Can I use a safe light with HP5+

[BADGER.BRAD]

Hello all,

I intend to start processing and scanning my own films some of which will be 120 roll film as I will have to removed the backing paper before processing I thought about using a safe light so I can see what I am doing, I will be using Ilford films ( Keeping it with a British based company) and will be starting with HP5+ 400 will this be o.k with a a safe light and which other Ilford made films will be o.k .

Thanks all

 

[GreenNinja67]

No,

Sensitive to red light as are all B&W films I used to use in the 80's & 90's.

Apparently you can used a green light but I wouldn't chance it, it'll still fog.

 

[john.margetts]

Not really with a red safe light as all Ilford films are red sensitive. You used to be able to get dim safelights that did not affect panchromatic films but I gather that they were never very usable.

 

[john.margetts]

Removing the backing paper in the dark is easy enough to do by feel. As you unwind the film, you come across the loose end of the film first. Once you have loaded the film onto the spiral, you just tear the tape holding the other end of the film to the backing paper.

 

[MartynK]

It's been donkey's years since I processed my own films, but I remember that you have to remove the film from the camera and transfer it to the developing tank in complete darkness. I don't think any safe light will be 'safe' for this.

Don't worry about it. Practice with a length of old film in daylight if you like, but I was comfortable loading 35mm and 120 into a tank when I was about 10 - 11.

 

[Harlequin565]

I believe Ilford's Ortho Plus is good with a safelight. ShootFilmLikeABoss didia video on it I think. Not 100% sure but Google should get you going.

120 is a pain with the backing paper. I actually just unroll the whole lot before I start. Backing paper into one hand, film into the other. Then I tear the tape off and discard the backing paper completely before loading the film onto the spiral. I found it much easier than trying to load it onto the spiral with backing paper flapping about everywhere.

 

[StephenM]

Ilfords's ortho is OK with a red safelight, but I don't know if will be with all red safelights. Ilford used to make a 5x7 (and 10x8) red screen to fit their (and my Photax) safelight that was specifically for ortho film. I have one.

Panchromatic films do have the possibility of using a specific green safelight, but very dim and only for a short exposure. I've never used one, finding it easy to work in the dark. The first film I ever developed was either 620 or 120, and the whole operation of loading into the tank was carried out under the bedclothes.

One untried trick used by others is to use IR goggles. I recall seeing a brand recommended, but with this you're on your own in uncharted (by me) territory.

 

[sirch]

120 is a pain with the backing paper.

I always find 120 easier than 35mm or even 4x5. I just start unrolling until I feel the film and then start feeding into the spiral until I get to the taped end, tear it off and away I go.

 

[Peter B]

I always find 120 easier than 35mm or even 4x5. I just start unrolling until I feel the film and then start feeding into the spiral until I get to the taped end, tear it off and away I go.

Me too. I used to have terrible problems with 120, then one day it just all clicked into place and I've not had a problem since.

 

[BADGER.BRAD]

Thanks everyone ,I've practiced with 135 film (I only have a 135 spiral/tank) and find that quite easy starting with the leader in the light as soon as it's attached it would be easy to wind it onto the spiral in the dark and chop the end but I have not messed with 120 much so am unsure how the backing paper was attached. The useful bit is I was trying to find a source of film local to me and found out that Patterson are based about a mile from me. I just need to have a practice using my mirrorless to scan the film.

 

[ChrisR]

... you just tear the tape holding the other end of the film to the backing paper.

Did my first 120 film a little while ago, though with a Lab-Box. When it came to "just tearing off the tape" I ripped the end of the film! Then I had to tri it square with scissors so it'd load onto the spiral! I'll be a bit more careful next time...

 

[AZ6]

Apparently you can used a green light but I wouldn't chance it, it'll still fog.

