Hi all,
I'm having a difficult time deciding how to best address a problem I'm having with my enlarger, and would appreciate input.
I have an Omega DII that I found on the side of the road. It has an Aristo cold light head that I have a love/hate relationship with. I love that prints it produces require very little spotting, but I hate its inconsistent light output. Even with its ballast heater plugged in, its inconsistent light output makes printing a real hassle. I've tried to reduce the effect of the inconsistent light output by going for long print exposure times, but inconsistency is still very frustrating. I find myself reluctant to print because of the frustration!
There is an (expensive) product that I believe will address this problem: The RHDesigns Stopclock Vario. At £379.00 shipped ($555.10 at today's exchange rate), this is not going to be a cheap fix. I hesitate to invest this much money into a very old enlarger with a very old cold light head, even though I have all the negative carriers and cones I need to print the formats I shoot.
Rather than spend a large amount of money to rehabilitate my DII, another option might be to find a Beseler 45-series enlarger on Craigslist. I've seen a few examples show up over that last year, and if I'm patient I could probably acquire one with a Dichro colorhead for ~ $200-300. This seems like a good solution, even if it means I'll have to buy new negative carriers, etc.
Are there other alternatives I'm overlooking? I've thought about trying to convert my cold light head into an LED head, but I'm not good with wiring and soldering, and I'm not sure how well LEDs would work. I don't want to go back to a normal condenser setup, because of dust and heat issues.
Thanks in advance for your indulgence in helping me work out a solution.
-- Dan
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