Frank and Roger: there were real benefits to me in using a cold light enlarger - my darkroom was in an uninsulated loft and hellishly hot in summer. While the cold light head emitted some heat, it was nothing compared to my other enlarger, and virtually silent, too - no fan noise. Besides, you can't take everything people say as gospel fact - you have to find out yourself sometimes. I'd heard a lot about the mystique of cold light enlargers and I just had to see for myself if it was true - poo-poohing something and then citing someone else's opinion as a reason doesn't really cut it for me. So I tried it. I now use a dichro head.
Frank: as for 'no offense to RH Designs' my main bone of contention is that there was no mention of the unsuitability of the meter I bought at the time that I bought it (I read all the info about it first) and I ended up with a very expensive product that didn't do what it was supposed to - unless I jury-rigged it to work as Richard explains. Most places I deal with would have offered to take the product back.
Andrew: I use old processes more and more these days, so when bulbs are no longer available or prohibitively expensive due to punitive taxation, I'll print-out using the sun. They can't tax that, can they? - oh, they already did! During the american civil war all "sun pictures" had to have a revenue stamp purchased and fixed to the back!
Regards,
Neil.
