Zone VI Cold Light Trouble

I recently purchased a Zone VI 5x7 cold light enlarger. I am having trouble getting different grades of contrast with it. Although the blue (hard) and green (soft) lights visually look to be nearly equal in brightness, the green light has very little effect on the paper. I have tried Ilford and Forte FB VC papers.

I have the compensating timer and the green light seems to need a little more exposure by the sensor, judging by the beeps, when I try them individually. If I leave the green light at full and reduce the blue light I get almost no change in contrast until the blue light is nearly out.

I suspect that I need to have the enlarger relamped, but I was wondering if anyone else has experienced this problem and can offer any solutions. Given the cost of new heads I would probably attempt to make my own or use graded paper.

TIA

Mike-D

Hi Mike, welcome aboard APUG!

I don't know if this will help, but it'll give you a start;

(there was a url link here which no longer exists)

It's only 2 pages long, but pay attention to John's experience...it all sounds familiar. (In advance of you reading that link; no I haven't resolved my issues yet). Good Luck!!!

Murray

Calumet

Pack up the head and send it to Calumet. Simple as that. They have a good service dept. and you will have it back sooner than soon. Call first and talk to Richard Newman.
Best, Peter

Not so simple, Not so fast!

peters said:

Pack up the head and send it to Calumet. Simple as that. They have a good service dept. and you will have it back sooner than soon. Call first and talk to Richard Newman.
Best, Peter

Click to expand...

I'm sorry to say that I took my Zone VI Cold lite head (for Beseler 45 MXT) to Calumet's LA store to have the lamp replaced on May 11, 2005. I've called numerous times and am always told- I'll call Besenville (repair in ILL.) and get back to you which they never do. I'm going to call again this morning to find out how my repair (new bulb installation) is going. Wish me luck. 95 days and counting seems to be a long time.

Jim

Thanks, folks for your welcome and replies. I've read through the other threads pertaining to the Zone VI head. I tried using some filters to try to tame the contrast. I didn't have CC filters but used some #0 and #1 VC filters, but they had no perceptable effect other than to increase the exposure. Low contrast developer reduced the contrast, of course, but didn't give me any more control.

I emailed Aristo-Grid who I mistakenly believed made the lamps. They informed me that they never made lamps for Zone VI enlargers. They did offer to evaluate the head and if possible install new lamps. The quoted price was not inexpensive. Naturally there is no guarantee that their lamps will work with the Zone VI control unit.

The possibility of a transformer problem is interesting. I could, perhaps, do some voltage measurements at the output of the transformer, but not sure what I would do with that information. My next step will be to contact Calumet. They should know what to do.

Thanks for the advice,

Mike D