Aristo D-2 + VC Papers... too contrasty ?

[Ken Lee]

I recently upgraded my Aristo D-2 Cold Light Head by replacing the 20-year-old lamp with a new one recommended by Aristo. I notice that my prints are rather contrasty, even though I am using Ilford VC paper and Ilford VC filters.



In the short-term, I have had to dilute my Ansco 130 paper developer quite a bit, or use Selectol Soft, or make Number 1 my default filter.



Has anyone else encountered the same problem ? Is there a remedy, other than changing my film development times ?

[ronald moravec]

V54 lamp works well. Gives about the same contrast as the condenser head and the Ilford filters space nicely on some old Kodak polycontrast. Ilford paper gives high contrast tones with close spacing.

The problem is the visual light is dim and the actinic printing light is too bright. I dial out 3 stops with the Aristo dimmer trying to get 20/30 sec at 16.

[Jerry Flynn]

I agree with Ronald. I find that with the V54 the grade spacing is uneven and crowded towards the hard end of the scale with Ilford paper. I had the same experience with Forte.

I use the cold light head for graded papers, where I find the performance excellent.

[Ken Lee]

Jerry -

May I ask, with which brand of Graded papers have you had success ?

If I were making large prints from small negatives, I'm sure the high level of actinic light would be welcome - but I have also been very glad to have the dimmer. Without it, exposures are unreasonably short, unless you stop down the lens, well past its optimum aperture.

Alternately, is there another Cold Light which can be used in the Beseler 45 series ?

[Christopher Perez]

Is this model cold light head a full spectrum model? Or does a person need a yellow filter to add the missing colors?

In my case I need a pale yellow filter. This evens out the contrast and makes my Ilford VC papers filter nicely.

[Ken Lee]

Chris -



It emits blue-green light, like the one pictured on the Fine Art Photography web site.



According to their site (bold letters mine):

  "In my darkroom the V-54 Cold Light Head gives a fine #2 result with Ilford HP-5 film developed in Ilfotec DD-X for 15 minutes at a 1:9 dilution (see Ilford products page) with Elegance Paper. Contrastier films like Kodak Tri-X may require a 50Y compensation filter (place the filter above [behind] the enlarging lens inside the bellows).



Where do you get a 50Y filter ?

[Ken Lee]

OK - I found it by searching Google for "CC50Y".

Now, the question is: which kind of filter to get: Glass ? Gelatin ? Plastic ?

Which is appropritate for the enlarger ? I guess it's best to leave it above the lens.

[Mark Woods]

I use a 15y CalColor filter in my enlarger head. It's a Besler 810 Cold Light Head. Call or contact Rosco and ask for the "professenal" swatch book. It has all the filters and they are larger than the lens board. I'm not sure they will match exactly to CC filters since they are calibrated to Kodak negative motion picture film stock, but you can get close.

MW

[Mark Woods]

Hi Ken,
To clairify my last post. You could find out the filter combination that works for you, then buy sheets of gels and put them in the cold head. That gets them out of the optical path in terms of small scratches and things like that. In that position they are pretty bullet proof. (I also added a deffusion gel to the color.)

MW

[Jerry Flynn]

Ken,

I've used Ilford Galerie, Oriental New Seagull, Forte Fortezio, Kentmere, the old Freestle Arista (which I assume is Ilford Galerie). I guess I do not worry a great deal about stopping down beyond the optimal aperture - I am usually at f/22 or so for an 11X14 from a 4X5 negative.