Response to Sodium Vapor Darkroom Lights

I bought a Thomas and did fogging tests.

I checked various papers with the vanes wide open and then fully closed.

With modern VC papers, I experienced fogging on Oriental VC Plus and Forte Polygrade even with the vanes fully closed. Other papers were generally OK with the vanes fully closed. None were safe with the vanes fully open.

I bought a Premier 10 x 12 safelight with Red filter to handle the VC papers.

My darkroom is similar in size to yours. If I were doing it again, I would not buy the Thomas. I would probably go with 4 Premier units: 2 red and 2 amber.

One thing that surprises me is that if I use the red and Thomas together, I get quite good color vision.

I want to try is making my own LED safelights. LEDs are cheap, and I have a good powersupply for them. I'm planning on alternating rows of amber and red LEDs and being able to switch them independently.

[ Previous | Next ]