Darkroom Tour

While testing my recently acquired Hasselblad 501CM, I shot some pictures of my darkroom using the 40mm lens. The shots were hand held on TMax 100, so the depth of field was not great due to wide aperture, but it was as good a subject as any for test shots. This article simply puts those shots to use by explaining my darkroom setup. I like looking at pictures of other people’s darkrooms and I suspect I’m probably not alone. Darkrooms used to be so common that they were simply taken for granted. Now, being so rare, they seem to be more interesting. People who own classic cars like looking at pictures of other people’s classic cars, right? For me, my darkroom is like a time machine taking me back to the 1960s and 70s.

Below are the three pictures to which I have added numbers. Below the pictures I describe what the arrows are pointing to. Everyone with a darkroom arranges it to suit their preferences, so I am not presenting this as any kind of recommendation. The image files are about 3.5MB. If you click on them, they should open in your browser to full size, so you can zoom in. Note that many of the same items are identified in both pictures 2 and 3. The room measures 10′ x 12′ with the countertops running along the longer dimension. I should also note that the countertops are 30″ deep instead of the typical 25″ depth found in most kitchens. Since they are low cost and fabricated to order, you can specify the depth. The 30″ depth is needed for larger developing trays. The downside is that selenium toner stains laminate tops, but I’ve recently discovered a remedy for that!

My Darkroom, Picture 1: The “wet” side.

Picture 1 Legend

  1. Paper developing working solutions. Stored in 1 gallon large mouth bottles so I can pour chemicals back into the bottles from the trays without the need for a funnel. No funnel, means you can pour very fast, especially useful for single tray developing which I do for 16″x20″ and 20″x24″ size prints. Items 2 – 6 below all refer to these print developing chemicals.
  2. D-72 developer. I track developer usage with hash marks on the label. I mix my own D-72 by the gallon in a 1+1 dilution ever since Kodak transferred its photo chemical product line to a UK company and the Dektol that I had used for decades mixed up looking like frothy coffee. I now mostly steer clear of Kodak branded chemicals and use any product labeled “New Formula” for target practice at the local shooting range.
  3. Indicator Stop Bath. I use it until it starts to turn color.
  4. Rapid Fixer. I use two rapid mixing baths (no hardener). I track the usage with hash marks on the label. I think this method is described on the data sheets for both Kodak and Ilford rapid fixers.
  5. Hypo Clearing Agent. I use it only when printing on FB paper and mix it up fresh before a session. I use the first HCA after fixing and the second HCA after toning. Since I’ve only been printing 8×10 FB prints lately, I only mix up a liter for each.
  6. Selenium Toner. I use it at a nominal dilution of 1:20. Aside from when I first mix it up, I never know exactly what the dilution is because I replenish it as I use it based on its effect and smell. I find that adding 2 ml per 8×10 is a good baseline. I used to only tone FB prints as part of my standard archival processing routine but now I tone all RC and FB prints because the deeper blacks make the prints look better.
  7. Two 1 gallon jugs of tap water. I keep tap water handy at room temperature for rinsing film between developer and fixer. It’s just easier (I am one lazy mofo) than checking the temp of the water coming from the tap which can be too cold in winter and too warm in summer. The temperature of my darkroom is 71F year round, so all the chemicals are also 71F.
  8. Paper developer timer. I like this timer, but I also modified it with automotive glass tinting film to reduce the brightness and orange filter material just to make it more darkroom friendly than it already was. I only use it with the safelights on, so it doesn’t have to be very bright.
