Turn old TV LCD screens to a light source

Robin Guymer · Sep 3, 2019

Saw this on YouTube.
Reckon it would make great lighting for a photo studio. So I am wondering if one were to use the LED strip lights that can be dialled to red as well as white that these could make good darkroom lighting. I've got an old broken TV so looks like a good challenge. Your thoughts?

bdial · Sep 3, 2019

Some of my darkroom safe lighting is done with RGB strips run on just the red channel, it has worked well for me and they are quite bright. I don't like using them with all three channels for white, because the light seems to have an off color for my eyes, so I use a separate white light, YMMV though. My original plan was white and safe light in one thing, I like the idea.

Mine are mounted in an aluminum channel with a diffusion strip over the top.

This is the channel I'm using, sourced from Lee Valley in Canada, you probably have a local source for similar stuff;

Robin Guymer · Nov 16, 2019

Finally got around to the convert the TV challenge. Very easy project which only took a couple of hours. Now to see just how safe the supposed safe light really is. So in a few days when I am next printing I will do some safe light testing and post the results. I used all the circumference of the TV inners so if it is too bright I can reduce the LED strips to just two sides.

Robin Guymer · Nov 19, 2019

The converted television has made a great safe light which is now mounted on my darkroom ceiling. I did the coin on paper test directly under the light just 1500mm away and after 6 minutes there was no discernible fogging of the paper. It has made my darkroom a lot easier to work in so I am pleased with the result and with a total outlay of $15 for the LED strip and 240 to 12v transformer plug.

darkosaric · Nov 19, 2019

That is nice solution, but you need to have big darkroom, for those who have small spaces I would recommend this:

MattKing · Nov 19, 2019

Robin Guymer said:
The converted television has made a great safe light which is now mounted on my darkroom ceiling. I did the coin on paper test directly under the light just 1500mm away and after 6 minutes there was no discernible fogging of the paper. It has made my darkroom a lot easier to work in so I am pleased with the result and with a total outlay of $15 for the LED strip and 240 to 12v transformer plug.

Be sure to do the full safelight test - with both pre-exposure and post exposure.
A straight "coin on paper" test won't reveal all potential problems, particularly with affects on contrast.
Here is the Kodak version: https://www.kodak.com/uploadedfiles..._motion_products_filter_K4_Safelight_1106.pdf

etn · Nov 19, 2019

darkosaric said:
That is nice solution, but you need to have big darkroom, for those who have small spaces I would recommend this:

I've seen this listed on the Fotoimpex website... the geek in me wants to replace my darkroom light by this
Is it good? How's the brightness compared to other darkroom lights?

kevs · Nov 19, 2019

Nice idea; light output spectra can be checked using a CD or DVD as a diffraction grating; if you see green or blue in the spectrum the light isn't fully safe. I've found my old 15w dome-style red safelight outputs a small portion of green and blue light but it's never caused any noticeable problems with my prints. If I ever go back to printmaking, I might swap out the tungsten bulb for some red LEDs and let the red dome filter any spurious output. Have fun

https://petapixel.com/2015/10/30/you-can-use-a-cd-to-view-the-color-spectrum-of-your-light-sources/

darkosaric · Nov 19, 2019

etn said:
I've seen this listed on the Fotoimpex website... the geek in me wants to replace my darkroom light by this
Is it good? How's the brightness compared to other darkroom lights?

It is good, and bright . I got it in the case that my normal bulb in Paterson setup dies.

Robin Guymer · Nov 23, 2019

kevs said:
Nice idea; light output spectra can be checked using a CD or DVD as a diffraction grating; if you see green or blue in the spectrum the light isn't fully safe. I've found my old 15w dome-style red safelight outputs a small portion of green and blue light but it's never caused any noticeable problems with my prints. If I ever go back to printmaking, I might swap out the tungsten bulb for some red LEDs and let the red dome filter any spurious output. Have fun

https://petapixel.com/2015/10/30/you-can-use-a-cd-to-view-the-color-spectrum-of-your-light-sources/

Thanks for this tip kevs. I tried the spectrum test with a CD and the converted TV safe light only gives out a pure red band with no other colours. I also have a very old Kodak safe light filter glass with a globe behind it and the spectrum on the CD is the same as the TV. I've done some printing under the TV safe light and am okay with the results. Some time I'll try the Kodak safe light tests of pre and pro exposure but I'm fairly confident it will be okay. Next project is to convert an old computer monitor to white light LED as this would be great for negative viewing. And yes kevs I am having great fun in my darkroom. Cheers.

Canuck · Nov 23, 2019

I use a red rope light and it works great.

Turn old TV LCD screens to a light source

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Turn old TV LCD screens to a light source

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