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is your safe light on or off while the enlarger is on?

I keep mine on all the time during a printing session. However, I don't use a meter I don't have to be concerned about it throwing things off. I can see the advantages to having it off though during focusing and exposure.
 
During composing on the easel, I have to open the curtain to let in room light from the adjacent room, because I want to see the blades of the easel against the negative mask/border. For this purpose the darkroom white light is too bright - the safelights are too dim. I draw the curtains until the balance is right...
 
Gerald C Koch said:
No "safelight" is completely safe. So to reduce the cumulative light exposure it should be off during focusing and exposure.
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Except that the paper is still safely in its box when you focus!


Steve.
 
I have a very dark area around my enlargers. I don't like a lot of light falling on the easel when focusing and composing. When I'm using rather strong magenta filtration for those occasional soft negatives, I turn off all the safelights in the entire darkroom and focus in complete darkness except for the enlarger light.

However, since I have a rather simple "timer" (a footswitch for the enlarger light on/off and a metronome), my safelights stay on most of the time.

Best,

Doremus


www.DoremusScudder.com
 
Being the pedantic type:

Q: is your safe light on or off while the enlarger is on?

A: Yes.


Steve.
 
Safelights on all the time, I focus on the grain so safelight has no effect, I have tested with on and off with no difference. I can see the potential with a 20 to 30 min development of lith to want the lights off but how in the hell are you going to see the snatch point.

Also I have found because of lith printing I have learned to analyze my print in the developer and I feel comfortable making dodging and burning decisions looking in the tray , and turning on quickly to analyze density, then to the next print and adjustment.
 
On. My safelight is far away from my enlarger, and darkroom almost feels "too dark".
 
A darkroom should be a warm inviting space with good music, the Thompsons make me feel like I am in a disco with Gladys Night blasting.

vysk said:
On. My safelight is far away from my enlarger, and darkroom almost feels "too dark".
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Allen Friday said:
How does leaving the light on when focusing increase the cumulative light exposure? The paper should be in a light tight box until ready to expose, i.e. after focusing.
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You're right. What I meant to say was dodging. Thanks for catching that. Jerry
 
Old Fart said:
I have to pay the electric bills, so . . . mine is "off". Of course the timer does this without my intervention.
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And I'll bet all the watts in your safelight added a chunk to your electric bill ...
 
I currently have 6 (2x sets of 3) Nova 5 Star LED heads spaced around my darkroom (all aimed at the ceiling from a distance of 12") which is 6' x 7' for the present they stay on, but that is only until I get around to wiring a 2 way socket to the Stopclock Pro Timer. I have tested them on full power with Ilford Multigrade IV paper and get no discernable fogging even after 20 minutes with a 'max flashed' bit of paper.
 
mfohl said:
And I'll bet all the watts in your safelight added a chunk to your electric bill ...
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I want to be able to say I've done "something" to reduce my carbon footprint.
 

I bought that set of 4 off of LFPF and *Love* them in my closet sized darkroom space. I put diffusion material over them due to space constraints and like you said, even at full power they do nothing to paper. The dimming control is right under my Zonemaster so I use them across the entire range.

Too bad they don't make them anymore, they are brilliant.
 
I prefer to turn it off for long exposures,
When dodging or burning, I shield the easel from the light since it is behind me, which also holds for shorter exposures.
 
I have the safelight/s near the enlarger hooked to the timer so they go on and off as needed. With B&W, the safelight/s in the processing area, sink, etc. stay on. For color, they all turn off while the paper is out of the box and then white or normal light on after the paper is in the processing drum/tube.
 
My timer turns my safelight off whenever the enlarger is on. If you have a good safelight, there is no danger in leaving it on during enlarging, but if is often much easier to see the image if it is off. This is especially true if the light is bright. A while back I worked in a darkroom with a Thomas safelight. Perfectly safe, but extremely bright. Since it is a sodium arc lamp, it needed to remain on all the time. I had to adjust the shutters to exclude most of the light from the enlarger area in order to see the image at all.
 
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