New Setup: FAIL

Klainmeister · Dec 4, 2011

Yo,

So I finally got around to use the new setup that I purchased a few months ago since my other gear is 1500 miles away. Things that failed:

-Both the Ilford Fiber and RC papers were exposed by the safe lights
-Print times were >10 seconds
-strange fall off on the corner (only one)

UGH! So which safelights do you fellows use? I think I'll start searching the bay, but I burnth through about $15 worth of paper unfortunately. That, and a good neutral density filter?

keithwms · Dec 4, 2011

Almost any safelight will work if it's far enough away

Maybe put some red crepe paper or plastic over your light...

zsas · Dec 4, 2011

Sorry to hear! I use a 15 watt bulb in the one below...not sure what brand it is though, it is red so that I can use paper that needs red as opposed to the orange, got it $5 at a Craigslist...I keep it >3 feet from enlarger

Rick A · Dec 4, 2011

I almost always use a RED safelight. What distance is the light from your work area, anything short of about four feet is too close for any safelight. You must also perform a safelight test before you start operating your gear. Printing times shorter than 10 seconds at what aperture? The strange fall off on only one corner could be a dirty lens, or most likely out of alignment somewhere. Check that the neg carrier, lens board and base are all in alignment. Make sure your light source isn't impeded in some manner.

Klainmeister · Dec 4, 2011

Thanks for the replies guys. My safelights were about 4-5 feet away, but to be honest, they are waaaay brighter than any other safelight I've used in the past (shoulda taken a hint, huh?). I think I have one of those red boxy ones somewhere.

Exposure time was 6 seconds @ f16. 6x7 neg, printing at 8x10, componon-s 90mm. I'm going to have to hunt around on the system for the corner fall off. I think the alignment is pretty solid since the image was sharp overall, but there must be some obstruction.

It's a Omega Chromega B with the matching powersupply and timer. Overall, it's a very easy to use enlarger, but the light was pretty damn bright. Maybe I need to stop down more. That, and whence I discovered the safelight issue, the times did almost double. Ha!

Attached is a print made (albeit bad)from last night. But hey, it's my first DR print in over 2 years!

zsas · Dec 4, 2011

How many watts is your safelight bulb? <=15 is the min per the Ilford spec sheet

Klainmeister · Dec 4, 2011

Correction: they are marked "In the Dark Room Photo Lamp - Dallas TX - 16W - 120V - Guaranteed". The fellow I bought the setup from said he used em, but they seem to definitely be brighter than my older setup. I figure for $10 off the bay or something, who cares? Just get rid of em. They almost look like the lights you use for heating your pet lizard.

Klainmeister · Dec 4, 2011

You can also see the falloff on the right upper corner in that shot.

dasBlute · Dec 4, 2011

my inexpensive safelight is mounted way up near the ceiling, around a corner, pointing up.
no direct light falls onto the enlarger or development trays...

nice image btw - it'll be nice to see the finished print

-Tim

MattKing · Dec 4, 2011

Klainmeister said:
Correction: they are marked "In the Dark Room Photo Lamp - Dallas TX - 16W - 120V - Guaranteed". The fellow I bought the setup from said he used em, but they seem to definitely be brighter than my older setup. I figure for $10 off the bay or something, who cares? Just get rid of em. They almost look like the lights you use for heating your pet lizard.

Just put them into a clamp-able/flexible light bulb holder with a built in reflector and bounce the light off of a wall/ceiling interface.

Klainmeister · Dec 4, 2011

MattKing said:
Just put them into a clamp-able/flexible light bulb holder with a built in reflector and bounce the light off of a wall/ceiling interface.

Funny, I did exactly that and hence the picture I was able to accomplish that I posted earlier. But even so, it takes a very, very brief moment of direct light to expose the papers. I'll keep playing with it I 'spose.

ic-racer · Dec 4, 2011

You can use those a Christmas lights, thats about all they are good for.

In terms of the light falloff, printing the maximum size negative on any enlarger (even 8x10) requires careful alignment of the light source, negative carrier and lens.

One way to do it:
Take out the negative carrier and mark the outline the lightsource projects on the baseboard. Now put the negative carrier in and the rectangle it projects should be centered inside the first outline. In your case it likely won't be centered. So you need to wiggle the light source mixing box one way and the negative carrier the other way.

Klainmeister · Dec 4, 2011

Awesome, that's the info I was looking for! Thanks!

New Setup: FAIL

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