of the time. Hardly worth the bother.

Only time I wish I had safelight is when I'm cutting RA-4 paper. Do you cut RA-4 paper with safe light on?

Tom Kershaw said:

I have experimented with a very dark green safelight, which is so dark as to almost be unusable but didn't seem to cause fogging issues. Suspect however that working in complete darkness is the better option.

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+1

BMbikerider said:

Not one little bit.

From all the replies to this post it is obvious to me that some responses were made without FULLY reading what I had done and then thinking about what the possible problem is/was and I had already covered light leaks/Duka use and in my mind eliminated them.
As I said, I have been printing RA4 for close on 30 years and always using a Duka as well and this was a completely new one to me.
I suspected the chemistry although it has always been rigidly replenished as per the manufacturers recommendation for both Kodak and Fuji. (they have different rates) Then I read that one possible cause was contamination with stop bath and as the stop bath slot is next to the dev slot...................

I will change my working practices and between every print/test strip I will be wiping down the top of the divider between them especially, the flat topped ledge.

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I am always happy to see people solve their problems.

brbo said:

My "darkroom" fits two enlargers and one small man (that's me). Safelight couldn't possibly be placed further away from paper than 0.8m and I do BW prints maybe 5% of the time. Hardly worth the bother.

Only time I wish I had safelight is when I'm cutting RA-4 paper. Do you cut RA-4 paper with safe light on?

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Yes and never had a problem. When Kodak paper was readily available I used to buy a 12" wide x 88m role and kept it in a home made light tight dispenser so when I needed paper I would cut several sheets in one go. The initial outlay was greater, but for the price of a roll, this was equivalent of close to 200-220 12x16 sheets and I could cut almost any width I wanted to. I won't use the dispenser with Fuji paper because they, the dealers, will only sell 2 rolls at a time and for that quantity of paper per roll it would last over 2 years, then with the added risk of it going stale. Besides I find Fuji paper is very prone to unwanted creases probably because it is thinner based than Kodak.

As the Kodak paper is spooled with the emulsion outwards on the roll, it was arranged to feed out from a slot at the bottom of the dispenser with the emulsion face down on the guillotine platen. (Covered with black velvet cloth stuck down to the surface).
I never had a problem with Kodak paper which I think by experience told me it was slower than Fuji because exposure times were longer. I work on a 15-20s exposure for a 12x16 Fuji where Kodak for the same size was perhaps 10% longer

BMbikerider said:

What is your basis for this?

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Your description of seeing additional density (on top of your now resolved chemical fogging issue) on the 50 second control strip compared to the other strips. That's a sign that something's not in order. In your case, I'd dedicate 5 minutes to run another test with a strip you develop immediately and one that spends 2 minutes out under safelight conditions. If the latter shows more density than the former, eliminate the cause. It's a 5 minute investment to rule out a possible problem. Sounds like a good investment to me.

I am sorry but this was a question I asked, but contrary to theories about the safelight they were wrong, I found out that it was the chemistry, now can you accept this as fact and leave it at that.

BMbikerider said:

I am sorry but this was a question I asked, but contrary to theories about the safelight they were wrong, I found out that it was the chemistry, now can you accept this as fact and leave it at that.

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And admit that they were wrong on the internet? Not in this universe.

BMbikerider said:

now can you accept this as fact and leave it at that

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Sure.
Plus, you seem to be having a safelight problem, the severity of which is yet undetermined. I'll leave it at, no problem.