Since I read with Lina Bessonova about a head light, I use that in my darkroom (and the white light I use for everything else I need light). Luckily I bought the right one: only red or only white. When I tried a better quality it turned out that it gave a green light battery -life-sign when turned off - no use in the darkroom. But the red is great: it is everywhere where my head is 🤩
I've used bicycle rear light with red leds as darkroom lights and torch. For bright light I made a darkroom light from red led strips with some red filter film. (Yes, red leds can have a tiny bit of yellow and green in them, checked with cd disk as difractive grating). I get about -2EV intensity at high, it does not fog papers in 1 to 1.5 hours. Never tested more than that. That is plenty to see around especially when eyes get used to dark in a minute. I used to do lith prints which is why I was interested in very low fogging during long periods.
That’s a good tip! I actually use a similar device that you can just get at Walmart for like five bucks a small red LED cabinet light. I painted both sides of the plastic lens red. It’s a pretty important tool for situations just like what you’re explaining sometimes it’s to dark and hard to see in specific areas.
My Petzl Tikka headlight has a red led and i love it for darkroom use. I always wear it upside down on my head so it provides nice indirect light which is bright enough for every situation =)
