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Safelights
 Although black and white papers are vulnerable to daylight until "fixed", a certain amount of "safe" light is allowed in the darkroom. It is this amber light that allows us to find our way around while we prepare to print. Safelights allow us to find things in the darkroom, take paper out of boxes, line up paper on an easel, place negatives in carriers, answer the phone or turn the dial on a radio.
A typical safelight is generally placed, hung or positioned at least three feet from the easel. Some safelights can be rotated so the light faces up or down. Even though the safelight can be plugged into an AC outlet, many printers prefer to plug it directly into the timer. When the timer is turned on, the safelight automatically goes out. When the exposure time is completed, it automatically comes back on. Safelights are not mandatory and are discouraged when printing color since traditional "OC" (amber) safelights  are not safe for color printing papers. Like easels, there are many types and sizes. Depending on the size of your darkroom, it is possible to use more than one safelight as long as they are placed sufficiently apart to prevent fogging of the paper. Ideally, safelights should be tested to make sure they do not fog the paper. Any good darkroom instruction book will outline this procedure.
The following is a list of appropriate safelight filters for any given film:
KODAK
Safelight Filter
|
Color
|
Use
|
|
OA
|
Greenish yellow
|
Black-and-white contact and duplicating materials, projection films
|
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OC
|
Light amber
|
Contact and enlarging papers
|
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OO
|
Light yellow
|
Flashing halftones made through a KODAK Contact Screen for contrast control
|
|
1
|
Red
|
Blue-sensitive materials and most phototypesetting materials
|
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1A
|
Light red
|
Slow orthochromatic materials
|
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2
|
Dark red
|
Fast orthochromatic materials, green-sensitive x-ray films
|
|
3
|
Dark green
|
Some panchromatic materials
|
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6B
|
Brown
|
Blue-sensitive x-ray films
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7B
|
Green
|
Some panchromatic materials
|
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8
|
Dark yellow
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Color print and color intermediate motion-picture films
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10
|
Dark amber
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Color negative papers, materials, panchromatic black-and-white papers
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11
|
Appears opaque, transmits infrared radiation
|
For use with infrared inspection devices
|
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13
|
Amber
|
Color negative papers, panchromatic black-and-white papers
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GBX-2
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Dark red
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Most blue-sensitive x-ray films, most green-sensitive medical x-ray films
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