Photography Info & Reviews.

Comment from Rachel
Time July 14, 2009 at 12:06 am

only the red lights. blacklights will expose the film.

Comment from Stephanie K
Time July 16, 2009 at 5:41 am

for the film (that goes in the camera) NO light at all. as for the darkroom and developing the photographs, it depends on the type of paper. some is red light safe, some is black light safe- you have to read the packaging. Go to a good, usually local owned, smaller photography shop and ask for help. I like illford brand products when i was learning- it was relative inexpensive and good quality.

Comment from Ben H
Time July 16, 2009 at 1:25 pm

Most film and paper is even more sensitive to UV(black) light than it is to visible light, so a black light is a big no-no. Besides that, it’s bad for your eyes.

Panachromatic film, which is virtually all film made in the past 50 years(with a handful of unusual exceptions) must be handled in complete darkness. Some labs use IR goggles, however these are an expensive luxury and really more than are necessary for the home or casual use darkroom. I’ve personally never had any trouble handling film in complete darkness.

Occasionally, one also encounters a green safelight. These have a very specific use which most of us will never encounter. They are used for a procedure called developing by inspection, where a partially developed large format negative is inspected quickly under the green safelight to see if the highlights have developed to where the photographer desires. Green is used because our eyes are most sensitive to it, and therefore allow the light to be kept relatively dim and still let the photographer see well. A green safelight will fog completely undeveloped film, and will fog partially developed film if left on for too long.