zone vi coldlight question

[gmpowers]

I purchased a beseler 45mxt with a zone vi non vc coldlight that confuses me. It has 2 power cords and a 5 pin connector on top. Does this require a special timer or can I use my old gra-lab 450 timer. There is not a filter drawer so where does one place a filter when using vc paper?

[Gim]

One of the cords on top is the preheater. Other is for the lamp that plugs into the timer. I use a Gra Lab 300 with mine, no problem. The 5 pin connector I believe is for a light/power stabilizer. I have only used graded paper but believe you can use under the lens filters but don't know how good they are.

[lee]

filters under the lens will work just fine. I have used them like that for over 25 years until I bought an Aristo VCL 4500 cold light. I never saw an issue doing that.

lee\c

[Loose Gravel]

It's a 5-pin DIN connector. It is there for a stabalizer or closed loop timer. There a photo sensor on the other side. Either Z6 or Metrolux fits the connector.

[Joe Lipka]

There is a filter slide just above the enlarging lense. It uses plastic mounted filters about 2" square. Or, if you have the thin gelatin filters, you can set them on top of the negative carrier.

[photobackpacker]

There are two stabilizers for this unit. The older is a dedicated stabilizer that has two dials that control lamp intensity. The first is labeled as such, the second is calibrated in percentages to aid in compensating for dry down. This unit has been discontinued and the the most recent gear incorporated the stabilization circuitry in the exposure timer.

Using a cold light head without a stabilizer is an exercise in frustration. I tried everything recommended and was never able to even out the lamp fluxuations and the resulting differences in prints. In the end, I bought the stabilizer.

The cold light is usable with VC paper but it is not optimum. You will find the range of contrasts available to you is compressed and you will find that the exposure changes when switching filters will be annoying. Some will counsel using a 40Y filter to attain a base color temperature that is more compatible with VC. I tried this and IMHO, the only result I got was longer exposures.

For use with graded papers, a stabilized Zone VI cold light is supurb.

[Changeling1]

If you can find a Zone VI cold light stabilizer (eBay maybe) you should buy it- Otherwise no two exposures from the same cold light will be the same. Also, you should never use any other power supply controllers with that head (including the Beseler Resistrol) as it will burn it out almost immediately.

[paul ron]

You don't need a special timer. I use my Zone VI cold light with a Gra Lab timer. I plug my heater cord into the safe light socket so when I'm not using the light it is being pre heated. The other cord is the light power cord and that goes to the enlarger socket of the timer.

The 5 pin DIN plug is nothing more than a CDS cell hooked to 2 of the pins so when hooked to a compensating timer it can read the brightness of the lamp to see if it needs longer or shorter exposures.

I built a filter draw under my cold light by making my own adapter for my C23II to take the old filter holder directly under the light. I use a Polymax #1 filter for my highlight details when split filtering VC paper. Without a filter I get teh equivelent of a #4 paper, so with the filter I get the eqivelent of a #1 paper. Combined I get beautiful highlight detail and great blacks. With graded papers you don't need any filters and let me tell you, teh results are beautiful.

Experiment till you get the hang of it, try all your filters, even if you have to use em under the lens. It's all fun n games and a good reason to play in the dark.

[Ronald Moravec]

Aristo`s dimmer seems to function as a stabilizer if you turn down the light one stop. You can get 3 or 3 1/2 down so you need not make small prints at f64 at 2 sec. Very well made piece of equipment. Looks like something designed and build in 1950 with quality materals.

Works nicely with an incondesent bulb too.

[Loose Gravel]

Aristo`s dimmer seems to function as a stabilizer if you turn down the light one stop. You can get 3 or 3 1/2 down so you need not make small prints at f64 at 2 sec. Very well made piece of equipment. Looks like something designed and build in 1950 with quality materals.

Works nicely with an incondesent bulb too.

The dimmer allows just that, dimming, but it will not stabilize the light output.