ADOX Supersafe 220 LED darkroom lamp for direct lighting.

The safest darkroom lamp in the world.
Suitable for direct lighting and much brighter than conventional lamps.

The new ADOX Supersafe is manufactured in Germany according to our specifications and has an optimised red spectrum.
It can be screwed into any candle socket (E14) and is therefore also suitable as a "replacement bulb" for a conventional AP or Paterson darkroom lamp. The red protective cap can then be omitted if desired.
Normal darkroom bulbs will smear photographic paper after approx. 3 minutes at a distance of 1.5 metres and direct illumination.
With the new ADOX Supersafe we could not measure any fogging after 20 minutes under direct lighting (much brighter than incandescent bulbs or conventional lamps) (Ilford and ADOX MCC).

Thread: E14 (candle thread)
230V

Posted by Mirko Böddecker
The darkroom light

Or: "Why photographic paper brings "no contrasts" with the wrong DUKA light".

Photographic papers are "blind" to certain light colours.
BUT: Not all papers are de-sensitised to the same colours. Some papers (the more expensive ones) are more accurately sensitised and can be processed with RED or ORANGE light (e.g. ADOX MCC/MCP).

Many cheaper papers can only be processed with RED light (e.g. Foma).
Fixed-grade papers can sometimes still be processed with YELLOW-GREEN light (outdated).
Yellow-green light is never suitable for vario contrast/multigrade papers because the soft "layer" is green sensitised. In any case, it is NOT a reason for complaint if a paper does not work with a special DUKA light as we cannot possibly give a guarantee for this.
Every paper needs "its" light, but ALL our papers can at least be processed with pure photo-red light (i.e. not orange, not yellow, not yellow-green and not light yellow).
How do I test my paper (veil test):

And this is how you determine if you have the right light: You take a small piece of the new photo paper to be tested out of the packaging and place a coin on it at a certain spot. Then slowly move the sheet with the coin, without letting it slip (clamp it with your thumb), everywhere in the room where the paper would "run" in normal processing.
Celebrate this for about 4 minutes. Then (very important): switch off all light and develop the paper in complete darkness, fix it, water it briefly and look at it in white light.
If you see a bright spot where the coin has been, the room light has obscured the rest of the paper and the paper can NOT be used with this light colour or intensity.
Please also remember that the exposure is cumulative and that there are certain latency thresholds. A paper that is only slightly greyed in this test may turn really grey once a basic exposure has taken place through the enlarger and the "false light" is added.

Why don't some manufacturers change this so that I can also work with orange light?

The sensitizers are more expensive and would affect the price.
The paper would become "blind" to much of the light emitted by the enlarger, which would reduce its sensitivity.
To counteract this, it would have to be made more sensitive, which would make the paper coarser and negatively affect its durability. It would also fluctuate more from batch to batch, making it more unstable.

You cannot develop by sight. With no DUKA light you can judge the result and an image pulled out of the developer prematurely is always incorrectly developed and does not represent what the paper can do.

You must always develop strictly according to time and the darkroom light is only there to make it easier for you to touch the paper with the pliers. The evaluation is always done after the same development time (usually 2-3 minutes) in the fixing bath with white light !
Therefore, red light is not such a big restriction.