  9. 12″x16″ Paterson trays. I would prefer 11×14 trays for 8×10 prints, but Paterson doesn’t make that size and I like these trays because of the well designed pour spout in the corner which allows me to pour the chemicals back into their respective large-mouth bottles very quickly without making a mess. For larger prints, I also have the 16×20 and 20×24 version of these trays, also because of the pour spout. On some trays (Yankee comes to mind), the pour spout is terrible. I’m guessing the designer has never poured any liquid out of the tray he designed, just like the guy who made the design improvements to the Yankee bullet-shaped safelights never had to actually use them.
  10. Metal Tongs. These are good tongs. They stay springy and don’t damage prints. Like everything that I worry will someday go out of production, I have extras.
  11. Film chemicals. These are almost all film developers that have been decanted into smaller containers. I have some Ilfotec HC from 2013 which still works like new. I don’t really use it for anything, but I test it every now and then just because I’m curious which of us will outlive the other.
  12. Raw chemicals. I don’t use them very often, but when I find something I might want to try, I’ll often buy the chemicals so I’ll have them in case I ever do. I have experimented with several film and paper developing formulas as well as bleaches and toners.
  13. Liquid measuring devices. Graduated cylinders, measuring cups, funnels, spoons, eye droppers, syringes, etc. Measuring containers suffer from the same design flaws as trays in that the pour spout often allows the liquid to run down the outside of the cup. I’m fully aware that I may be the only darkroom owner on the planet who obsesses over little shit lie this.
  14. Print bleaching board. This panel swings down to an incline over the sink for bleaching prints. It has a laminate surface and aluminum edging. It also has a little sign that reads, “CAUTION! This board is heavy! It will hurt a lot if it falls on your head!”
  15. Premier 8″x10″ amber “OC” safelight. This is from back in the days when you could still buy high quality OC safelights brandy spankin’ new. I use OC safelight when I am printing pictures.
  16. Premier 5″x7″ red safelight. Red safelights are still available new. I use red safelights for developing otho litho sheet film for contrast masks. Why would they stop making OC safelights and keep making red safelights? I suspect it was yet another decision made by someone who’s never seen the inside of a darkroom.
  17. Articulated desk lamp. This was originally intended for use with the bleaching board, but it’s become the light I use now whenever I’m too lazy to walk all the way over to the wall switch to turn on the overhead lights.
  18. Room thermometer. This tells me whether the darkroom is 71F or 72F which seems to be the total temperature variance of the room. Kudos to whoever designed central heating and cooling. We have three heat pumps in my house. No one is allowed to change the setting on the one that controls the darkroom. NO ONE!
  19. Cordless telephone. I added little black flaps to this phone that cover the buttons and display screen so it doesn’t emit any light if someone calls unless I flip up the flap to see what robocaller is bothering me this time.
  20. Fixer timer. This timer is also modified using automotive window tinting film to make it dimmer. The time is set to either 30 or 60 seconds depending on whether I’m printing on RC or FB paper. It has a power switch but the display turns off by itself after a few minutes, so I leave it powered on all the time. That way it remembers the time so I don’t have to set it. I have lazy down to a science. Fixer gets its own timer because, with the two bath method, I have to use it twice for each print. Haha! Just kidding. I’d still have a dedicated fixer timer even if I used only one fixing bath.
My Darkroom, Picture 2: The “dry” side from the north.

