Variable Contrast light source for a Beseler 4X5 Enlarger

[Larry Shearer]

I saw a listing for an Oriental Variable Contrast light source, but know nothing about it. I know that in the past Zone VI, and Aristo manufactured these, but they look to be long gone. Any thoughts ? tia

[Eric Woodbury]

I think the Oriental cold light was manufactured by ZBE, which is now in Carpenteria, Ca. I heard they don't support these any more. Zone 6 is gone and Aristo is in limbo. Besides all that, VC heads are not very bright, IMO. They are at minimum 2 stops dimmer than a V54 light source with filters. V54 is the best tube Aristo ever made. I hope that whoever bought Aristo will continue with the coldlights.

[jeroldharter]

I have been tempted by that light source a couple of times. Got good reviews at the time it was introduced. It has a built in timer so I think you are stuck using it (vs. an f-stop timer for example). It has a lot of built in electronics and is expensive. I would only buy it if you got a great deal. I prefer a dichroic light source because then you can keep the exposure times constant when changing filtration. Not sure if you can do that on the Oriental.

[Brian Ellis]

I used the Aristo 4500VCL head. It was great. I never had any trouble with the light not being bright enough, it seemed plenty bright to me. A friend of mine had the ZBE head. Something went wrong with it, he sent it to ZBE for repair and has never seen it again. He eventually switched to digital so he quit trying to get it repaired or returned after a couple years.

[Eric Brody]

These heads are or were fine but I think most variable contrast darkroom printers used color heads for their flexibility and availability. I no longer print in the darkroom but used a Beseler color head for many years and still have it.

Eric