I remember we tried this in college, and I'm pretty sure there was fogging, although negs were still useable (bumped it up to Grade Five in printing). Was most probs HP5, although it could have been summat else. The conclusion was that if you were really, really quick, it might not have affected the film noticeably. Only problem was, the green light was so dim you could hardly see anything anyway. We deemed it a waste of time and ditched it.

 

[Mr Badger]

I'd echo the above general comments, and work on the assumption that a red safelight isn't safe for any modern B&W or colour film and I think you're unlikely to be disappointed! It was the same in the late 70's early 80s, with the likes of HP5 and FP4 having to be loaded in total darkness.

In recent times (late 70s onwards) a red safelight was mainly intended for use with black and white photo paper (the sort used with a photographic enlarger). People who could afford it used a proprietary brand of safelight (Paterson, etc.), me being a skint schoolboy used what was known in those 'politically uninhibited' days as a red 'pygmy lamp' bulb. Mine was home wired in a lamp holder placed just close enough to the enlarger so I could see where I was positioning the paper (and which brand, grade and way up the paper was), but far enough away not to fog it (test strips were done!). The secret was to find a bulb that was painted red right down to the base of the brass bayonet fitting and, fortunately for me, the local ironmonger's shop sold just such a bulb for about 40p each at the time. Happy days!

 

[StephenM]

As a skint schoolboy in the 1950s, I was using gaslight paper for contact printing. Negatives were bigger in those days, and enlargement from the chemists were too expensive. I was able to get away with a night light (torch bulb wired into a built in transformer, used in a normal bulb holder.) Gaslight paper was less sensitive than the bromide and chlorobromide papers used for enlarging. Being small prints (NOT large format negatives!) I used a saucer as a developing dish.

 

[Mr Badger]

As a skint schoolboy in the 1950s, I was using gaslight paper for contact printing. Negatives were bigger in those days, and enlargement from the chemists were too expensive. I was able to get away with a night light (torch bulb wired into a built in transformer, used in a normal bulb holder.) Gaslight paper was less sensitive than the bromide and chlorobromide papers used for enlarging. Being small prints (NOT large format negatives!) I used a saucer as a developing dish.

Those were the days. I remember buying, and using, some glazed pottery 6x4(?) developing dishes with pouring lips from a flea market as they were cheaper than the modern (at the time) plastic equivalent (sadly lost in subsequent house moves). However, I still have the old Bakelite Johnson's universal developing tank I got with that job lot, with a spiral that does all sorts of obsolete film widths. As I said, happy days.

 

[MartynK]

Those were the days. I remember buying, and using, some glazed pottery 6x4(?) developing dishes with pouring lips from a flea market as they were cheaper than the modern (at the time) plastic equivalent (sadly lost in subsequent house moves). However, I still have the old Bakelite Johnson's universal developing tank I got with that job lot, with a spiral that does all sorts of obsolete film widths. As I said, happy days.

Yip. I had the Johnson's Universal developing tank too, + a Paterson red safe light and various measuring cylinders and developing dishes. I came across them again during a house move about 10 years ago and binned the lot, together with my old Zenith SLR and Olympus 35RC. I hadn't seen any of this stuff for 40 odd years and really thought I'd never want/need it again. I suppose that's been true, but I have the occasional moment when I wonder if it was the right decision. Whatever...

 

[Terrywoodenpic]

All spirals are difficult till you get the knack.
stainless steel ones are very much the quickest and easiest when you master them.
I used to use them in baskets in 3 gallon Kodak hard rubber tanks.
By the time I had a basket full I would seem to be knee deep in backing paper and spools.

 

[PhilH04]

All spirals are difficult till you get the knack.
stainless steel ones are very much the quickest and easiest when you master them.
I used to use them in baskets in 3 gallon Kodak hard rubber tanks.
By the time I had a basket full I would seem to be knee deep in backing paper and spools.

Been there... when I first joined the NHM part of the job involved processing the 120 film from the electron microscopes, the tanks there took two baskets at a time and both were full....