Picture 2 Legend

  1. Omega 4″x 5″ Chromega enlarger. This has the tall column which, like the table it is mounted to, is bolted to the wall for stability. This part of the house has a slab foundation, so it’s pretty rigid. I’ve had this enlarger since the 1990s and have done B&W and Cibachrome printing with it.
  2. Dodging wands. I often make custom dodging and burning tools on the fly for a specific image. I label them with the negative number and print size and store them in a draw where I never use them again because who wants to look through a draw with hundreds of poster board shapes when it’s easier to just make a new one?
  3. RH Designs Stop Clock Timer. For Chromega enlarger. Maybe the most thoughtfully designed darkroom timer ever made. When I first bought it, I thought it was expensive. Now I think, considering how well designed it is, I consider it a bargain.
  4. RH Designs Zonemaster II. For Chromega enlarger. I could say the same for the Zoenmaster as I did for the Stop Clock. Both devices reduce trial and error attempts to get a perfect print. They will make your prints better because they will get you to a nicely exposed print before you get frustrated and settle for something less than perfect. Side benefits are that they will also make you easier to live with and reduce your use of profanity.
  5. Dahle 552 20″ paper trimmer. This comes in handy for cutting large photo paper down into smaller sizes from which test strips can be cut. I bought a smaller 12″ guillotine-style cutter on ebay strictly for cutting 2″ x 5″ test strips which are usually fine for printing 8x10s. For larger prints, I may do test strips in multiple places in the image space to sample all the important tones.
  6. Enlarger selection switch. Since I have two enlargers (diffusion and condenser), I also have two timers, each of which automatically shuts off the safelights during focusing or exposure. This switch simply connects the safelights to whichever timer I’m using.
  7. Stop Clock Timer. For Condenser enlarger. See item 3 above for description.
  8. Refridgerator. I use this mostly for film, but I also refrigerate Xtol type developer in 16 oz glass bottles. I’ve found that the developer has a longer shelf life if kept cold. Since this fridge has no freezer, I never have to defrost it. Defrosting is an objectionable task for people with stage 4 laziness such as myself.
  9. Enlarger bases. These are removable table tops associated with the Condenser enlarger. Since the ceiling limits the height to which I can raise the enlarger head, I can effectively lower the base by removing upper level tabletop(s) and placing the easel on a lower level. Generally, the only time I do this for extreme cropping. I can project all the way down to the floor.
  10. 16″x20″ Saunders 4-blade easel. This is their conventional (not the V-Track) easel. For the occasional 20″x24″ print, I have a home built easel without adjustable blades.
  11. Zonemaster Meter. For Condenser enlarger. See item 4 above for description.
  12. Door mounted exhaust fans. You can only see one in this picture, but I have two 8″ fans mounted on Doran light tight vents on the door. They just blow air out of the darkroom into the adjoining “frame shop”. Yeah, I probably wouldn’t be the first person anyone would hire to design a safe biochemical research facility, but aren’t toxic fumes part of the charm of chemical based hobbies?
  13. Omega 4″x 5″ DV condenser enlarger. This enlarger has the short column. The base is mounted in a slightly elevated position on a wall mounted shelf/bracket with a wall mounted top brace. When raised to the top, the lamp house just touches the ceiling and I have to stand on a step ladder to swap out the 6×6 contrast filters. One of the main reasons I have been using this enlarger for recent work is because I like having contrast filters above the negative.
  14. Yankee Bullet-shaped safelight. This safelight, as purchased new, is unusable for anyone able to recognize that a translucent white plastic enclosure for a safelight is a bad idea. But, it can be modified to work.
  15. Pre-flashing lamp. This is just a coffee can with an incandescent nightlight bulb mounted inside and a small filter frame on the open end facing down. The filter frame holds a #00 Ilford contrast filter and a UV filter from a Cibachrome color filter set. Pre-flashing a sheet of phot paper simply raises the sensitivity of the paper so that less additional light light is needed to create a very light gray tone. This tends to alter the foot of the paper sensitivity curve such that highlights can be more easily printed without washing out to pure white. I do this quite often when I want to maintain contrast in the mid tones while still having some detail in bright highlights. The secret is to always keep the pre-flash exposure time short enough so that it doesn’t, by itself, fog the paper. I control the exposure with the timer described in item 22 below.
  16. Premier 5″x 7″ amber OC safelight. I added this safelight when I started using the condenser enlarge became my primary printing station. That corner was quite dark and it’s difficult to shade a test strip for multiple exposures when you can’t see it. Later I added another safelight (item 14 above) to make it even easier to see. Despite having two safelights pointing down at the easel, it is still not very bright. I tend to err on the dim side for darkroom lighting.
  17. Speakers (only one is visible). I have speakers for the sound system (item 20 below) mounted above the door at each corner of the door frame. I have an identical pair of speakers mounted above the door in the same place except facing out into the frame shop. They are wired so the left and right stereo channels don’t change sides when I walk out into the frame shop from the darkroom.
  18. Premier 5″x7″ red safelight. Red safelights are still available new. I use red safelights when exposing and developing otho litho sheet film to make contrast masks. They are not controlled by teh enlarger timer and, therefore, not turned off contrast mask exposures. The red safelights are off when I’m doing normal printing.
  19. Premier 8″x10″ amber “OC” safelight. Last time I tried to by one of these, I couldn’t find them available new. I use OC safelight when I am printing pictures.
  20. Sounds system. This is an old 5.1 home theater sound system that I use to play music or podcasts from my little mp3 player or from my tablet. I use it in stereo mod, with the left and right channel each having two speakers wired in parallel. One pair of speakers is in the darkroom and the other pair are in the adjacent frame shop. You can see that the subwoofer is also in the darkroom. For podcasts I tend to use a bluetooth headset since my hearing isn’t that great anymore.
  21. Safelight power strip. All the orange safelights in the darkroom are controlled by whichever Stop Clock timer is in use. To be accurate, the enlarging meter (item 4 above) require that all the safelights be turned off when making exposure measurements. Power to these outlets is supplied from the enlarger selection switch (item 6 above).
  22. Pre-fash exposure timer. This is a GraLab model 300 timer. I keep the face of it covered with black poster board when I’m not using it because the green glow-in-the-dark dial seems very bright when it’s “charged up” by the white room lights. It controls the pre-flash lamp (item 15 above). I do pre-flashing often, so a dedicated lamp and timer are warranted.
My Darkroom, Picture 3: The “dry” side from the south.

