DSPhotography
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- Jun 7, 2009
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- Augusta, GA
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I recently acquired a Kodak safe light (with the 5.5" OC Amber filter) from eBay for about $25 shipped. Great deal considering that's less than the filter alone. When I got the lamp, plugged it, flipped the switch and it worked fine. the light was barely visible, but I assumed it was because I was in a well lit room at the time.
Skip ahead a couple weeks. My girlfriend and I are cleaning out the room that will be turned into the darkroom and I think "hey, let me see how the safe light looks in complete darkness" so I go grab it and plug it in, flip off the rrom lights, turn on the safe light and.. barely ANY light. So I pop off the ring and filter and see there's a 7 1/2 watt bulb (white, not clear) in there. "There's my problem" I think. So tonight I'm at Wal-Mart and I pick up a pack of 15 watt clear bulbs. Get home, switch out the 7 1/2 for the 15, turn off the room lights, flip on the safe light and.. well there IS more light than before, but still hardly any. I hold it up against the wall (bracket against the wall, light pointing down) and I have to have my hand almost right under it to see it, nd even then, I can barely see it.
Aare safelights (specifically that model) supposed to be THAT dim or did I get a dud? Could I put a higher watt bulb in it (it says 15watt max, so I doubt it)? Do I need a special kind of bulb?
I just need some help on this because everything I've read says to have your safelight 2-3 feet away from the area you're working in, but the light doesn't even seem to reach that far. It's especially frustrating since I'd using just the one light mounted above the enlarger on the wall so I could point it up and bounce the light off the ceiling for enlarging, then angle towards he opposite wall for when I develop the prints.
?
edit: The room is about 8' x 10'.. so is that even big enough or should I look into something like this? Or even one like this?
Skip ahead a couple weeks. My girlfriend and I are cleaning out the room that will be turned into the darkroom and I think "hey, let me see how the safe light looks in complete darkness" so I go grab it and plug it in, flip off the rrom lights, turn on the safe light and.. barely ANY light. So I pop off the ring and filter and see there's a 7 1/2 watt bulb (white, not clear) in there. "There's my problem" I think. So tonight I'm at Wal-Mart and I pick up a pack of 15 watt clear bulbs. Get home, switch out the 7 1/2 for the 15, turn off the room lights, flip on the safe light and.. well there IS more light than before, but still hardly any. I hold it up against the wall (bracket against the wall, light pointing down) and I have to have my hand almost right under it to see it, nd even then, I can barely see it.
Aare safelights (specifically that model) supposed to be THAT dim or did I get a dud? Could I put a higher watt bulb in it (it says 15watt max, so I doubt it)? Do I need a special kind of bulb?
I just need some help on this because everything I've read says to have your safelight 2-3 feet away from the area you're working in, but the light doesn't even seem to reach that far. It's especially frustrating since I'd using just the one light mounted above the enlarger on the wall so I could point it up and bounce the light off the ceiling for enlarging, then angle towards he opposite wall for when I develop the prints.
?
edit: The room is about 8' x 10'.. so is that even big enough or should I look into something like this? Or even one like this?
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