Chromega D5 XL Users:

The D5 has three position light illumination: White, High, Low. I'm printing B/W 4X5 film.

I changed the head because the original (to me) was simply not working any longer. Gels were falling out, filter levers were sticking; it was simply not working and too much for me to deal with.

The new/rebuilt head works flawlessly, BUT... where I had always used High light output I now just use Low and base time's are slightly reduced at the same f-Stop.

My question is: Is the selection of High -V- Low arbitrary and linked to the negative in hand or do you use one all the time? Which one?

The idea of using the lower setting is to help give the user sufficient time to perform manual printing manipulations like burning and dodging or diffusing with a hand-held diffusion tool (like black tulle in an embroidery frame). The “low” setting is most often used with relatively small prints or negatives that are less dense than usual, both situations producing relatively short printing times. I use “high” most of the time. The low setting is rarely needed for large prints.

Dear Bruce,

Possible reasons include the new mixing chamber might be brighter, the screen for "Low" in the old head was stuck and if it's a new bulb it is probably brighter than the old one. In any case, it's good that everything is working well again. I use the Low setting for 8x10s a lot of the time.

Neal Wydra

My Chromega D head is 147 years old and I never used the low setting. I would agree with Neal about the brightness of the chamber and/or the bulb.

Thank you all; I saved the mixing chamber and discovered the interior was pulling off the walls and in fact an edge surrounding the UV filter was interfering with the light path. I will probably have to re-examine neg development to print with the proper tools.

Thanks again,