Picture 3 Legend

  1. Large liquid measuring devices. These include taller items like graduated cylinders and measuring cups up to 5 liters. I also have a water spray bottle up there for wetting the paper take that I use to tape wet FB prints to glass to dry.
  2. Glass chemical storage bottles. These are new unused glass bottles that are used to decant developer concentrates and working solutions so that most of my chemicals are in full tightly capped bottles to ensure a long shelf life. I also use plastic (PET and LDPE) bottles, but in my experience, glass is a much better oxygen barrier.
  3. Black foamcore. I put this up to reduce white light from the easel being reflected back down from the ceiling. I did it on a whim without any reason to believe it was actually even a real problem. Since I started using Zonemaster meter, I am confident that that light scatter is not a significant issue in my darkroom.
  4. Yankee Bullet-shaped safelight. This safelight, as purchased new, is unusable for anyone able to recognize that a translucent white plastic enclosure for a safelight is a bad idea. But, it can be modified to work.
  5. Room thermometer. This tells me whether the darkroom is 71F or 72F which seems to be the total temperature variance of the room. Kudos to whoever designed central heating and cooling. We have three heat pumps in my house. No one is allowed to change the setting on the one that controls the darkroom. NO ONE!
  6. Cordless telephone. I added little black flaps to this phone that cover the buttons and display screen so it doesn’t emit any light if someone calls unless I flip up the flap to see what robocaller is bothering me this time.
  7. Grabber/Reacher and fly swatter. The grabber is to reach items on high shelves. The shelves go up to the ceiling in the darkroom and I’m only 5’8″ tall. The fly swatter is because I live in Alabama and apparently a lot of flies also live here. Flies are not welcome in my darkroom (or anywhere else in my house).
  8. Omega 4″x 5″ Chromega enlarger. This has the tall column which, like the table it is mounted to, is bolted to the wall for stability. This part of the house has a slab foundation, so it’s pretty rigid. I’ve had this enlarger since the 1990s and have done B&W and Cibachrome printing with it.
  9. Metal rulers. These are various lengths (12″, 18″, 24″, 48″) and are used as general purpose straight edges. One of them is a thick aluminum straight edge for cutting glass.
  10. My old paper safe. This is just a wood box with shelves inside. The inside is black. I’ve used this as a paper safe for decades and can honestly say that it is a really crappy paper safe. I have since built a new paper safe.
  11. Borderless easels and plexiglas sheets. I can’t remember the last time I used a borderless easel. I used the plexiglas sheets to cover stop bath and fixer trays when I take a break from printing that I expect to last for more than a half hour or so. I cover the developer tray by floating an identical tray on top of the developer surface like a floating lid, which prevents oxidation. I also cover my fixer tray when I tone prints which I do immediate after I print each picture. It eliminates the possibility of toner splashing into the fixer which is something I try to avoid for reasons I can no longer remember. I never leave chemicals in the trays over night.
  12. My new paper safe. This consists of two drawers, one above the other. Best paper safe I’ve ever had.
  13. RH Designs Stop Clock Timer. For Chromega enlarger. Maybe the most thoughtfully designed darkroom timer ever made. When I first bought it, I thought it was expensive. Now I think, considering how well designed it is, I consider it a bargain.
  14. Dahle 552 20″ paper trimmer. This comes in handy for cutting large photo paper down into smaller sizes from which test strips can be cut. I bought a smaller 12″ guillotine-style cutter on ebay strictly for cutting 2″ x 5″ test strips which are usually fine for printing 8x10s. For larger prints, I may do test strips in multiple places in the image space to sample all the important tones.
  15. Enlarger base. The upper table top for the Chromega (diffusion) enlarger is removable. By removing the table top and placing the easel on a lower level I can do more extreme cropping when it’s called for.
  16. Step stool and kneepad. The 6″ step stool is handy for reaching high shelves while the kneepad is for when I’m using the lower tables (or the floor) for printing. To look through a grain focuser when the printing easel is only a few inches off the floor I have to be kneeling on a very hard floor.
  17. Dish drying rack (barely visible). It where I place bottles, tanks, reels, and measuring cups to dry after they’re washed.
  18. Refridgerator. I use this mostly for film, but I also refrigerate Xtol type developer in 16 oz glass bottles. I’ve found that the developer has a longer shelf life if kept cold. Since this fridge has no freezer, I never have to defrost it. Defrosting is an objectionable task for people with stage 4 laziness such as myself.
  19. RH Designs Zonemaster II. For Chromega enlarger. I could say the same for the Zoenmaster as I did for the Stop Clock. Both devices reduce trial and error attempts to get a perfect print. They will make your prints better because they will get you to a nicely exposed print before you get frustrated and settle for something less than perfect. Side benefits are that they will also make you easier to live with and reduce your use of profanity.
  20. Enlarger selection switch. Since I have two enlargers (diffusion and condenser), I also have two timers, each of which automatically shuts off the safelights during focusing or exposure. This switch simply connects the safelights to whichever timer I’m using.
  21. Pre-fash exposure timer. This is a GraLab model 300 timer. I keep the face of it covered with black poster board when I’m not using it because the green glow-in-the-dark dial seems very bright when it’s “charged up” by the white room lights. It controls the pre-flash lamp (item 15 above). I do pre-flashing often, so a dedicated lamp and timer are warranted.
  22. Various small scales. These are used for weighing small amounts of dry chemicals for mixing various photo chemicals (developers, toners, bleaches, etc.). Some have a resolution of 0.01 g and others read in increments of 0.1 g. On the very top shelf there is a larger scale for weighing up to 50 lbs.
  23. Enlarger alignment thingamabob. This is a little 3D printed device to which a standard rail-mounted laser sight is attached. By placing on the easel under your enlarger, you can adjust the lens and negative carriers to perfectly parallel to the plane of the easel. The laser beam is precisely perpendicular to the easel and you can tell when the lens board and negative carrier are parallel when the laser beam is reflected back down into the laser projector.

