Darkroom Safelights

[rob91]

Can I just buy a "safe" bulb and attach it to a regular lamp?

I also read that even with a safe light it should not be directed at any of your papers, rather reflected off the ceiling, as it can fog the paper. Is this correct?

 

[ann]

you can buy a "safe light" that has a screw base that can be placed in a socket that supports that type of base.

you do need to be careful as to how close the light source is to your paper.

you can test the strength of the light by taking a piece of photo paper and placing it on your easel and put a coin on the paper and let it sit there for a few minutes and then develop the paper.
if you can see an outline of the coin the light is too close to the easel.

 

[rob91]

Just want to make sure would I be able to use something like this http://cgi.ebay.com/Yankee-darkroom...ryZ29990QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem

with a regular light bulb as a safelight? Or would I need an actual safe bulb?

 

[ann]

yes, you can use t his, it has a regular bulb inside the dome with a special filter to block the lilght that would fog the paper. that is what the orange filter is.

 

[rob91]

Thanks ann.

 

[rob91]

Would you say wattage of the bulb used is an issue? I see some safe bulbs that are 15 watts, and some that are 100. Does it depend on the size of your darkroom?

 

[ann]

the type of device your using should indicate which wattage will work,

the size of the room can matter, especially if it is large, then you would use several of the ones showen in the ad or something larger; i.e. A thomas safelight will light up a huge room. however, it uses a very expensive light source.