Zone VI Type 2 Enlarger Question

[memorris]

I recently bought a type 2 Zone VI enlarger. After printing 35mm and 4X5 at 8X10 I decided to try 11X14. The lens is a Rodenstock Rodagon 150mm f/5.6. With the lens stopped down 2 stops from wide open (f/11), the times were 60sec and up. It seems to me that this is very low light levels and when going to 16X20 and larger prints the times could become impractically long. Is this simply something I will need to live with or am I doing something wrong?

[resummerfield]

I have the same Zone VI type 2, and yes, I have the same very long print times. Otherwise, its a great enlarger.

[John Cahill]

A user's forum for Zone VI enlargers is starting up over at APUG.org.

[RichardRitter]

Remenber the inverse square law of light fall off. Happens when you go from an 8 x 10 print size to a 11 x 14 print size. Its around twice more light needed to make the bigger print.

[Ed Pierce]

What settings are you using on the control box?

Is the 60 sec with a 35mm negative?

What are you using for a timer?

[memorris]

The Brightness, Hard, and Soft are all at max. The timer is a Zone VI compensating timer and the Brightness on it is also set to max.

This is with a 4X5 negative, Rodenstock Rodagon 150mm f/5.6 lens stopped down to f/8 for the 11X14 and f/11 for 8X10.

[Ed Pierce]

The Brightness, Hard, and Soft are all at max. The timer is a Zone VI compensating timer and the Brightness on it is also set to max.

This is with a 4X5 negative, Rodenstock Rodagon 150mm f/5.6 lens stopped down to f/8 for the 11X14 and f/11 for 8X10.

I've heard of others having this problem, but it doesn't happen to me for some reason. I have the same setup, and my base exposure is usually 15 seconds at f/22 for an 8x10, f/16 for an 11x14, and f/11 for a 16x20 on Oriental or Ilford VC papers, developed in Dektol 1+2. I've never made any burns longer than 4x base exposure with this setup.

My negatives tend to be as thin as I can get away with...could you be printing an overly dense neg?

About the warmup time; I start off with the enlarger's brightness set at 7. This keeps it stabilized right off. The stabilizer/timer is much more sensitive to the soft than the hard light.

And btw the green stabilizer light will fog paper. I covered most of mine with tape.

[jeroldharter]

You did not mention your paper. Some have slow speeds. I use Kentmere FP VC which is relatively fast, at least a stop faster than Forte Polywarmtone.

[memorris]

I was printing 8X10 on Oriental neutral tone paper which seems to be much faster than the warm tone and Ilford papers. The times were typically 15 - 20 sec @ f/11 or f/16.

The iiX14 paper was some left over from a couple of months ago but I think it was Ilford brown box which is slower than the Oriental.

The negatives are a bit more dense than before, my printing mentor told me one of the things I needed to do was increase negative contrast and density so I have been leaving the film in the developer a bit longer than before. So yes, the negatives are a bit dense.

Thanks for the tip on the green LED, I was wondering if it could fog the paper. The Oriental is so easy to fog anyway it can probably have an effect.

[yuhang919]

Remenber the inverse square law of light fall off. Happens when you go from an 8 x 10 print size to a 11 x 14 print size. Its around twice more light needed to make the bigger print.

:)

[memorris]

I am aware of that. It also applies when shooting close-ups in LF, adjust the exposure for bellows extension. My other enlarger has a condenser head and has a much higher light output than this one. This was a big surprise to me. I finished the 8X10 prints and will begin working on the 11X14s again soon.