Delta Brightlab Junior Safelight bulb went south

[lhalcong]

Here I am in my bathroom darkroom, bulb in the ceiling lamp. I start noticing fogged highlights. I thought I had fogged the paper. so I grabbed a piece of a different box , same thing. too weird 'cause I know I didnt fogged them. then I process an unexposed piece of paper for 3 min in Dektol 1:2 , I see the paper turning darker and darker to the point of black right in front of my eyes. wow: I said, the safelight is not safe anymore . I realized the room didnt look that much red anymore.... Did this happen to anybody else ?

Then I went on processing with lights off. I noticed still highlights fogged even from different boxes that I know are not fogged. too weird. I said , could it be the Dektol ?
I dumped it and made a fresh mix of working solution from the same batch of stock solution. process with safelight off. Perfect whites . back to normal. So that mix of working solution in the tray had gone bad... why ?

what are the chances of these two things happening to me at the same time ? what happened ? I am proud of my troubleshooting though.

thanks,


http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search?Ntt=Brightlab+Junior+Safelight&N=0&InitialSearch=yes&sts=ma

 

[Rick A]

In my experience, these bulbs are worthless and never safe. You need to purchase a real safe light fixture with either a red or OC lens over a 15w bulb. In my 50 years of printing, I have never fogged any paper using a red filter. This is what I have:
http://www.freestylephoto.biz/12185-Premier-Safelight-5x7-Red

 

[brianmquinn]

Here is the way to test your safelight properly.

http://www.kodak.com/global/en/consumer/products/techInfo/k4/k4TestSafelite.shtml

 

[jeffreyg]

Plus 1 for a red safelight fixture. If you have a plug receptacle it can be plugged in and you will still have the ceiling light when you want white light without having to change bulbs. I too have never fogged paper in over forty years with two red safelight fixtures in my home darkroom.

http://www.jeffreyglasser.com/

 

[tkamiya]

I have a feeling that OP has been doing this for a while and the problem just started happening.

If that was the case, I have hard time believing failures in lamp coating happens THAT quickly. I'm thinking more investigation is warranted. Use a known good paper. Use a freshly mixed Dektol. Then do a test with safe light on and off. Also be sure NOT to wear anything that generates light.

I'm sort of guessing, OP may have had weird contamination in his Dektol. Either that or he developed an Xray generating organ on his body and fogging the paper himself.

 

[MattKing]

Did the OP get a new cel phone or something else that is emitting light in the darkroom?

 

[lhalcong]

I have a feeling that OP has been doing this for a while and the problem just started happening..

correct.

I'm sort of guessing, OP may have had weird contamination in his Dektol. Either that or he developed an Xray generating organ on his body and fogging the paper himself.

Cool, I should go to "ripley believe it or not" TV show. With the money I make I will be able to afford a proper safelight and fresh Dektol.
Yes, that light had been working just fine until that day. I am guessing something happened in the filaments inside that are glowing past the red coating. Maybe I dont know what I am saying.

 

[lhalcong]

Did the OP get a new cel phone or something else that is emitting light in the darkroom?

NO.

This thread may be going in the wrong direction. I just wanted to know if people that had used the junior safelight bulb had experienced similar failures and if dektol going bad can cause fogging as well ? the weird is that both happened to me at the same time. When I changed both , the problem was solved.

thanks everyone.

 

[tkamiya]

Hey, OP...

It's sort of known that coating of the bulbs, and even those "filters" eventually fade and make those bulbs unsafe. Filaments are fixed, so it really can't glow any differently. But these changes really happen gradually, unless something happened and they were scraped off.

I dunno.... a fresh bag of Dektol is about 10 bucks these days? I just practically gave away my old safe light. You may want to ask around here and see if anyone has one for sale. I know a guy in Atlanta selling basically his entire darkroom in classified. You may want to look around and contact him privately.

If you were closer, I'd just give you some of my Dektol for testing but 400 miles is a bit much for a quick drive. I'm near Orlando.

 

[hooograa]

Incandescent bulbs are resisters in a vacuum as the light bulb burns the filament deteriates thins and produces more light (becomes a higher wattage bulb). When fluresent bulbs age they can glow at the base as the starter ages or gasses thin even after the light is turned off. We live in a constant state of flux.

 

[Clovis Blevins]

Incandescent bulbs are resisters in a vacuum

I used to think that, too. When I was 8, I made a bet with my dad that if I broke a light bulb in a bucket of water, no bubble would rise to the surface - the vacuum would just collapse. When I lost that bet, I did some reading (way before the Internet) and found that most household bulbs had argon in them.

Anyway, that brought back memories.

Plus one for getting a real safelight. Red is safest, but OC helps differentiate colors, which may or may not be worth reduced time before fogging sets in.

 

[lhalcong]

Incandescent bulbs are resisters in a vacuum as the light bulb burns the filament deteriates thins and produces more light (becomes a higher wattage bulb). When fluresent bulbs age they can glow at the base as the starter ages or gasses thin even after the light is turned off. We live in a constant state of flux.

This is what I was thinking it had happened. it definetely felt that the bulb was brighter. I had more ilumination in the room than I remember from last session (about a month), so even though the coating has not changed or scratched. Can this happen in a short period of time. ?

Either way, I just bought some Kodak Model A with OC filters from ebay. I hope these are good enough for Ilford VC paper.


thanks.