What's the secret? eyes adjustment to dark

tkamiya · Dec 22, 2009

There got to be a trick.... so let me ask this question....

In darkroom, it takes a while for eyes to adjust so that in dim lighting of safe light, we are able to see the surroundings. For me, it takes about 5 minutes. Once I turn the room light on for 5 minutes, my eyes adjust back to the bright light.

During my printing sessions, I have to look at my negatives closely and make sure they are clean and properly aligned on the carrier - that requires bright light. I also need to look at the final print in close to the normal viewing light to judge contrast and density. I also need to expose paper and process them.

That means bright - dark - bright and over and over, again and again.

How do you do this so the adjustment period is reasonably short??

BetterSense · Dec 22, 2009

get a brighter safelight? I have a red LED safelight that can be rather bright without fogging paper. My white light is a 60 watt bulb in a walk-in closet. Not much adjust ment is necessary, but I have young eyes.

jeffreyg · Dec 22, 2009

A wet print looks different than a dry one. Consider the dry down of the paper you use.

RalphLambrecht · Dec 22, 2009

tkamiya said:
There got to be a trick.... so let me ask this question....

In darkroom, it takes a while for eyes to adjust so that in dim lighting of safe light, we are able to see the surroundings. For me, it takes about 5 minutes. Once I turn the room light on for 5 minutes, my eyes adjust back to the bright light.

During my printing sessions, I have to look at my negatives closely and make sure they are clean and properly aligned on the carrier - that requires bright light. I also need to look at the final print in close to the normal viewing light to judge contrast and density. I also need to expose paper and process them.

That means bright - dark - bright and over and over, again and again.

How do you do this so the adjustment period is reasonably short??

What are your white lights, and what are your safelights?

dpurdy · Dec 22, 2009

As a custom printer I deal with that problem a lot. And not only that but if my eyes are getting tired I start to print too dark.. I think because of the bright white paper and the high level of light I view with starts to make me want darker prints as I tire. I have to do perfect work and can't afford to reprint stuff so my answer to adjustment is if I have a question about density in the print, I take a break and throw a few darts at the board on the wall and let my eyes adjust to light. In the dark I don't care if I am adjusted or not.
Dennis

Phil · Dec 22, 2009

Keeping the ambient brightness close may be the answer. There were black walls and 15 watt safelights when I started using a shared darkroom. A gallon of white paint for the wet side made a difference right off the bat. We now have a Thomas Duplex Safelight in the darkroom. It's a bright, indirect light. Because it uses a sodium vapor lamp, you cannot turn it off and on like an incandescent safelight when you focus an enlarger (leaving black paint on the dry side helps.) I only contact print, so it's not a problem for me. I have never had an issue with fogging, but others who use fast enlarging paper had seen some problems before we replaced some missing filters (there should be 4 and we only had 2 installed, so watch for that if you get a used one.) There are several filter types for these - photo, litho, xray, etc - so make sure you are using the proper filter set.

It takes almost no time for my eyes to adjust back to safelight after viewing a print in white light. And, my eyes are not all that young...

Shaggysk8 · Dec 22, 2009

I just close my eyes for about 10 secs then turn on the safelifght that seems to work for me

sepiareverb · Dec 22, 2009

I use a lightbox for dealing with negatives- but have several layers of ND on it. A 15W bulb from above is enough to see to get things clean. I keep the white light dim except for the viewing lamp, safelights only in the areas I need them, so the room is very dark and my eyes are wide. I keep the time under white light to a minimum. And sunglasses when I need to leave the room to refill coffee or drain coffee.

RalphLambrecht · Dec 22, 2009

Phil said:
Keeping the ambient brightness close may be the answer....

Close to what?

bobwysiwyg · Dec 22, 2009

Interestingly enough, it actually takes 20 minutes for our eyes to fully adjust in both directions (light to dark and dark to light) though obviously some functionality exists before the transition is complete.

steven_e007 · Dec 22, 2009

Well, if your pupils dilate significantly compared with their size under the safelight,then I would humbly suggest the change in brightness from safe to white is maybe too great? Safelights can be reasonably bright if the colour is truly safe for the paper - the white light need not be so bright as to constrict your pupils too much.

But why is a bright white light neccesary? A small pupil in your eye has exactly the same effect as in a camera - greater depth of field and greater correction of many of the abberations of the optics. As we get older our eyesite deteriorates because we usually developed some astigmatism and presbyopia (difficulty in focussing on close objects) - it is much more obvious in poor light that bright. It's like we start off with Zeiss optics in our eyes when we are born, but end up with a plastic holga lens by the time we are 50!

Maybe using some decent reading glasses or a supplementary optic of some sort (a good quality loupe or magnifying glass) might help you see what you need to in subdued light? I work in darkrooms in my day job (not photographic ones - but dark all the same) and although I don't normally wear spectacles (Not yet! But it won't be very long...) I find a x10 loupe invaluable when trying to read the details on small components in subdued light.

Martin Aislabie · Dec 22, 2009

Sadly, there really is no absolute answer to the problem - eyes do and always will take time to adjust to changes in brightness

A brighter Safelight might help - a brighter safelight also makes the darkroom less tiring to work in.

