Heiland LED Head As A Replacement For Legacy Cold Light Heads

[chuckroast]

A few years ago there were reports that at max contrast, the Heiland didn't produce as much contrast as using Ilford filters, both with Ilford MG. I wonder if that's the case now. (I have some negatives from decades ago taken in poor light that could do with max contrast. I used to use Brovira BEH-1 graded paper. I've thought of a couple of contrast-increasing print developers for current Ilford MG)

This is not my experience so far after making a half dozen prints on Fomabrom Variant 111 VCFB. I cannot speak to Ilford MG as I do not use it.

But per @koraks comments upthread, this seems at least questionable.

Getting to full black isn't just a filtration issue, it's also about developer strength and time. I am using an Ansco 130 like developer 1:1 for 3 min at a nominal 68F with no issue getting to strong blacks.

 

[Pieter12]

I remember the report from Ilford, stating the Heiland head only produced something like a grade 4.5. That was probably 7 or 8 years ago. I assume Heiland has made changes since, because I have no problem getting max contrast.

 

[MattKing]

I remember the report from Ilford, stating the Heiland head only produced something like a grade 4.5. That was probably 7 or 8 years ago. I assume Heiland has made changes since, because I have no problem getting max contrast.

7 or 8 years ago the Ilford RC papers at least had significantly different (slower) response to higher "grade" filtration than the current paper, so that may factor into the issue.