In terms of their age, their use of paraffin doesn’t make them older than their electric equivalents, but a contemporary alternative. Safelight glass filters inserted. In the 1949 film ‘Kind Hearts and Coronets’ the protagonist (played by actor Dennis Price), out to murder a family of aristocrats ahead of him in the line of succession to a dukedom, substitutes petrol for paraffin in the darkroom lamp of one of them, a keen amateur photographer. (At 49 seconds in this trailer) Fuelled up with paraffin (!) it’s noticeable that the smaller of the two lamps has a less effective filter and lacks the off-set burner of the larger one. John
I did, yes. Regarding the film, it’s an old favourite and having bought the lamps I remembered the sequence with the switching of fuels. Loads of clips of the film on Youtube.
Classic film and I thought he made a great villain :-) the lamp that shields the wick is interesting ; I have only seen the ones like the smaller one.. I thought it was the white light that mattered? I must admit to not having the greatest of knowledge regarding developing film, despite having a book devoted to Ansel Adams ps I did have an example of an oil fired dark room light but haven’t seen it for a while
@podbros I used to develop and print black & white materials and while film would be loaded onto the spool of a light-tight developing tank and inserted in the tank in total darkness (done by feel when you’ve acquired the knack), photographic paper was less light-sensitive and could be processed in safelight conditions, having been exposed to white light from the enlarger’s projected image of the negative.
@presscall Thanks! interesting stuff.. I kind of miss the waiting to get your snaps back from max spielman I remember my brother made a small studio under the stairs and I got shouted at when I when to get my coat.. :-(
