After owning my old 5X7 Elwood enlarger for 20 years I have decided to start shooting some 5X7 negs. It seems to me that a better light source than the huge diffusion head and incandescent bulb would be appropiate. Any thoughts on that and where one might be available? thanks in advance

-- Mike Katona (mkatona@pinetel.com), March 29, 2000

Answers

I think Aristo makes a cold light head for this model.

Charlie

-- Charlie Strack (charlie_strack@sti.com), March 29, 2000.

I have used an 8x10 Elwood with the Aristo cold light head and it did a good job, but before I invested in the Aristo I would work with the setup you have and see how it works. Might be nice--who knows--you will eventually--good luck.

-- fred (fdeaton@hiwaay.net), March 29, 2000.

I have been making prints most of today with a 5x7 Elwood outfitted with it's original tungsten head as you describe and after some 30 years of printing with all the other options, I can't say that I've ever made better prints. I also have an Elwood with a recent cold light head by Aristo and from time to time, I'll set it up but I always seem to go back to the tungsten original job because the prints seem to be intangibly nicer.

-- C. W. Dean (cwdean@erols.com), March 29, 2000.

Just a thought: Mustek make a transparency adapter for their range of flatbed scanners. It gives a really even light over a 6"x8" area, and looks plenty bright enough to use in an enlarger. With a minimal amount of DIY it might make a cheap alternative to a cold-cathode head.

-- Pete Andrews (p.l.andrews@bham.ac.uk), March 30, 2000.

Mike: I agree with C.W. about trying out the original light on the Elwood. It isn't a consenser system, and give a nice soft light akin to a cold light. I used a 5x7 Elwood for years and liked it. It is capable of making great prints. Most of all, I suspect an Elwood could survive an atom bomb and still make pictures. I only switched to a D-2 because my present darkroom didn't have enough room and ceiling height for the Elwood. Make a few prints before you dump the original light system and see if you dont like it. The cold light heads are great and I use one on my D-2, but I don't think you would gain anything except a little less heat over the Elwood light system. I think the Elwood system would be better for variable contrast papers where you use filters. Good shooting, Doug.

-- Doug Paramore (dougmary@alanet.com), March 30, 2000.

You can adapt an aristo 8x10 head to the elwood and get ecellent cold light results with no falloff. You might contact Howard Bond. It seems to me he spoke about this transformation once.

-- Bob Moulton (bmoulton@icc.cc.il.us), March 30, 2000.