I had an eye opening experience today. I used a darkroom that I have never used before. I has a thomas safelight and the lab instructor assured me the safe light was safe for VC paper. Don't you believe it! The first couple of prints, the whites disapeared as I watched in the developing tray. Closed the thomas and conducted a safe light test. Miserable failure!!!. I ended up getting a small red bulb and using it instead of the thomas. I was using oriental seagull paper.

Moral: Test your safe light with each brand of paper. I was really blown away with the extent of damage an untested safe light can do!

-- Gene Crumpler (nikonguy@emji.net), February 04, 1999

Answers

A warning that everyone should read. I tested the photo-clubs safe-lights (expensive "high-tech" safe-lights that "produces a light-spectrum which will not affect graded papers or multi-contrast papers", yeah right). I flashed the variable contrast fibre paper to treshold, then I put a coin on the paper and let it sit close to the trays for five minutes, subjected to the safe-light. The first test (with the light on full power)made the imprint of the coin stand out almost to a medium gray! Even with the second test, with about a fourth of the light-output, I could see the coin-imprint. I had to set the light to 1/5 of full power.

-- Peter Olsson (peter.olsson@lulebo.se), July 19, 1999.