The Perfect Paper Safe

My darkroom paper safe has, for decades, been a small DIY wood cabinet with some shelves inside. I have never trusted it to be light tight, so I kept all the paper and test strips stored inside in black plastic envelopes like the ones paper and film are packaged in. The hinged door was held closed with a window latch. Although it’s large enough for 11″ x 14″ paper, I never put any paper larger than 8″ x 10″ in it. In fact, I practically never use 11″ x 14″ paper. This was no one’s idea of a perfect paper safe and I wanted something better.

My Old Paper Safe

The Research Phase

I wanted something that made access to the paper and test strips as easy as pulling it out of a drawer. As with all such projects, I started with research on the internet.

There is a nice drawer based design by Kenneth Wells in a 1971 issue f Popular Science.

A very attractive and practical DIY based design by Reinhold Schable can be found on FADU. In fact, if you haven’t visited Reinhold’s website, re-inventedphotoequip.com, you should definitely drop by.

Page 133 of the Darkroom Cookbook (2nd Edition) has a drawer based design that is both simple and close to what I wanted.

From Page 133 of Stephen Anchell’s Darkroom Cookbook

Construction Materials Considerations

On top of the designs by others, there is a lot of discussion on the photo forums about which materials are good for building a paper safe and which are problematic. The TL;DR of it is that you should stay away from materials that contain formaldehyde. From that discussion and my own research I learned that “engineered wood” like plywood, particle board, and MDF contain adhesives that can produce chemical vapors harmful to photographic emulsions, although there is some argument that, because of new regulations, modern versions of those manufactured products have less of the harmful chemicals. It is also plausibly reasoned that water based paints are less likely to emit emulsion-unfriendly vapors than oil based coatings.

Another possible solution is to apply shellac over engineered wood and painted surfaces to block the chemical outgassing. As an experiment, I covered one half of a painted surface with shellac to see if there was any discernable difference.

Masonite primed and painted with flat black latex paint. Left (darker) side sealed with Shellac.

After the allowing several hours to dry, I held each side right up under my nose to see if I could smell any difference. I expected the shellac to smell like shellac and the latex to smell like latex, but the shellac side had no detectable smell while the latex side smelled as you would expect freshly pained latex to smell. Not a very scientific test, but it certainly dampened my skepticism. A downside to the Shellac is that it leaves a glossy finish (making it look darker in the picture above). I prefer a flat finish for light proofing in order to minimize reflections.

In any case, I condensed that research down to a decision to avoid those products altogether and stick with ordinary wood and Masonite (hard board) which, I was surprised to learn, is made with pressure and water, rather than adhesive chemicals. I also decided to stick with water based paint and glue and allow at least a couple months of outgassing of any acrylic or latex binders before trusting it to safely store photographic paper.

Pictures of the Project

For anyone interested in seeing the actual construction of the paper safe, I took many snapshots during the six weeks it took me to complete the construction, painting, and installation in my darkroom. You can view those pictures on my CityShadows.org website here.

Features and Design

The design requirements were as follows:

  • Drawer based operation.
  • No cover to lift up or slide back to access the paper.
  • Must fit the space I had planned for it.
  • Sized to hold 8″ x 10″ and 16″ x 20″ paper.
  • Drawers should open fully, so the interior is fully accessible from above.
  • Must close and stay closed reliably without a latch.
  • Extracting individual sheets of paper must be fumble free.
  • The project had to be something I had the skills and tools to build.

Basically, I was envisioning a drawer with a stair step front that would mate with a stair step cabinet, thereby creating a light trap. There would be two equal size drawers with dividers as necessary to create compartments for 8×10, 16x20s, and the associated test strips. I use 2″ x 5″ test strips for everything. I began the design as a LibreOffice Drawing which was fine to render the simpler aspects such as the divider layout.

LibreOffice rendering of interior dividers for 8×10 version of drawer.

For the more complex light trap features, I quickly realized that the complexity was going to need the 3D features of a CAD program, so I switched to FreeCAD which I’d used on another project. Personally, I really struggled with the learning curve for FreeCAD and am far from adept at using it, but once you’re done, you can view and rotate every piece and how they fit together. You can also see immediately if the component parts can be practically crafted with the available tools and materials.

Cabinet frame showing the stair step design where the drawer front will mate to create the light trap.
Drawer frame showing the stair step design of the front panel that mates with the cabinet.