Not all Safelights are equally bright - the better (usually the more expensive too) Safelights tend to be brighter for a given level of paper fogging - or perhaps adding a second Safelight and altering their locations within the Darkroom.

My preference is to close my eyes as I switch the main light both on and off, as I find it helps me adjust the change

Also I have a RH Designs Safelight Torch (http://www.rhdesigns.co.uk/darkroom/html/safetorch.html) - which is great when you need to see into those dark recesses (I am for ever dropping pens and the Torch helps me to track them down without the risk of "finding" them unexpectedly)

Martin

RalphLambrecht · Dec 22, 2009

bobwysiwyg said:
Interestingly enough, it actually takes 20 minutes for our eyes to fully adjust in both directions (light to dark and dark to light) though obviously some functionality exists before the transition is complete.

Light adaption is much quicker than dark adaption. It takes 20-30 minutes for our eyes to fully adapt to the dark, but it only takes 5 minutes for dark adapted eyes to adapt to brightly lit surroundings.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dark_adaption

Photo Engineer · Dec 22, 2009

Do you know why pirates often wore eye patches?

They used one eye for dark vision and the other for bright light vision and they switched the patch back and forth.

Inside those old ship interieors, it was very dark so they had to adapt during daylight to dim and bright conditions.

Bottom line? Switch eyes.

That was the tip of the day.

PE

RalphLambrecht · Dec 22, 2009

Martin Aislabie said:
Sadly, there really is no absolute answer to the problem - eyes do and always will take time to adjust to changes in brightness

A brighter Safelight might help - a brighter safelight also makes the darkroom less tiring to work in.

Not all Safelights are equally bright - the better (usually the more expensive too) Safelights tend to be brighter for a given level of paper fogging - or perhaps adding a second Safelight and altering their locations within the Darkroom.

My preference is to close my eyes as I switch the main light both on and off, as I find it helps me adjust the change

Also I have a RH Designs Safelight Torch (http://www.rhdesigns.co.uk/darkroom/html/safetorch.html) - which is great when you need to see into those dark recesses (I am for ever dropping pens and the Torch helps me to track them down without the risk of "finding" them unexpectedly)

Martin

I would question the white lights to be too bright, before I change the safelights away from being safe.

By the way, have you ever put that safelight torch directly on paper to see how safe it is? They are red LEDs, right. Should not harm the paper at all. The paper's spectral sensitivity is outside of the LED's narrow wavelength. That's what the paper data sheet says anyway. Just try it. It will take just only a few seconds (2-4) on the paper to leave black (yes black) marks and ruin the paper. Keep that safelight torch at a safe distance from the paper!

Photo Engineer · Dec 22, 2009

Do you know why pirates often wore eye patches?

They used one eye for dark vision and the other for bright light vision and they switched the patch back and forth.

Inside those old ship interieors, it was very dark so they had to adapt during daylight to dim and bright conditions.

Bottom line? Switch eyes.

That was the tip of the day.

OTOH, eat a lot of carrots. The carotene decreases the time needed to adapt. At least that is what I have been told and what I observe.

PE

PeteZ8 · Dec 22, 2009

Keep one eye shut while switching to bright light.

tkamiya · Dec 22, 2009

Howly cow... I've created a big thread in just few hours!

I use two safe lights, both of them being 15 watts bulb inside 5x7 enclosures. One is located 5 feet above enlarger table and the other is located 5 feet above processing trays. They are definitely bright enough once my eyes are adjusted.

I have an overhead light that has two 15 watts CPFL. I also have a table lamp that is 15 watts florescent.

ic-racer · Dec 22, 2009

Eat more carrots..

http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/...ed_ResultsPanel.Pubmed_RVDocSum&ordinalpos=11

RalphLambrecht · Dec 22, 2009

tkamiya said:
Howly cow... I've created a big thread in just few hours!

I use two safe lights, both of them being 15 watts bulb inside 5x7 enclosures. One is located 5 feet above enlarger table and the other is located 5 feet above processing trays. They are definitely bright enough once my eyes are adjusted.

I have an overhead light that has two 15 watts CPFL. I also have a table lamp that is 15 watts florescent.

Can you live without that table lamp?

tkamiya · Dec 22, 2009

If I have to, yes. It's there so that I can see my finished print in better light. I'll just have to learn to judge the density in dimmer overhead lamp light.

tkamiya · Dec 22, 2009

I guess I'll be eating carrots for lunch today, then.

Steve Smith · Dec 22, 2009

Photo Engineer said:
Do you know why pirates often wore eye patches?

They used one eye for dark vision and the other for bright light vision and they switched the patch back and forth.

Inside those old ship interieors, it was very dark so they had to adapt during daylight to dim and bright conditions.

I have heard that too but I was told that the eye with the patch over was used for lookout at night.

Steve.

Photo Engineer · Dec 22, 2009

Steve Smith said:
I have heard that too but I was told that the eye with the patch over was used for lookout at night.

Steve.

Yes, that too!

PE

tkamiya · Dec 22, 2009

I wonder if Adorama or B&H carries eye patches with logos of our favorite camera brand?

What's the secret? eyes adjustment to dark

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