Colorstar 2000???

From a read of a discussion on photo.net. Discussion went on on 2008

Community > Forums > Film and Processing > Processing - home > jobo colorstar 2000.

It is a nice timer; it really is more useful as a analyser. It's successor, the 3000 I own. It has buit in digital memeories, the 2000 uses a plug in pack of potentiometers.

I use my colourstar 3000 in b& w mode all of the time; I do not know if the 2000 has a black and white mode.

I calibrate the speed (set the pot) so that the analyser sets the suggested time for me when I meter the negative at the spot where I want the first suggestion of tone in the highlights.

I do this by setting the probe under the enlarger with the neg in place projecting to the size that I want, but with no filter in place.

The unit is calibrated by printing a print that has such highlight detail, and then setting the probe on that spot without having changed the enlager settings that produced the print, then adjusting the analyser sensitivity until the analyser suggested time matches the actual time that the print was exposed at.

Once the analyser is calibrated, the time that it suggests can be manually varied after it is automatically set, before the timed exposure is made.

My 3000 also can be put into denisitometer mode, and thus read off between the thinnest and densest portions of the neg to suggest what paper grade/filter settings you may want to start with to get a good print.

Your cold light set up may have warm up lag that may impact how effectively the timer can work with your set up. If you get variable contrast by using two tubes with different colour output there will also be challenges in analysing the negs with this analayser.

Ephotzine has a copy of the manual for sale; it will be needed to figure out the key sequences that are used to set the enelyser into its different modes.
Home > Store >Instruction Manuals > LICI PhotoInd > LICI PhotoInd ColorStar 2000

 

exactly how I use my 2000 model.

 

I have the opertunity of a 2000....Is it worth getting or should I wait for a 3000 to come along?

Thanks Dave

 

I understand that the 2000 is easier to adjust, if mostly using it as a timer. I think there is a dial to spin, as opposed to the up/down buttons. If you are doing RA-4, then I would suggest look for the 8 or better yet, 99 channel 3000's.

 

While I've mostly used my original ColorStar as a metering timer for Ilfochromes and for RA4, it's also pretty handy as a densitometer when making B&W masks.

It's a little less useful for color printmaking without trial and error in filtration than I first expected, but still when making enlargements of various sizes, it can still save a lot of paper nevertheless. The probe has a spot meter area setting which enables finding an area of small area of density to measure off a known good print setting (might mention I also kept meticulous records). Raising or lower the stage on the enlarger, changing filtration or masking, etc, it becomes trivial to time the enlarger exposure for the exact same density. This works well within the bounds of the reciprocity compensation of the ColorStar (and the reciprocity window of Ilfochrome).

Even when working in color off a known good print/neg, calibrating for a new or aged enlarger bulb or new or aged pack of paper still requires zeroing the ColorStar out and making some test prints.

 

Yes I hope to do RA-4 with it.

Cheers Dave