Construction

A major part of the reason for taking on this project now was because I had recently purchased a table saw which permitted more precise cuts than I was able to do previously. The CAD program spelled out the exact dimensions I needed to achieve a gap of no greater than 1/16th of an inch between the drawer front panel and the cabinet stair step geometry. I used a caliper and test cuts to achieve that level of precision. At first, I tried cutting the stair step on a DIY router table, but it was slow going and not exact enough, so I coughed up the money for a set of dado blades for the saw. That made it about 3000% easier and more precise.

I used poplar for the main framework, but used much more rigid red oak strips as supports under the Masonite floor of the 16×20 drawer. Masonite is susceptible to sagging. The poplar dividers for the 8×10 drawer are glued and screwed to the sides of the drawer and, using screws from below, act as supports for the floor of the drawer. Since the 16×20 drawer has a large area with no support from above, I raised the floor enough to place the support strips under it. This made sense because I don’t use as much 16×20 paper, so the drawer doesn’t need to be as deep as the 8×10 drawer.

In addition to the drawer floor panels, the cabinet was entirely enclosed in Masonite panels and, because the drawer front receded into the font of the Masonite enclosure, it formed part of the stair step light trap configuration.

The “Soft-Close” drawer slides I used allowed for full extension of the entire drawer and have a feature that pulls the drawer closed the rest of the way when the drawer is pushed within a couple inches of closed. That feature actually holds the drawer closed quite securely, making inadvertent opening nearly impossible. In the quiet of my darkroom, I can tell from the “thump” that that it closed completely. I also chose rounded drawer handles that could not snag on clothing and pull the drawer open.by accident.

In order to make extraction of individual sheets fumble free, I placed a wedge behind the paper, opposite from the finder access gap. The wedge is the full length of the paper and pushes the paper out toward the top of the stack. This clever self fanning feature was copied from the Reinhold design. In addition, I placed a sheet of Masonite under the paper, but slightly smaller than the size of the paper so the paper overhangs it on the finder access side. This elevates the paper by 1/8th inch off the main floor of the drawer making it easy to get my finder under the last sheet to lift it out. I should note that, since Masonite is a dark brown, I didn’t paint the floor of the drawers. Less paint means less outgassing to worry about.

One of the last construction steps was the mounting of the front panel of each drawer. The front panels were already matched to the cabinets to fit without any rubbing that would result in the black paint being worn off. The drawer front mounts to the main drawer frame with two machine screws. I glued small pieces of sand paper, to the drawer frame, rough side out, so that the front panel would not move once the screws were tightened. Using shims in the gaps around the edges, I centered the front panel and tightened the screws. There is no rubbing of the stair step surfaces against each other. The gaps aren’t perfect, but they are at least as good as I hoped hey would be.

Installation in My Darkroom

My enlarger table is home built and I designed the paper safe to fit into a space below the counter top next to my D5 Chromega. Basically, it would reside just below the table top where my old paper safe had been setting. A fair amount of customization of the table was required. My paper safe not only had two drawers, but each drawer had its own cabinet. To mount it, I installed two shelves, appropriately spaced, and used aluminum brackets to secure the cabinets to the table legs. Because each drawer is a complete unit, I can remove either one for modification or repair without disturbing the other.

The upper drawer holds two type of 8″ x 10″ paper and associated 2″ x 5″ test strips
The lower drawer holds 16″ x 20″ paper and associated 2″ x 5″ test strips

Final Thoughts

After finishing the installation, I left the drawers open for 2 months to dissipate any residual vapors. After that, I placed sheets of paper, face up, in the the drawers and developed them after several weeks to make sure there was no fogging. In actual use, I decided to place the paper face down to minimize exposure to the safelights from repeatedly opening the drawer to extract paper during printing sessions. My safelight are very safe, but reducing exposure to them is never a bad thing. In fact, I develop RC prints face down for the same reason.

Since I use Ilford Cooltone and MGIV RC 8×10 paper and Cooltone FB 16×20 paper almost exclusively, this will cover 99.9% of all my printing needs. Any other photo papers I use are stored in a cabinet in their original boxes.

Conclusion

So far, the new paper safe drawers have been working perfectly. No fogging and accessing paper is now much more convenient. Is it “The Perfect Paper Safe”? Well, maybe not, but given what I had been using, I had nowhere to go but up.

Photo Paper: Long Term Storage

Why I Did It?

When Kodak stopped producing black and white photographic printing papers, I became sensitized to the potential for my favorite papers to suddenly disappear. With Kodak papers gone, I tested other papers and settled on Ilford. But, what if Ilford stops making printing papers?

