…in the Darkroom

[Klahanie]

I just scored a bunch of darkroom goodies, but I don’t have a safelight. Can I use a 25 watt red light bulb? I have one of those…

[Klahanie]

Meh. I got conflicting results after googling, but it looks like a safelight is the least of what I need. 😕 I think the first thing I’ll do is order an owners manual for the enlarger. In the meantime I think I’ll just try developing a few rolls and scanning the negatives.

[admin]

I just scored a bunch of darkroom goodies, but I don’t have a safelight. Can I use a 25 watt red light bulb? I have one of those…

You can use a red light bulb in a pinch, because most B&W papers are completely oblivious to *most* of the red portion of the visible spectrum. You’ll notice, however, that a purpose-made safelight is actually amber and coated to limit transmission to a very specific spectrum — and that 15 watts is generally considered the max, so either use a dimmer or move it a tad away.

[Klahanie]

I just scored a bunch of darkroom goodies, but I don’t have a safelight. Can I use a 25 watt red light bulb? I have one of those…

You can use a red light bulb in a pinch, because most B&W papers are completely oblivious to *most* of the red portion of the visible spectrum. You’ll notice, however, that a purpose-made safelight is actually amber and coated to limit transmission to a very specific spectrum — and that 15 watts is generally considered the max, so either use a dimmer or move it a tad away.

Thanks synthemesc. I’m really anxious to start playing with this stuff!

[Author]

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