How to make my darkroom dark again

Jeffrey A. Steinberg · Dec 29, 2007

I am not sure if I am like many of you but my darkroom has to do double duty as my office/computer/digital workstation (for commercial photography). Black and White traditional is for me.

Turn off all of the lights and there are all sort of "parasitic" lights on. I was thinking I could take a blank and throw it over but then the air flow would be distributed.

I tried a lightproof changing bag and could not standing it.

Am I left with turning off the myriad of devices that generate those little blue/green/white LED lights.

Or, could I use gaffer's tape to cover them up? What have other's done?

Thanks.

Dave Miller · Dec 29, 2007

I attacked them (parasitic" lights) with a pair of wire cutters, but then as a trained electrician I can claim to know which wire to cut first. :confused:
Small pieces of black gaffer tape should do the trick. Afterglow from computer screens can be a problem to watch out for.

JBrunner · Dec 29, 2007

Mine are covered with red electrical tape. Quick, fast, cheap, and you can still sort of see that the device is operating.

Akki14 · Dec 29, 2007

Gaffer tape. A very large piece of blackout curtain material (which is proper cheaper bought at a fabric/craft store than from a photographic supply shop and you'll get it in curtain-sized widths, eg wide/long 56" or so by however long you want it). Can't you turn off everything for the time you set aside for B&W stuff?

Alex Bishop-Thorpe · Dec 29, 2007

I use Blu-Tack to cover those, and also to plug the various holes in the walls I keep noticing.

Jeffrey A. Steinberg · Dec 29, 2007

Great idea. I love this site! Thanks.

PHOTOTONE · Dec 29, 2007

I would cover them with black photographers tape..a completely opaque black masking tape available fairly commonly from vendors such as Calumet, and others. It is a 3m product.

Sirius Glass · Dec 29, 2007

PHOTOTONE said:
I would cover them with black photographers tape..a completely opaque black masking tape available fairly commonly from vendors such as Calumet, and others. It is a 3m product.

That is what I did.

How come we still do not have a subforum for building darkrooms and fixing darkroom problems? This applies to the Black & White and Color Processing areas.

Steve

Jeffrey A. Steinberg · Dec 29, 2007

I have put tape all over the place. My original question pertained to loading tanks and I thought that had to be complete darkness. There are some red led's left that are far away. Will that cause a problem?

JBrunner · Dec 29, 2007

Jeffrey A. Steinberg said:
I have put tape all over the place. My original question pertained to loading tanks and I thought that had to be complete darkness. There are some red led's left that are far away. Will that cause a problem?

Cover em up.

Allan Swindles · Dec 29, 2007

Something I was taught as an apprentice was to sit in the darkroom for 15 minutes. If you can see ANYTHING after that time it's NOT dark. I would certainly not load a darkslide or dev.tank.

Justin Cormack · Dec 29, 2007

For my print darkroom I used a few layrs of gaffer tape over the white LEDs (which Apple so likes). I left the one red one (which is right by where I keep the safelight). I load fim in a cupboard thats much darker and has nothing in it (well it doubles for wine storage) - am much more paranoid...

Lee Shively · Dec 29, 2007

Total darkness is good but I have to admit I have never had a darkroom that did not leak a little light every once and awhile.

Sirius Glass · Dec 29, 2007

I load my tanks in a Photoflex "Changing Room" bag, also sold by Calumet with its name for the brand for less. This bag is large enough for 4" x 5" work so I have plenty of room for 135 and 120 film loading. That solved my problem and allows me to travel with an emergency darkroom for camera problems.

Steve

dmax · Dec 30, 2007

Inexpensive electrical/insulating tape from any 99-cent store works wonders. Easy to find, cheap, and has a zillion uses.

dancqu · Dec 30, 2007

Lee Shively said:
Total darkness is good but I have to admit I have never
had a darkroom that did not leak a little light every
once and awhile.

