Hi, all.
Found on the bay an interesting but strange cold light made by Durst for 138 enlargers, which seems to replace a condenser on a b&w head and I would like to know if anyone has ever tried this, also which kind of bulb does it take. The seller doesn't even know if it's working, but I think the same idea could maybe be adapted for LED light. Who knows?
Here's the link: http://www.ebay.com/itm/321172934757...84.m1438.l2649
Thanks!
A member of our local group uses one of those in his Durst. I think he uses it all the time instead of the condensers. That particular listing is a little off on price; for $250 I'd want the power supply too!
I agree that a LED panel that slides in would be a great project.
My Durst Laborator 1000 has a Zone VI cold light source adapted to it. Consists of adding back foam strips block side leakage and it sits on 'switches back' rather than 'switches front'. Works well.
Hi, ic-racer.
Does this fellow of yours feels really happy about this light source or did he managed some kind of improvement?
I have found an old thread on Apug forum where someone claims those cold light to be awfully uneven, which scares me a lot. I guess trying a sliding LED panel would be a best bet for the money.
Thanks again.
The slide-in cold lights work rather poorly -relatively weak and uneven. What you need is simply to replace the whole condenser head with an oversized cold light.
You can even convert these units for 8x10 cold light printing, if you can still find someone to make the light itself.
He is "Peter Spangenberg" on this forum, try to send him an email.Originally Posted by Cesar Barreto
Hi, Drew.
I understand that raplacing the whole condenser head would be easyer, but down here in Brazil those things are a bit more difficult to achieve and that's why I keep my eyes open to new ideas and oportunities. Anyway, I like to print with the condenser head and just considered the diffusion solution for some specific cases, but I agree that it would be nice to be able to print also 8x10' format. Maybe one day I can buy one those big diffusion head. Maybe!
I use one with my enlarger from time to time. Native contrast is lower than with the condenser head, which is often nice for portraits. I normally prefer the condenser head, so it's nice to be able to swap it out without converting the whole enlarger.
It looks like the offering on ebay is missing the LACOTRA transformer, which is necessary for operation. The LACOTRA takes the form of a square power pack or a second condenser-shaped unit.
It's also not clear if the LACOLI includes a working bulb. Aristo is making the D57 V54 bulbs again, but they run $275 each.
Cheers,
-andrew
I had one before I sold it on ebay approx. 10 years ago. My experience with cold lights is that they're terribly uneven compared to condensers. I'm not convinced of any upsides to printing with a diffuser head other than the suppression of dust.
You can convert your condenser head to a cold light diffuser head by simply taping a sheet of white diffusion gel to the bottom condenser. http://www.filmandvideolighting.com/lee216fulwhi.html
They're uneven only if they're undersized, poorly designed, worn out, or have a bad power supply. These slide-in ones are in fact undersized unless you're printing something smaller than 4x5 with them. I gave one away once that I had received in a horse trade, and replaced it with a big Aristo unit. But as already mentioned,
there are easy ways to effectively diffuse a condenser source. I happen to particularly like the blue-green V54 Aristo light, however, because it's so responsive to
split printing VC papers.
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