Omega B8 - condensers? DIY Diffusion Head?

[hospadar]

Got my hands on a piece of frosted 3/8" acrylic (frosted both sides). Tried cutting a circle of that to use instead of the white plastic as a diffuser - much brighter but not enough diffusion, corners were almost 2 stops darker than the center (compared to a little less than a half stop w/ same lens, same lamp, but condensers).

Placing the frosted glass below the condensers however seems like it might deliver a decent compromise - illumination is at least as even as with the condensers alone and presumably will deliver more diffuse light than the condensers alone. Brightness is WAY better than with the white plastic diffuser, less than a half stop dimmer than condensers only.

I'm also going to try sanding one side of the frosted acrylic to see if that gets me more diffusion happening while maintaining the brightness. It's definitely much more transparent than a ground glass right now.

 

[koraks]

You wrote on Saturday that with the condensers, you got several stops more speed. I may have missed it, but why not use a condenser setup then? Did you not get even coverage that way, or don't you have the condensers for the film size you want to print?

 

[hospadar]

You wrote on Saturday that with the condensers, you got several stops more speed. I may have missed it, but why not use a condenser setup then? Did you not get even coverage that way, or don't you have the condensers for the film size you want to print?

Just fooling around really - Condensers are fine and coverage is good. I don't have any of the supplementary condensers, but I think those are really only to increase the intensity for small formats, so the only penalty for not using them is slightly slower printing at 35mm afaict. I'm kinda hoping to get the printing effects of a diffusion setup (less noticeable scratches, softer dust). I'm printing for fun, not fine art, so the less re-touching/reprinting I have to do the better. I also have a lot of old negs that are in pretty rough shape.