Re: [Leica] RE: darkroom update

["Joe Stephenson" <joeleica@email.msn.com>]

It took me a long time to trust my Thomas safe light. But I did tests, and
it does not harm, even at levels that seem impossibly bright. I still find
myself wanting to shade enlarging paper from the light. I've finally gotten
used to the light and have learned to love it. It is less tiring to work
with adequate light. And to focus, I just pull the chain (to cover the
lenses) and focus in darkness. Wonderful. My darkroom has a high ceiling, so
my head hits nothing more than the chain controlling the shades. Nice setup.
Joe Stephenson
- -----Original Message-----
From: drodgers@nextlink.net <drodgers@nextlink.net>
To: leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us <leica-users@mejac.palo-alto.ca.us>
Date: Thursday, October 29, 1998 2:19 PM
Subject: [Leica] RE: darkroom update


>Tina:
>
>>>You wrote:
>
>>>Don't make it too dark!
>
>My darkroom is about 9'X 12'. I put a Thomas safelight in the middle. I
>could hardly call it a darkroom anymore. I did some extensive testing for
>fogging and discovered a problem. It happened when I preexposed the paper
>to a certain threshold, which I now do for all safelight testing (i.e.
>identify and give max exposure for zero density, then do the coin test). I
>blamed the Thomas and took it down. I left up the smaller lights. Turns out
>the fogging was caused by one of the smaller lights. The filter was old so
>I replaced it and the problem cleared up. I tested the Thomas again and
>there was no problem. Still I took it down. I couldn't get used to working
>in that much light. Plus I'm 6 foot and the light hung down to 5 feet ll
>1/2 inches. I banged my head every time I got overly excited about a print
>and sprinted across the room to turn on the 5000K lights.
>
>Dave
>
>