Cold Light vs Dichroic-Which to Buy?

Forum Members: Thanks in advance for help on this one.

I am in process of setting up my print rig for 2.25 and 4x5 negs. After 20 year layoff I'm at it again.

Here's the question: I have an old Aristo cold head, approx 1980 vintage that I used for fixed contrast paper. Fast as blazes and in conjunction with a propertly tailored neg a very smooth print! I must buy a Bessler 45x Chassis to make it go-no big deal as these are cheap items on ebay or similar.

OR, should I forget the cold light and buy a dichroic enlarger and use VC papers instead of fixed grades with the cold head? Is the diffusion effect of the non-collomated light approximately the same with the two systems? I know thre will be a difference in the actinic quality of the light, but I am not worried about printing speed, per se.

In the 80's there was a vigorous debate about the quality of VC paper versus fixed grade, fixed grade being the winner. I assume that one has been put to bed.......

Issues:
1. I don't like using VC paper with the cold light because of the filters required-I'd rather use graded paper. But these days it means buying the various grades of papers in 8x10, 11x14 and etc which gets mucho expensive.

2. Assuming the dichroic head provides non-collomated diffused light(like a true cold-light), are there any significant drawbacks to setting up that way and using VC papers?

What say ye, oh wise ones?

Dear bbinoulder,

Hey, if you have room, get both!

"I assume that one has been put to bed......." Old photography arguements never die. They never even fade away.

Neal Wydra

While I won't speak to graded being superior to VC paper, it is my general understanding (and personal experience) that VC paper is excellent these days, and there is no quality issue with it. There are some things you can do with VC paper that you can't easily do with graded - like split-grade printing. My recommendation would be to get the dichro head (you can often find these quite inexpensively on fleaBay as well), but keep the cold-light around for when you have a particularly dense or difficult negative that needs the speed advantages of the cold light. I have printed both ways, and the convenience of adjustable filtration on the dichro head wins out over printing speed. Especially since you can tweak the filtration to get half-grade or even quarter-grade adjustments if you need. I run my dichro head through an RH Designs Analyzer Pro timer, and the combination is very pleasant to work with.

TheFlyingCamera said:

.....the convenience of adjustable filtration on the dichro head wins out over printing speed. Especially since you can tweak the filtration to get half-grade or even quarter-grade adjustments if you need. I run my dichro head through an RH Designs Analyzer Pro timer, and the combination is very pleasant to work with.

Click to expand...

Very true. But you might also consider the coldlight and split filter printing. Both types of light will give identical results.

With a Beseler you can change the head easily so get the dichro head and if you want to use the cold light for some reason you can change it out, but I think you will leave the dichro head in place when you see how easy and valuable it will be. Get an RH timer too.

I chose a cold light head because I feel that using below lens filters is much easier than mucking around with a dichro head. On the other hand you have to make sure that the filters are very clean, a problem you don't have with a dichro head.

I also like the fact that the lamp in a cold light head will go on for a long time, longer than tungsten bulbs, and I was a bit worried about the continued availability of specialist tungsten bulbs.

I think the quality of light from the dichro head would be very slightly different to cold light in theory but I haven't been able to see it.

Recently moved from using a cold light source for 5x4, replacing it with a dichroic head on a 10x8 enlarger. There's no apparent differance in prints between the different light sources.

The major advantage is I no longer have to use below the lens filters. Thinking about replacement bulbs is important, and they are far cheaper bought in full packs.

Ian

The new V54 lamp by Aristo works with graded and VC papers. I use it and am happy with it in general. I use the filter drawer version with Ilford filters, which reside above the neg and out of the optical path. It is cheaper than the dual bulb (Aristo) version and faster. Search for these key words in this forum and you will find other threads, maybe in which I shamelessly promote the virtues of the Aristo head.