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Safelight filters on the cheap??

Steve Karr

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Hi everyone,
So I have moved and am RE-Setting up my darkroom, again ... never move intro a girlfriend's house...

Anyway I bough 2 10x12 Kodak safelight fixtures for a fellow on the internet that need filters & B&H sells them for $80 and I refuse to shop eBay anymore.

So What do you guys know about safelight filtering?

I will be doing Ilford IV veri-contrast paper & X-Ray film so Red seems right, right?

Thanks in Advance~
Steve
 
A red filter will work, but the last thing I would want to do is skimp on the filter itself. A cheap filter may not be properly made and can cause fogging. You're doing the right thing by not shopping for one eBay—filters fade with time and used ones may no longer be safe. If I were you I would just spend the $80 knowing that everything will work as it should and not cost me in wasted time and material.
 
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Try Freestyle, they have the whole unit with filter for $80ish and just the filter for $22. OC or Red.
 
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Don't skimp. But I am told sheets of red lith from graphics or art supply work fine.
 
Get either Rubylith or Amberlith from an art supply store. Or you can get a 20x30" (?) sheet of #25 Red Rosco filter from B&H or Adorama. I don't know that there is a Rosco equivalent to an OC filter. Filter sheets are around $5 to $10.

$80 for gluing $0.80 of filter material to $1.50 worth of glass - yeah, sounds about right ...
 

I have used Rubylith successfully to tame an "unsafelight", but I was told here (Australia) that Amberlith was discontinued. Is that the case in the USA?

I was interested in trying Amberlith because an amber light is easier on the eyes than red. Although red is certainly safe.
 
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Roscolux #27 gel. (Medium red.)

http://www.calumetphoto.com/item/RC5027/?t=GB01&a=CA01&CAWELAID=36794076

$7.99 for a 20x24 in. sheet.

4% total transmission.
Blocks almost everything shorter than 550-600 nm.

My safe light is a recessed fixture in the center of the room. It's got a 60 watt light bulb in it. It is probably about 6 feet from my work area.
I use a double layer of Rosco #27 in that fixture.

Regular black and white paper is safe for more than 15 minutes.
 
My own solution is to use a red LED bulb. I bought one from Super Bright LEDs about three years ago and it's been great. I believe mine is the Dead Link Removed model ($7.95), but they've got lots of others. It's much brighter than the conventional safelight bulb with filter that it replaced, and it's very energy efficient. I did a safelight test and it was fine in my installation, but I don't recall the time limits of my test (I probably tested for between 5 and 10 minutes, though).
 
I bought a red LED PAR-30 lamp from an Ebay vendor to use with paper and X-ray film. It works great for paper, but fogged the film. It's very bright, almost like dim room light, and I guess it was too much to use continuously for the film. I've got it tamed down for film developing by hanging a piece of black plastic sheet in front of it. No problems with the film now.

I did some research, and there are several wavelengths available for red LEDs. One peaks around 630 nm and another around 660. Mine was 630. I'm thinking about buying an LED replacement automotive taillight bulb. I've seen some advertised as operating at 660 nm. I think the longer wavelength red would work better with the X-ray film. I discovered LEDs don't operate at a single wavelength. There is a certain amount of spread. The 660 nm LEDs seem to operate with a narrower bandwidth than the brighter 630 nm bulbs.

Found some info here:

http://www.oksolar.com/led/led_color_chart.htm

I think the 660 nm bulbs are described as "ultra red" on this chart.
 
Red LED spots work great. Don't buy a too strong one, they are really bright. I use a MR16 spot with 21 red LEDs (less than 3 EUR) pointing at the ceiling. They last very long and since there is no filter they do not fade.
A safelight test is mandatory.
 
Steve

You've got a lot of good advise. I second the need for a proper safelight test with pre-flashed paper whatever you end up with. A good safelight protects your paper for 30 min, but one can work with 15-min protection if need be. Anything less than is not sufficient in my view.

http://www.waybeyondmonochrome.com/WBM2/TOC_files/SafelightTestEd2.pdf
 
RalphLambrecht said:
A good safelight protects your paper for 30 min, but one can work with 15-min protection if need be. Anything less than is not sufficient in my view.
Click to expand...

I only tested to 15 minutes. I used the "quarter test." Put 5 quarters on top of a piece of photo paper and removed them, one by one, at intervals: 1 min., 2 min., 4 min., 8 min. and 16 min. There was no discernible fogging at 16 minutes. That is good enough for my purposes so I pronounced it safe and moved on. I suppose I could extend the test to 32 min. and 64 min.

Mind you, my fixture has a 60 watt bulb in it. It is over 6 feet away from the enlarger and developing trays.
I could always put a smaller bulb in it but I'm too lazy. Everything works well as I have it. Why mess with it?
 

Randy

The coin test works, but to reflect real-world conditions, the paper needs a pre-exposure before you conduct the test. Already exposed paper is more sensitive to the safelight than unexposed paper. Also, light-gray exposed paper makes it easier to detect safelight exposure, because it is more sensitive than unexposed paper. Please see the pdf above, it is explained in detail in there. If the pre-exposure is omitted, the test is unreliable and highlight fogging may occur due to safelight exposure. If you got 15 minutes without a pre-exposure, it's concevable that your safelight provides protection for much less than 15 minutes. Please retest with pre-exposed paper.
 
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