"He who marches out of step hears another drum." ~ Ken Kesey
Hell, technically the "UV safe" bulbs in your dark room aren't 100%. Do the ol' coin on a screen trick and see for yourself.So now, you need to coat and preregister in complete blackness to keep your emulsion 100% effective.
Quote from: Gilligan on May 14, 2012, 11:46:32 AMHell, technically the "UV safe" bulbs in your dark room aren't 100%. Do the ol' coin on a screen trick and see for yourself.So now, you need to coat and preregister in complete blackness to keep your emulsion 100% effective. I can tell you that my bulb is 99.99999& uv blocked. The light in our screen room stays on for 12-14 hours a day. I just used a 305 last week for a job that has been sitting in there fo 6+ months and it exposed just fine. You might want to get a different light source if you are having that problem.
No screen room or dark room and the dust is killing me at times. I can't wait to have enough room for a screen room.
Honest question, was the screen out in the light that whole time?The test that I've seen conducted is to leave a coated screen out on a table (completely exposed) with a coin(s) taped on the screen. Then after X days wash it out and see if the coin spot washes out differently than the rest.You can take this further and put multiple coins and remove one a day blah blah blah to see the time frame that it took.If you screens are/were in a cabinet or stacked or anything that would "shade" them, that could be a difference. Plus, you didn't have the coin on there and getting it to expose fine is relative as Dan has been pointing out.
Hmm... thanks BUT, I was wondering about Mr. 99.999999999% UV proof guy's lights. We know that all lights have SOME UV, hence why they sell UV blocking sleeves for these. I've just heard that the clear ones are OK, but don't block all of it (can go a few days like you had) and the amber ones can go a couple weeks as they block more. I'm sure there are red ones that do even better but I can't say really as I haven't heard anything about them.I wonder if anyone makes UV blocking sheets (clear) that I can lay in my fluorescent panels vs buying a bazillion little tubes.
Quote from: Gilligan on May 15, 2012, 02:08:34 PMHmm... thanks BUT, I was wondering about Mr. 99.999999999% UV proof guy's lights. We know that all lights have SOME UV, hence why they sell UV blocking sleeves for these. I've just heard that the clear ones are OK, but don't block all of it (can go a few days like you had) and the amber ones can go a couple weeks as they block more. I'm sure there are red ones that do even better but I can't say really as I haven't heard anything about them.I wonder if anyone makes UV blocking sheets (clear) that I can lay in my fluorescent panels vs buying a bazillion little tubes.What about them? I just told you that I had a screen sitting on top of a rack for 6 months, not a few weeks. I removed the film from the other job and it burned fine no other portion of the image from the other film showed up. So do the math. light on in the screen room for 12+ hours a day within a few feet of said screen for at least 6 months and it burned just fine. We tested these lights well before using them in the screen room. That 6 mo old screen verifies that there is minimal if any UV light affecting the screens. I had a photographer buddy come over and measure it. Virtually no UV light present. Not bad for a 10 dollar bulb pre-coated with a UV block.
I just used a 305 last week for a job that has been sitting in there fo 6+ months and it exposed just fine.
Quote from: Gilligan on May 15, 2012, 02:08:34 PMHmm... thanks BUT, I was wondering about Mr. 99.999999999% UV proof guy's lights. We know that all lights have SOME UV, hence why they sell UV blocking sleeves for these. I've just heard that the clear ones are OK, but don't block all of it (can go a few days like you had) and the amber ones can go a couple weeks as they block more. I'm sure there are red ones that do even better but I can't say really as I haven't heard anything about them.I wonder if anyone makes UV blocking sheets (clear) that I can lay in my fluorescent panels vs buying a bazillion little tubes.Just get a couple of sq. ft of this stuff. Cut it down to size and you are sorted. We have used a similar product which worked just fine.http://www.snaptint.com/product.php?productid=16192