Aristo vs Zone VI cold light heads for an Omega D2

[David R Munson]

Once I get home again in a few weeks I'll start work on setting up a new darkroom. At this point I figure it's finally time to bite the bullet and buy a cold light head for my trusty Omega D2. It seems my two choices are a few models from Aristo and Zone VI. Other than price, does anyone see any reason to go with one over the other? Anyone have any positive/negative feedback on one or the other in terms of performance, reliability, customer service, etc? Thanks much.

[wfwhitaker]

Either one is a good choice and each should be as reliable as the other. The Zone VI cold lights already have the sensor installed which allows them to be used with a Zone VI compensating timer, a Metrolux timer or the old stabilizer (one or another of which I think is very desirable for consistency). The sensor is available from Calumet and can be added to the Aristo heads which (as far as I know) still don't come with it installed from the factory. The Aristo heads do have the V54 lamp which has a spectral output which works better with variable contrast papers. A replacement V54 lamp can be purchased for a Zone VI head, but it adds about $100 to the cost.

Both Aristo and Zone VI (Calumet) make variable contrast cold light heads, too. But I assume you're not asking about those. New they're around $1000, but they do make VC printing very convenient.

[Witold Grabiec]

Newer Zone VI heads (from early 90-ies on anyways) do not require V54 lamp for variable contrast papers. I purchased one new in 1992 and it never gave me VC printing trouble.

While I've always liked cold heads I'd still consider a dichroic head, especially since there is already one available for your D2. I've never noticed any quantifiable difference between these two light sources and a dichro gives you a completely infinite VC printing options.

[David R Munson]

There's a dicro head for the D2? Is this something that's currently manufacturered or would I be looking for one on the used market? I'm thinkint it's the latter, as I haven't seen one anywhere...

[jnantz]

hi david

i have never seen a new dicro head for the omega d2/d3. ep levines in boston (cameras.com) had one a while back. i don't think there is a ton of demand for it - they might still have it - and i think the cost was something around $500 - but i don't really remember exactly - just remember it was out of my budget

if you are going for the aristo d2 or the d2hi light source - you can buy a used head, and have them install the new tube for just over $100 at aristo. if you call aristo - ask for rick, he is a gem and will gladly help & answer all the questions you might have.

good luck!

- john

[Witold Grabiec]

I didn't mean to create confusion about this. I never meant a NEW dichroic head. Super Chromega Dichroic II fits all D line enlargers. There is several options now on eBay. Including this nice system: http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2962825004

With little patience Super Chromega can be had for just about what a cold light head would cost. With system like above you can buy it, take what you need, and resell the rest. This way you might even get your dichro head for free.

Or this one:

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=2963662490&category=29985

On top of that, you also have the Minolta/Ilford 45A and/or Beseler VC diffusion heads that are harder to find, and often a bit more expensive. Either will give great results as well. As long as the head covers the format you need, it can be adapted to any enlarger at minimal cost.

I'm only bringing this up because my own strong belief in cold light's superiority has changed and a dichro head is to me at least as good.

[Wayne Crider]

Here's a link discussing the choices for the series.

[Scott Walton]

David, I have had the Aristo heads for about 18 years now at home and really like them. A few years after I got mine, they came up with the Hi output head which I wouldn't mind having to cut the time down a bit but I don't use the yellow filter they recommend with the old 54 head. By using contrast filters, your 1 filter will be equaled to about a 2.5 contrast, your 1.5 filter will be about a 3 contrast ect. My recommendation is to get a set of 6" Ilford contrast filters and use the 00, 0, 1 1.5 filters for most of your printing but be aware that they will be the equivilent of a 1-1.5 step up in contrast due to the high blue content. Forget about using the yellow filter to equal the temp of the light. You will end up losing 2-2.5 stops of light! At a previous job several years ago, we got a few of the multi contrast heads to try and I didn't like them at all! There were no click stops for repeatability and working out the exact contrast was a pain. Split filtering was the only way to go with these but there again, the ability for repeatability has to be stressed here. We were a custom B/W house but production was the rule so creative printing wasn't in the cards... You will definitely love cold light printing and probably never look back... only to grab some old negs and reprint them! The luminosity of the prints together with the smoothness and almost no retouching will really get under your skin!!!

[Sal Santamaura]

If you really want to set things up for straightforward printing, design and build a custom adaptation of a 5x7 Aristo head, adding a second acrylic diffusor separated by 1/4" from the factory one. There will be edge falloff of 5x7 illumination but, within the 4x5 area of your negative carrier, you'll have the most even corner-to-corner light source imaginable, with no hint of a tube pattern on your prints.

I haven't done this for the D2 (or any 4x5) yet. My suggestion is based on experience double-diffusing a Zone VI head in a 23C. It now works splendidly for 645, but will no longer cover 6x7. I've picked up a 4x5 Zone VI head for adapting to the 23C so it will smoothly illuminate 6x7 corners, but time to do the work has not yet presented itself. I'll probably eventually address 4x5 by getting an Omega E chassis to ease the 5x7 Aristo adaptation process.

If you wish never to burn in again, except where subject brightness distribution requires it, I believe this is the way to go. Making a test print at about value VI - VII with no negative in the carrier reveals a lot about why skies can be so problematic. After double diffusing an oversized cold light head, perfectly uniform grey paper will result.

[David R Munson]

Thanks for all the good info. This helps a lot. What my budget looks like once I get the darkroom built will likely determine the path I take, but this shows me that I have a fair number of options, which is nice. Thanks again.