Quest for Information on V54 lamp for Aristo D-2 cold light

[Renato Tonelli]

I checked mine this morning - it is blue/green (aquamarine) - very close to what Thomas posted.
I use mine (on a Durst PRO) only occasionally but am glad I purchased a spare lamp. Mine is not the round type.

[Eric Woodbury]

I don't know if this helps, but here is a little more of the puzzle.

Allen Johnson developed the tube while he was at Aristo. I don't know where he is any more, but maybe somebody does. Although the tube appear to be very green, it is very blue too. Maybe more than green, but because of our eye's insensitivity to the blue part of the spectrum and super sensitivity to green, it appears green. I'm guessing there is at least a little UV in there too.

Does anybody out there have a spectrometer?

Whoops, I should have read all the responses. I see the link has the spectrum, with a 460nm blue and a 560nm green being the dominant peaks.

[Drew Wiley]

The V54 is distinctly both blue and green. That's why it works so well on VC papers.

[evan clarke]

My neighbor bought tubes from another company for his 8x10 enlarger with Aristo head and if I remember, they could supply any V54. I will get the info from him in the next couple of days and post it...Evan Clarke

[neil poulsen]

Consider getting a color head instead. Much more consistent and can work great for VC papers. Some of these heads can be found for very low prices.

For lower contrast, set cyan and magenta to zero and increase yellow to desirable contrast. For higher contrast, set cyan and yellow to zero and increase magenta to desirable contrast. Or, one can get creative and manage yellow and magenta together to maintain a steady, overall exposure.

[ic-racer]

Consider getting a color head instead. ... Some of these heads can be found for very low prices...

That is for sure. I put together a Super Chromega D II head for my friend for next to nothing, using spare parts from here and APUG and $5 in parts from Mouser.com.

[vernon brisley]

Hi I am Back... and encouraged by your interest. I have contacted voltarc with two proposals: to produce a profitable amount of lamps to a buyers group ,or release the formula for the contents of the lamp to a neon shop to produce an agred upon number of lamps. I await their response. I have also sent inquires to Freestyle Photographic just to see if they have any interest. Calumet remains unresponsive. There are also lots of printers using other Aristo lamps who should be interested in support of their equipment. I hope that perhaps by showing a demand for these products, that at least they can remain available to those of us who rely on them.The main reason i have not gone the dicro route is that I get much better results from my pyro developed negatives with the cold light. As an old graded paper printer, I find the filters very natural.The photographs of the V54 are very helpful, Thank you! The Quest continues! Vernon Brisley

[Gordon Coale]

Good luck, Vernon!

[Jeff Bannow]

An update for anyone still following this - Aristo is producing a run of these bulbs and is taking orders now. There's a thread on APUG regarding this. Don't want to post a link as I don't know if it's kosher to do so.

[Allen in Montreal]

Thanks for the FYI Jeff,
They seem to only be making the one type of lamp for the moment,
I wrote and asked for 5x7 and 12x12 lamps too, let us hope they make a few other runs if this one proves successful.