The idea of stockpiling photographic materials that have disappeared from the market is not new, but I wanted to do it in a way that assured the best chance of success, where success is defined as not running out of paper until I die. Since I was in my mid-sixties at the time, that didn’t really pose much of a challenge. I set a goal of having, at a minimum, a two year supply of paper on hand at all times. Furthermore, I wanted sizes up to 20″x24″.

How To Do It (The Research Phase)

I started this project in late 2016 and I did considerable on-line research. Unfortunately, all I have left are some notes summarizing my findings. There is not a lot of scientific testing of long term storage of unexposed silver gelatin photo paper. Why would there be when it was in plentiful supply? There is, however, quite a bit of research on archival storage of film and finished prints. In addition, I decided to conduct my own on-going tests to confirm whether I was on the right track as the years passed.

We all know that the speed of chemical reactions is reduced by lowering the temperature, so cold storage is the obvious method. Also, it’s well known that fresh photographic paper has a usable life of at least a few years at room temperature. Even old papers that have fogged can be salvaged by adding anti-fogging agents (restrainers), such as benzotriazole, to paper developers. But, I’ve also encountered paper that became fogged after only four years of storage at temps between 65 and 75F. What I was seeking is not just to avoid fog, but to maintain all the original characteristics of the paper for as long as possible.

My research discovered that, indeed, paper will last longer if stored at cold temperatures. The colder the temp, the longer it will last, at least down to 0F. Reducing the temperature has a greater impact on life expectancy than reducing humidity, but condensation must be avoided. For storage, the paper (in its standard cardboard packaging) should be placed in vapor proof laminated (Polyester/Aluminum Foil/Polyethylene) oxygen barrier bags and heat sealed with an iron. The cardboard packaging of the paper absorbs moisture at lower temps, helping to reduce Relative Humidity without drying out the product (as could be the case if desiccant packs were included).

Freezer with Initial inventory of paper & film, vapor proof bags, and wireless cold temp thermometer.

How I Did It

The first, and most costly step was the purchase of a freezer large enough to store boxed of paper as large as 20″ x 24″ lying down flat. That meant getting a chest style freezer. I decided against getting a frost-free freezer to avoid the temperature cycling that comes with the auto defrost operation. I do not know for certain that it would affect the paper, but since the freeze door is rarely opened and the relative humidity in the house is only about 40-60 percent, I don’t have to manually defrost it very often. I have a large low profile plastic storage container upside down on the floor of the freezer to keep the paper up off the bottom by about 5 inches making it slightly easier to reach down to the materials at the bottom.

Paper boxes, various size foil laminate barrier bags, and humidity indicator cards

Vapor proof aluminum Mylar bags are available on eBay in many sizes. They can be sealed quite easily with an ordinary clothes iron. Set the iron to Cotton or Wool and use it dry, so there is no steam. The sealed bags are opened by cutting off the sealed seam, but by getting larger size bags, they can be reused multiple times.

Place the paper & humidity card in bag, squeeze out as much air as possible, and seal bag with an iron.

I stocked up on the Ilford resin coated and fiber papers that I preferred (MGIV and Cooltone), created an inventory spread sheet, taped a humidity indicator card to each box (original packaging), and sealed each box in a barrier bag. When removing the frozen product, I always let it stand at least over night and cut the bag open the seal when it was at room temp to avoid any condensation. Preferably, I just remove the sealed bags as needed, but when a bag contained a 250 sheet box, I remove 125 sheets and refreeze the remainder for later. It’s important to label each bag as to what’s in it because the bags are opaque. I recorded the date code, paper type, size, receipt date, number of sheets for each bag, and the freeze date in a spread sheet. I also note if a package is thawed, paper removed, and then refrozen (Example: Removing a 125 sheet inner bag from a 250 sheet box of Ilford paper.)

Paper bagged and ready to freeze

How Will I Know If I Accomplished My Goal?

As a monitoring scheme, I placed several 8″ x 10″ sheets of Ilford MG IV RC paper (Date Code: 33C504C60, Rcvd 10/6/16) in a paper envelope, sealed the envelope in a barrier bag, and then subjected it to several freeze/thaw cycles over time, occasionally removing one of the sheets and testing it by making a 5″ x 7″ print of a particular negative with a tightly specified enlarger setup using fresh Dektol developer. Additionally, using the remainder of the 8″ x 10″ sheet, I contact print a step wedge using #00, #2, and #5 contrast filters. I compare the resulting print and step wedges against a control which was made on a never-frozen sheet of the same paper in February 2017 when I first began actually freezing paper. My latest test was done in October 2022. So far, the results have been visually identical.

