Aristo Cold Light Head with W45 lamp

brYan · Mar 1, 2008

I found an Aristo Cold Light Head at a photo store. It was a good deal, so I purchased it. $170.

Got it home and realized, after reading some threads here, that it has the W45 lamp.

Because I will be printing on VC paper, should I take this one back and look for a head with the V54 lamp in it?:confused:

Thanks,
Bryan

Renato Tonelli · Mar 1, 2008

To print on VC paper you will need the V54 lamp. I had purchased an Aristo head for my Durst PRO many years ago, before they started making the V54 lamp; I removed the old lamp and replaced it with the V54.

brYan · Mar 1, 2008

Am I assuming correctly, that a W45 lamp is compatible with graded paper and the V54 lamp is compatible with both graded and VC paper?

Phillip P. Dimor · Mar 1, 2008

I would venture to guess that the V54 is good for both. Some people have tamed the contrast resulting from the W54 and VC papers with a gel filter. I believe it may have been a CC40Y. Some people get okay results, others don't for whatever reason. Some people have to put a dimmer switch in (particularly with the V54 which I believe is usually brighter)

The last time I priced a replacement V54 bulb, It was around $100. It very well be more now. I think I paid about that for mine, mounted in an Omega DII condenser housing about 6 years ago. You're certain that the bulb is a W54?

brYan · Mar 1, 2008

The box is labeled W45 and a small sticker on top of the head says W45, hand-written.

removed account4 · Mar 1, 2008

brYan said:
I found an Aristo Cold Light Head at a photo store. It was a good deal, so I purchased it. $170.

Got it home and realized, after reading some threads here, that it has the W45 lamp.

Because I will be printing on VC paper, should I take this one back and look for a head with the V54 lamp in it?:confused:

Thanks,
Bryan

the newer lamp is better formulated for vc papers.
you can use the cc filter, but it will eat your light
and give you longer exposures. you could also
split filter, but that can be a big pain, if you have never done it before.
call aristo and ask for rick
he will tell you the cost of a replacement lamp, if your photostore doesn't have the newer cold light head.

good luck!

john

Phillip P. Dimor · Mar 2, 2008

I only ask because when I received mine I had never seen an aristo cold light source and mine wasn't marked in any way. Judging by the bulb color is tough if you don't have much to go by (and are color blind like myself).

Dan Henderson · Mar 2, 2008

I started out with the old style cold light head that fits in the DII condenser housing. I use VC paper and split grade with blue and green filters. The color was different but it worked ok for me. I've since upgraded to a new Aristo cold light head with the proper V54 light source. It is cyan, so the green and blue filters color the light an equal amount. The new bulb is very bright, so I knocked it down by a stop by putting a second piece of translucent plastic in the light path.

selenium96 · Mar 2, 2008

I have been using an Aristo cold light head with the W45 bulb and a CP40Y filter in my Omega B22 for years and it has worked fine for me with VC papers. I bought it before the V54 bulb was available. The salesperson at Calumet advised me to get the filter which was the recommended setup at the time. You could try the filter before spending the money on a new bulb.

ic-racer · Mar 2, 2008

selenium96 said:
I have been using an Aristo cold light head with the W45 bulb and a CP40Y filter in my Omega B22 for years and it has worked fine for me with VC papers. I bought it before the V54 bulb was available. The salesperson at Calumet advised me to get the filter which was the recommended setup at the time. You could try the filter before spending the money on a new bulb.

I, likewise have had good results split grade printing with my W45 lamp. When doing the two-exposure, so called split grade printing, the printing process is the same if you have the W45 or the V54 (same two filters are used)

Have you read Ilfords papers on using the W45 lamp? (starts at page 3 here : http://www.ilfordphoto.com/Webfiles/2006130201152306.pdf )

Have you seen the Aristo site with the graph that shows how the Ilford filters efficacy is maintained, with bunching of the higher contrast grades together (without the additional yellow filter). http://www.aristogrid.com/v54art.htm

So, results should be similar with both bulbs, you are buying convinience with the V54 lamp.

brYan · Mar 2, 2008

Thanks, everyone.

-Bryan

Aristo Cold Light Head with W45 lamp

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