Since I moved 1000 km north from my hometown I had to join the photo- club to have darkroom access. The enlarger has a color-head with no insert for filters. However, I have my own enlarger standing back home, and which has a filter insert. My question is, since I use VC-papers I use the color-heads yellow for low contrast and magenta for high contrast but the manufacturers filters are usually not straight yellow or magenta. Does this fact influence the result? The only filters I have back home that have "clean" colors are the grade 4 and 5 which are magenta. The others seem to be mixtures of different colors. I'm wondering if I should get my own enlarger up here. For you who are able to choose between the color head and the extra filters, which do you prefer? I should mention that my own enlarger allows me to use diffused light in both situations.

-- Peter Olsson (Peter.Olsson@sb.luth.se), January 13, 1999

Answers

If you use just yellow and just magenta to vary the contrast, the speed of the paper will also vary. By using a combination of yellow plus magenta, you can get a constant paper speed, at the expense of longer exposure times. The manufacturer of the paper can tell you what filter settings to use for this, often on a technical data sheet in the paper box.

Given the choice, I prefer a colour head over filters, because dialing in the setting is easier than than messing around with filters, but only my 35mm enlarger has this luxury. The 6x6 and 5x4 enlargers need filters, and it's not really a problem. When I win the lottery I'll get a proper VC enlarger, which should give me the benefits of both systems.

-- Alan Gibson (Alan.Gibson@technologist.com), January 14, 1999.

Thanks for the response Alan. If I remember correctly you are in Great Britain, so you can win the U.K.-lottery as long as you allow me to win the Swedish one :) If, for instance, Kodaks or Ilfords filters mainly are for constant exposure convenience I can live without my home-enlarger for a while.

-- Peter Olsson (Peter.Olsson@sb.luth.se), January 14, 1999.

There are, of course, other reasons for using your own enlarger (or darkroom). You might consider bringing your own enlarging lens, if it is better quality than the one at the club.

I'm told I will never win the UK lottery, because I don't buy any tickets. Well, I guess that VC enlarger will have to wait.

-- Alan Gibson (Alan.Gibson@technologist.com), January 14, 1999.