When ready to use, the 8″ x 10″ monitoring sheet is cut into a 5×7, test strips, and step wedge strips.
Test print and step wedge strips from 2017 to 2019 (pink stain on countertop is from selenium toner)

Orange “OC” Safelights Are As Rare as Unicorns

The Availability of High Quality Affordable OC Safelights is Dwindling

If you’ve done any safelight shopping these days, you’ve probably noticed that new OC colored darkroom safelights aren’t as plentiful as they once were. Lights with red filters seem to be much more common, but the orange ones are easier on the eyes and make darkrooms seem brighter.

Being Adventurous (Buying Cheap)

When I recently decided to add a couple small safelights to my darkroom, I settled on the Yankee bullet-shaped Circular Safelight available at B&H Photo for $32.95. After reading the reviews, it was clear that whoever took over Yankee photo products manufacturing had probably never stepped foot inside a darkroom. This safelight is made from white plastic that is not opaque and by no means “safe”, so I knew it would require some modification.

When I received them, I tested them out and, sure enough, the enclosure glowed with unfiltered light. Furthermore, the “amber” filter was more rad than amber. I lightly sanded the housing, taped over the threads on the housing and lock ring, masked the screw-in metal base, and spray painted the entire exterior with several coats of flat black paint. I covered the label with black electrical tape. No white light was going to escape it after that.

Yankee Safelight Before and After Painting

My experimentation showed that, with a 15 watt bulb, the supplied filter would easily and noticeably fog Ilford Cooltone RC paper at a distance of 4 feet. But, testing a safelight involves more than just exposing a piece of paper to the safelight and then developing it to see if it has turned gray. Photo paper characteristics can be altered by exposure to light that is not strong enough, by itself, to cause a visible gray tone upon development.

What Constitutes a Truly Safe Safe Light

Pre-flashing, a common technique used to pre-sensitize paper so that, when exposed in the enlarger, very dense areas of a negative will show texture where it might otherwise have been completely washed out. But, pre-flashing is something you want to control and do only as needed. You certainly don’t want your safelights doing it for you.

If you want to be confident that your darkroom safelights are safe, there are methods for doing so. Recommendations for testing are available from Ilford and Kodak. The secret is to make sure that your safelight will not noticeably darken very light image tones on the paper you use when exposed to that safelight for the worst case time and distance for your working habits and environment.

I’m a bit obsessive with regard to safelights because I use the pre-flashing technique routinely and I don’t want to worry about rushing my work in order to minimize exposure of printing paper to the safelights. The “amber” filter supplied with the Yankee safelight wasn’t going to cut it, so I began experimenting using Rosco theatrical lighting filters.

How I Made a Terrible Safe Light Into a Very Good Safe Light

When my testing was complete, I settled on a stack of Rosco filters and used a 7 watt bulb instead of the recommended 15 watt bulb. Using the original plastic filter as a template, I cut the Rosco filters to fit inside the locking ring, taped the filter stack with small pieces of Scotch tape, and then secured them to the front of the Yankee safelight housing with the locking ring. After much experimentation I decided on the following stackup of filters:

Modified Yankee Safelight Ready to Assemble
When Taped, the Filters Fit Like a Drum

I tested the this stack up by placing a pre-flashed test strip under the safelight at a distance of 42″ with all my other safelights turned on as well for ten minutes. The bulb I used was a General Electric 7 watt S11 medium base “night light” bulb. Based on my experimentation, I assume it would be safe for longer, but 10 minutes was already beyond what I expected the paper to ever be subjected to based on my workflow.

A few additional Observations

The brightness can be adjusted by changing the strength of the neutral density filter. I found through experimentation that stacking Rosco ND filters is not the same as using a single stronger ND filter. Their filtration is not uniform over the entire spectrum and stacking them will exaggerate that variance. While you may not see a difference in color with the naked eye, a digital camera will reveal a stark difference (at least it did for me). In lieu of an ND filter, you can reduce the light output by partially covering the front of the safelight with a piece of opaque material to reduce the total light output. Covering half the area, reduces the light output by half.

I don’t think the diffusion material is necessary, but removing it will probably increase the light output.

A Cheap Lamp Holder and Cannibalized Extension Cord Completed the Installation

For one of the safelights, I used a handy socket extender that rotates and bends to direct the light where you want it.

Articulated Lamp Socket Extender is a Handy Addition

Finally, yes, this was more work than I anticipated, but I already had the filter material on hand and the the safelights now suit my needs perfectly. My 10′ x 12′ darkroom uses three of the old box style Premier Safelights, but I wanted a couple of small safelights to brighten the dark corners. I couldn’t find any of the 5″ x 7″ or 10″ x 12″ OC lights that used to be so common, so these were the lowest cost option. I didn’t want to have different colored safelights in my darkroom. I wanted them all to be orange. By the way, I considered the Brightlab OC safelight, but some of the reviews indicate that it too is far more red than amber.