chris_douglas1

<p>Jim,<br>

I just went through the experience of safelight testing. I recently set-up a darkroom, and used a couple of Brownie safelights, (remember, the little yellow dome that screws into a light socket). I had lots of light, and successfully printed on variable contrast Ilford paper. However, when I tried Arista variable contrast, it was a disaster! No highlights at all! Fogging terribly! I put the safelights on a varible transformer and did the standard safelight tests, prefogging paper on the enlarger to a light gray, then time exposing to the safelight. I had to turn the voltage down so far that I couldn't see a thing, and the safelights still fogged the paper at one minute exposure! Apparently, the Arista paper is sensitive right into the yellow range of the OC light. I figure narrow wavelength super bright red LED's were the answer, so I ordered a mess of them from Mouser and made 5 little safelights with 6 LED's in each. I used 35 mm film containers for the housings. I'm running the LED's at about 20 Ma using suitable resistors and a wall wart transformer, and they work extremely well. Now I have lots of light and no effect what so ever on the Arista paper. The red light is only a little harder to see in than the OC light. Good luck.</p>

<p>Thanks for the information guys, I should have been tipped off by the 28 on the "filter" corresponding to a 28mm wide angle lens. I will use it for those wide angle shots indoors. After re-reading the manual, there is mention of the 20mm and 28mm diffusion filters and how they affect power settings. So now I know.</p>

<p>Hello all,<br>

I just bought a new in the box 544 and I like it very much. One mystery is the frosty white filter included in the kit. It is marked 28, and there is no mention of it in the manual. What is it? Thanks.</p>

 

<p>I have a Sunpak 522 I want to repair. I am an electronics technician, so I have the skills, but I would really like a circuit schematic. Anybody have one? Thanks</p>

<p>I recently picked up where I left off 40 years ago, and made all the beginners mistakes. For example, I was developing tri-x using D-76 1:1. My negatives were flat, low contrast. Looking at Kodak's D-76 application notes, they say when using 1:1 dilution, the tank should be 16 ounces for 35 MM. For small tanks eg. 8 ounces, use 10% more time in the developer. After adding this time to the published tables, my tri-x looks great! I would conclude that the area of film, quantity of developer, does have an effect on development time. Too bad the tables don't give different times for different film area, you just have to experiment on what works for you.</p>