How about the Zone VI VC head? I was told by Aristo that their head is vastly superior to the Zone VI head. Has anybody tried both?

-- Craig Brown (csbrown@tastybuzz.com), October 18, 1999

Answers

I lucked out and found a used Aristo VC head and I love it-the best investment I ever made! Great control. Haven't used the Zone VI VC head-had the straight cold lite head and liked it. I have read that the Aristo gives you a larger range. The tubes are green (bright) and blue (very hard to see). Some difficulty when printing only with the blue and seeing to dodge or burn, I'll admit. I gather some, maybe the VI, blends other colors in (magenta?) to be easier to see.

The controls allow one tube or the other, or a dial up control in tenths from 0 to 5.1 in tenths, which keeps the green constant and adds blue; though full blue is more than the 5.1 blue, if you catch my drift.

There is no stabilization control or dry down; DD could be found in the timer, if I sprung for one. Haven't had the need yet. Would want some control if I was doing editions.

Aristo doesn't seem to think much of Zone VI professionally. I can somewhat understand; took a course there once, and Fred Picker's ego was substantial.

Happy printing.

Tim Francisco

-- Tim Francisco (ciscopix@ix.netcom.com), November 18, 1999.