Thanks for the good tips, Ed. Since I've a dichro head on the other enlarger, this one will stay as a condenser unit.
The heat absorbing glass didn't seem to be needed with the Omega D2V-series, but it might be helpful if I were working with 2�, and, of course, the Beseler is designed a little differently. There is no bellows adjustment with the dichro head, which, as you know, is of the "cold light" variety. Your observations are correct. When I get back to the darkroom tonight, I'll play with adjusting the light source a bit and see what works best. There's a little more than five feet from baseboard to the ceiling in the darkroom here, so it shouldn't be a problem getting the head all the way up, which, if my calculations are correct, would allow for about 20x enlargements on the baseboard - well, maybe a little less when adding the height of the easel. BTW, have you used the Negatrans at all? One came along for the ride with the dichro enlarger, but it's for 120/220 film and I've not used it yet. I was thinking of getting one for 35mm but am hesitant to spend the money/time to acquire it if it may not work well. Ed Mathews wrote: > > Hi Shel, > I use a 23CII, but I've replaced the original condenser head with > an Aristo cold light source. I used it for several years with the > condenser lenses though. The bellows adjustment is there in order to > adjust the light source for even distribution and focusing of the point > light source over the negative, depending on the size of the film you > have to cover and the "standard" enlarging lens. If using an 80mm lens > for 35mm work, I would think that leaving it in the position for 35mm > film would cause the light rays to converge too much, and not in the > proper place under the lens. But really, the best way to check this is > to raise the enlarger up to the highest point you can, put a large white > sheet of paper in the easel, and then without a negative in the carrier, > just look at the distribution of light. Adjust the bellows to be in > the position where the best coverage occurs. > As others have said, the filter drawer is for VC filters, color > filters, or as you mention - heat absorbing glass. I bought a piece of > that "special" heat absorbing glass from Beseler. It cost an arm and a > leg. Since I'm using cold light now, I don't have it installed, so let > me know if you want it cheap. > Also, when using the cold light head with the diffused light > source, it's interesting that the bellows adjustment no longer really > does anything, because the light is no focused with the condenser lenses > any longer. So I moved it to the lowest position and it allows me to > raise the enlarger higher for bigger enlargements under my low ceiling. -- Shel Belinkoff mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] http://home.earthlink.net/~belinkoff/ - This message is from the Pentax-Discuss Mail List. To unsubscribe, go to http://www.pdml.net and follow the directions. Don't forget to visit the Pentax Users' Gallery at http://pug.komkon.org .
