Omega B22 Diffuser Material for Filter Holder

Wondering what material might be good for the filter tray in my B22 for a diffuser stage. I'm doing this mostly to lengthen my exposure times as I'm finding them too short when doing 35mm with my 50mm lens. I do realize I can just remove the 35mm condensor and print with an 80mm, which lengthens time but also means an increase in column height .....

Anyhow I have a great local glass shop which could cut me a piece, but I'm not sure how thick it should be? Or are there some "around the house" materials that might work? Obviously I don't want anything to melt/burn so my first thougth was glass.

I use under-lens MC filters for contrast, thus the filter tray is just sitting empty and seems like a perfect candidate for a diffuser.

This is kind of a stop-gap until I find a cold light and/or Chromega B head

Just use the 80mm condenser with the 50mm lens, no column height adjustment required, or you could always buy a lower wattage bulb.

Neutral density filter.

Bob-D659 said:

Just use the 80mm condenser with the 50mm lens, no column height adjustment required, or you could always buy a lower wattage bulb.

Click to expand...

This will lengthen exposure times? I thought this would shorten the times even more, if I removed the extra condensor for 35mm ..... Guess I'm thinking backwards Been awhile since I've used a straight up condensor enlarger.

ic-racer said:

Neutral density filter.

Click to expand...

To do what it seems you want (lengthen exposure times), I did what ic-racer has suggested. I ordered a gel sheet of ND2 from my local photo store, and then cut squares to fit the upper filter tray of my B-22 XL, either singly, or stacked to cut 1, 2, or 3 stops of light. It seems to work well for me, there doesn’t appear to be any heat effects from the lamp, and the below-the-lens tray is free for my VC filters.

Might work for you also.

Thanks sounds easy and logical!

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/163137-REG/Rosco_102302992124_E_Colour_299_1_2_Neutral.html

Just picked one out of the blue, there are several others.