New to darkroom photography. Recommendations for safelights?

[RalphLambrecht]

Welcome aboard @Premier!

There's a difference between papers; some papers work OK with an amber safelight (they will also work OK with red) and others (esp. Foma) that really need a red safelight as amber will fog them. So the safest bet is a red safelight. I've personally used red LED strips shielded with an extra layer of rubylith. This has worked well for me for years. There's a limit to how bright you can make it before the paper starts to fog; this depends mostly on the paper you use. E.g. Fomaspeed will fog a a few stops earlier than the much slower Fomatone. So whichever solution you choose, be sure to perform adequate tests as @MattKing outlines above. Note that only testing for fogging of the whites is not adequate! You really need to determine as well whether there's an effect on the contrast, even if the safelight doesn't generate image tone by itself. It can still act as a contrast-reducing fogging exposure.

fully agree. I'm paranoid about safelight fogging and also went with red lights with additional rubylith protection; not the brightestbut the safest.

 

[Tina Kino]

Thank you @koraks for your help, I appreciate it!

Yes I saw the Rubilith on eBay, it's just rather expensive (also shipping one rolled sheet from abroad seems nuts).

I spoke to the people of Lee Filters, who also offer a deep golden amber filter - that would need some proper testing, but if it passes that would be a nice option (for Multigrade)..

 

[koraks]

a deep golden amber filter

Looking at the transmission curve, that will definitely not work for Foma papers and may also produce problems with other VC papers.

 

[Pegajoy]

Never made a fogging test, but for Foma paper, I use the ADOX Supersafe LED bulbs that are quite cheap. For Ilford paper, I use the orange SL-1. But the ADOX bulbs are not very less bright, very comfortable for darkroom work. I had the five SL-1 first. If I had have known the quality of the ADOX bulbs before, I had safe my money and started with them.

 

[Tina Kino]

I also got a SL-1 @Pegajoy and think it's great (definitely safe for Ilford Multigrade, which is all that I'm using, not expensive (used on eBay etc.), pleasant light to work under)..

Just realised (as my wet area is on the other side of the room, opposite the enlarger) that I'd be standing in my own shadow when developing the prints in the trays - this is happening near the sink - over which there are low-hanging cupboards, which is why it would be perfect to have an LED strip below those.
I'm basically trying to find some suitable light that runs along the length of the cupboards, ideally in a similar color to the amber SL-1



If it would be all on free standing tables I'd hang those Adox Supersafe bulbs over them as well. That would be an easy and rather cheap solution, and apparently they really are super safe

By the way, how are you finding the light of those (apart from the brightness), is it as pleasant as the SL-1 to you?

Thanks!

 

[Pegajoy]

Yes, it is nearly pleasant like the SL-1. I will make some pictures from my next darkroom session tomorrow.