Safelights for Ortho Plus

In the spec it says Ilford Ortho Plus can be handled in deep red safelight. There is the official Ilford 906 "Deep Red" safelight (as opposed to the 902 or 904 which are brown and good for papers) but do the Patterson dome lights count as deep red?

I get by with a Kodak #2 dark red filter for all my ortho films, minimum distance from work area about 4 feet, and keep your open times as short as possible.

RogerHyam said:

do the Patterson dome lights count as deep red?

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No, but you might be able to get away with them if they are very far away (maybe 3-4m) & you have a baffle between their direct output and the material.

I recently fogged a fresh full box of 4x5 Ilford Ortho Plus, with my orange Paterson. OOPS.
Angry at myself and I need something better to use with the glass "Speed 25 Plates".... "The Double-Safe Safelight!"

Jason Lane (the dry plate manufacturer) knows exactly what he is talking about. I ordered a batch of his ASA 25 glass "Speed Plates" and was waiting for shipment. He emailed me that he had to toss and re-do coating more plates, they were ruined by safelight fog. He then told me what he made up as a replacement. I followed his lead, and I'm delighted, no fog even after eighteen minutes of development, with lamp six feet away. Go with the 3 watt LED from Lowes, and it goes into the Kodak Bullet Safelight, with the dark red 1A filter. So it's a 3W LED, being additionally filtered by the dark red Kodak 1A. VERY VERY deep red light is emitted and I have have zero fogging now. I have one in one corner for film cutting and loading, and one over the developer tray, both more than six feet away. And more than bright enough once my eyes adjust, I can hold a sheet up and inspect the shadow values quite accurately. Works great for me!

3W LED from Lowes:
https://www.lowes.com/pd/Energetic-Watt-EQ-A19-Red-LED-Light-Bulb/1000623747

Thanks for this Jason Lane!

Kodak 1A Grey Bullet Safelight 1 by Nokton48, on Flickr

https://www.lowes.com/pd/Energetic-Watt-EQ-A19-Red-LED-Light-Bulb/1000623747

Kodak 1A Grey Bullet Safelight 2 by Nokton48, on Flickr

I used a lot of Ilford Ortho film for work and found it's very sensitive to safelight fogging even with a dark red filter the safelight should be used for inspection not on all the time. The above suggestionby @Nokton48 is OK for Jason's dry plates but not the faster and better sensitised Ilford Orth Plus. The 906/Wratten 2 filter is very significantly darker than normal Red safelight filters, also a 3W led bulb is equivalent to a 45w incandescent bulb 3 times stronger than the 15W max recommended by Ilford.

In practice we found it better to treat like a Panchromatic film and work in darkness, Ilford state "For best results, keep safelight exposure to a minimum". Safelight exposure doesn't just risk possible fogging but also reduction of contrast due to the Herschel effect.

Ian

I'm actually looking for a light for creating my own ortho plates and was assuming a light that was "safe" for Ortho+ would probably be safe for anything I could make so the answers are really useful. Thank you. I was even thinking of buying some Ortho+ just to check lighting.

Now I've ordered an 8x10" 906 (dark red) filter to replace my 904 (dark brown). £75 - ouch! Especially as my entire light with filter only cost me £30 from a junk shop.

Ian Grant said:

also a 3W led bulb is equivalent to a 45w incandescent bulb 3 times stronger than the 15W max recommended by Ilford.

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Currently I have a compact fluorescent bulb behind my 904 which is bright but doesn't fog Multigrade papers (I've tested it). For the ortho plates I was planning to use a 2 watt LED which has a fancy mock filament and probably makes it as dim as a 15 watt tungsten. It would be nice if Ilford recommended a modern replacement bulb. I don't want to go out and buy 15 watt tungsten bulbs (they usually come in packs), not for environmental reasons but because I'd worry less about leaving it on by accident. Hot light bulbs is so last century.

Here's a sheet of fresh Ilford Ortho+ 9x9cm image on 9x12cm film processed in D76 type normal development time (maybe a bit longer?) if I remember correctly. No fog not a bit using the safelights pictured above ^^^. Hmmm

Makiflex Auto Petzval Ortho+ ADOX Borax MQ by Nokton48, on Flickr

I can say my safelights are totally safe up to 18 minutes with the Fuji HRU XRay. At least it works for me AOK

RogerHyam said:

I'm actually looking for a light for creating my own ortho plates and was assuming a light that was "safe" for Ortho+ would probably be safe for anything I could make so the answers are really useful. Thank you. I was even thinking of buying some Ortho+ just to check lighting.

Now I've ordered an 8x10" 906 (dark red) filter to replace my 904 (dark brown). £75 - ouch! Especially as my entire light with filter only cost me £30 from a junk shop.

Currently I have a compact fluorescent bulb behind my 904 which is bright but doesn't fog Multigrade papers (I've tested it). For the ortho plates I was planning to use a 2 watt LED which has a fancy mock filament and probably makes it as dim as a 15 watt tungsten. It would be nice if Ilford recommended a modern replacement bulb. I don't want to go out and buy 15 watt tungsten bulbs (they usually come in packs), not for environmental reasons but because I'd worry less about leaving it on by accident. Hot light bulbs is so last century.

Click to expand...

When I made emulsion commercially I used a normal red safelight with a dimmer, it was the same speed as Ilfospeed when coated. You asked about Ilford Ortho Plus which is a very different kettle of fish

Ian