Viewing Light - Need Suggestions

[Renato Tonelli]

What type of light source do you use for viewing prints in the darkroom - both B&W and Color? Tungsten, Daylight?

[Mike Wilde]

I have an 80's era flourescent light boabout 12x12" balanced to 5000k mounted on the wall that lights up my dry desk. When I am viewing negs or transparencies I lift it off it's hanging bracket and set it horizontally on the desk. I have no idea where I will find replacement tubes when these burn out. There are LED type units, by the one I have I got for $25 at a phot swap meet, and so far the LED equals are $$.

[jp80874]

I think the question is larger than what light in the darkroom. Where will the final pictures be shown? Is it a gallery, a class room critique, your own walls, a client, a show? A print may look well in some light and poorly in another. Decide if you can where the print will go, analyze that light and try to replicate it in or near your darkroom to use for your printing decisions.

John Powers

[MattKing]

There are now CFLs which purport to be daylight balanced - I saw some yesterday in my local Safeway grocery store!

It would be best to use them outside the darkroom, as they may emit light after being shut off.

Here is an example - as you'll see, at $25.00 for a pair, they aren't cheap:

http://www.amazon.com/Compact-Fluore.../dp/B001A0GFCG

[Maris]

Darkroom viewing of wet photographs is always with a low intensity tungsten lamp. A bright viewing light biasses me to make the pictures too dark which, combined with the inevitable dry-down, means the job has to be done again - delay, expense, frustration.

[RalphLambrecht]

Darkroom viewing of wet photographs is always with a low intensity tungsten lamp. A bright viewing light biasses me to make the pictures too dark which, combined with the inevitable dry-down, means the job has to be done again - delay, expense, frustration.

Amen to that! Obviously a voice of experience!

A dedicated location for dry or wet print evaluation is an important feature of a well-designed darkroom. The area should be evenly illuminated and closely simulate final viewing conditions. Prints produced and evaluated in brightly lit darkrooms end up looking too dark in dimmer environments. A 60-100W opal tungsten bulb, a distance of 1-2 meters from the evaluation board, provides an illumination of around EV 6 at ISO 100/21°. This setup simulates rather dim display-lighting conditions and is ideal for dry print evaluation.

Why use a daylight bulb for print evaluation when the prints are exhibited indoors?

[greybeard]

If you are concerned with evaluating test strips, then a hair dryer or the equivalent (to invoke the dry-down effect) and something like normal room light is fine; if you are talking about "finished" prints, then a full-size print needs to be seen against whatever background it will be displayed with, usually a mounting board or mat. In the latter case, you are basically talking about making a finished print with the understanding that it is for evaluation, not necessarily preservation. This is particularly true of very high- or low-key images, where the contrast between the print and surround is quite important, and the qualities of the light may affect the mount and image differently.

[MattKing]

.

Why use a daylight bulb for print evaluation when the prints are exhibited indoors?

Ralph:

The OP asked about both black and white and colour printing.

[George Collier]

You can find other posts on this topic in this forum. To Maris' and Ralph's point, but with different quantification - I use a 40W bulb (incandescent, the same bulb for 20+ years, don't know what it will be when I switch to CF) about a meter from the print viewing surface, which is a piece of plexiglass angled so that when I stand 1 -2 meters away, I am viewing at about 90 degrees angle to the surface. This works well for me, compensates for drydown, etc. I frequently don't know the exhibition conditions, so I don't worry about that.

[RalphLambrecht]

Ralph:

The OP asked about both black and white and colour printing.

Matt

My question applies to both. Why a different light temperature for print validation and exhibition? I don't understand the need for a daylight bulb since daylight is not a typical exhibition lighting.