Hello. I have another question. Is it okay to have the safe light on during the exposure of the paper by the enlarger? I use Ilford Mutigrade RC & Fiber paper. Thanks again.

Francis

-- Francis T. Knapik (fknapik@mail.nysed.gov), October 26, 2001

Answers

MultiGrade paper is sensitive (a bit) to red light. You need an amber safelight for MG. I have one that is truly ancient but does not produce any fogging of Ilford MGIV during exposure and processing.

-- Don Karon (kc6d@arrl.net), October 26, 2001.

Do a safelight test to find out! Any basic darkroom text describes the process in detail.

-- Doremus Scudder (ScudderLandreth@compuserve.com), October 27, 2001.

I use a Zone VI Duo-Safe light from Calumet. It has a switch for graded and variable contrast paper, which lowers the light level for variable contrast paper, which is more sensitive to the light than graded paper. I still take the precaution of turning the safelight off (using a switch next to the enlarger) during exposure and burning and dodging, and during most of the time the print is in the developer tray. This can add up to a lot more time than you think, and you can be dulling your highlights without realizing it. If you do tests for safelight fogging, be sure that you are liberal with your estimates of how long you normally expose your paper to the safelight.

-- Don Welch (donwelch@hotmail.com), October 27, 2001.

Many timers have an outlet for the safe light and an option for turning it off during exposure. I find it a lot easier to see the image on the easel when the safelight is off during exposure. Glow-in-the-dark tape on any crucial printing tools makes this method more practical, too.

-- Steve Wiley (wiley@accesshub.net), October 28, 2001.

The ONLY way to know if your safelight is safe, is to do a proper test:

http://www.kodak.com/cluster/global/en/consumer/products/techInfo/k4/k 4TestSafelite.shtml

-- Chris Ellinger (chris@ellingerphoto.com), October 29, 2001.