Help using DeVere 507 with Cathomag and VC paper?

[ITD]

Hi

On reflection, maybe my previous thread title was ambiguous...

I've acquired a DeVere 507 beast with a Cathomag cold light head. I don't have a compensating timer so was planning on leaving the light on to keep it warm and only turning it off whilst locating paper. Is that likely to be effective, or are there other ways of doing this?

I've also read about issues with using VC papers with these types of heads. How bad are these issues, and what do people do to get around them? I've read some suggestions to use a yellow filter of some kind, but I'm not sure whether that would be to place above the negative or below the lens. Can I just buy a sheet of the right type of gel?

Thanks
Paul

 

[Ian Grant]

I used a De Vere Cathomag head for about 30 years, I never had a compensating timer and found that once the head warmed up there were no problems. You need to keep exposure times around the 10 second mark or longer.

For my printing I found I got a good range of contrasts with VC papers but then I'd rarely be using anything other than Gd 2 or 3 and only occasionally 1 & 4.

Ian