I've a darkroom which leaks continuously but I don't
worry because experience has taught me that a very
low level of visible light is OK. Also the eye is very
sensitive and will see light where slow speed
photographic material will not.

I see leaks under the door, around the door frame, and via
a partition. When loading a reel I and the film are out of the
line of sight so no problem. Some darkroom workers worry
too much. Dan

Allan Swindles · Dec 30, 2007

dancqu, if you have never worked in a completely dark darkroom, how can you tell how good your results could be?

JBrunner · Dec 30, 2007

I keep my dark, dark. For me, it's better than wondering what I am getting away with.

Ole · Dec 30, 2007

It's amazing how much light in a darkroom will not even fog film.

I have developed film by inspection in the light of all the light leaks. I have also developed the same types of films, sometimes the "backup sheet" from the same shot, in light-tight drums (JOBO).

There is absolutely no difference in the base fog.

dancqu · Dec 30, 2007

Allan Swindles said:
dancqu, if you have never worked in a completely
dark darkroom, how can you tell how good your
results could be?

I've been assigned to several darkrooms and
assumed them to be dark; dark enough. No
complaints.

Darkrooms I've put together are reasonably
light tight; dark enough. Snow whites and
low values of fb+f. Dan

Fintan · Dec 30, 2007

Ole said:
It's amazing how much light in a darkroom will not even fog film.

Dont tell me this Ole, I've been using a changing bag in almost total darkness in my darkroom for years :confused:

Allan Swindles · Dec 30, 2007

Obviously, it's each to their own, but my question is this, if it isn't COMPLETELY dark, how do you know when it's not dark enough? I would rather be safe than sorry.

Lee Shively · Dec 31, 2007

I loaded film in the completely dark darkroom of a daily newspaper for 15.5 years. The film looked no better than the film I loaded in the near-dark darkrooms I had before or that I've had since.

I've always tried to make my home darkrooms as light-tight as possible but it's impossible to do so when the room is also used for other purposes and other people are involved. My current darkroom is in a tiny bathroom and it leaks light around the door. I really can't tape the door closed and as long as the light isn't enough to fog the film, I can live with it.

dancqu · Dec 31, 2007

The Eye's ISO - Box Speed

Checked it out, via Google of course: ISO after 1 minute of
complete darkness 28,000; after 5 minutes, 132,000; after
60 minutes nearly 1,000,000.

Tests conducted by the Coal Mine Corporations of America
and Certified by the International You CAN SEE IN THE DARK
IF YOU TRY Institute; a non-profit organization.

Curious though. Any body have an idea? Dan

Ole · Dec 31, 2007

dancqu said:
Checked it out, via Google of course: ISO after 1 minute of
complete darkness 28,000; after 5 minutes, 132,000; after
60 minutes nearly 1,000,000.

Tests conducted by the Coal Mine Corporations of America
and Certified by the International You CAN SEE IN THE DARK
IF YOU TRY Institute; a non-profit organization.

Curious though. Any body have an idea? Dan

What shutter speed would that correspond to. I wonder? And what's the aperture of a fully dilated human pupil?

Anyways, in late-evening light my darkroom is dark enough that it takes 5 minutes before I can see the film that's in the developer tray, by which time the film is more than half developed. So as my night vision improves, so does the clarity of the image - and when it looks right, I drop it in the fix. Nice negs every single time, and not a hint of fog.

How to make my darkroom dark again

Jeffrey A. Steinberg

Dave Miller

JBrunner

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Akki14

Alex Bishop-Thorpe

Jeffrey A. Steinberg

PHOTOTONE

Sirius Glass

Jeffrey A. Steinberg

JBrunner

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Allan Swindles

Justin Cormack

Lee Shively

Sirius Glass

dmax

dancqu

Allan Swindles

JBrunner

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Ole

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dancqu

Fintan

Allan Swindles

Lee Shively

dancqu

Ole

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