I have a Beseler 23C-II with a Zone VI cold light. This cold light does not work well with VC papers, as you no doubt already know. Graded papers are nice, but they are getting pricier and increasingly hard to get. The obvious solution is to get a VC cold light. Does anyone have any suggestions what to get and where to get it? I live far from everywhere in the Great White North, where Beselers are no longer imported (!) Help!

-- Paul Oosthoek (pauloosthoek@hotmail.com), August 11, 2000

Answers

The newer cold light tubes are color balanced to work with VC papers. Unless you have one of the older Zone VI heads, it probably has this tube already. The older tubes are distinctly blue/green in color whereas the newer ones are almost white with a bluish tint. If you are having problems printing on VC papers with filters (i.e. extremely long exposure times for the lower contrast range) then you must have one of the old tubes. A new one can be had from Calumet and probably from Aristo (I believe they are the actual manufacturer). I'd recommend contacting Aristo by e-mail and seeing what is available before springing for a new head unless you really need the convenience of a VC or color head. They are on the web at www.aristogrid.com (I think, search on aristo if this doesn't work) By the way, I print only on graded paper (I'm convinced the images are sharper, see Ctein, Post Exposure) and have no problem with supply. Calumet USA stocks Seagull, Brilliant, Gallerie, Cachet, Forte, etc., etc. In Europe I order from Calumet in England or Lotus View Camera in Austria. They have nice graded papers as well. Hope this helps. ;^D)

-- Doremus Scudder (ScudderLandreth@compuserve.com), August 12, 2000.

Thank you! Yes, that helps.

Printing on Multigrade IV, my exposure times for softer grades are double the Grade 4 exposure - quite the opposite of Ilford's claims for the paper when more appropriate light sources are used.

I have done some reading around on the Internet, and discovered that an Aristo V54 tube should do the job? B&H lists those for US$210. I'll have to double that to get it shipped to Canada - although it could be less if the Aristo is manufactured in the USA, thanks to NAFTA.

I may also have to get paper shipped to me from the US, unless someone can advise me of a decent course in Canada. I am sure they exist, but I don't know where.

Austria is not hard to look at - at least the place I have been...

Thanks again!

-- Paul Oosthoek (pauloosthoek@hotmail.com), August 13, 2000.

I tried the Seagull graded paper a while back and was very fond of it, though laziness brought me back to VC. Freestyle in CA has it at a good price, and many other things in their interesting catalog. Try freestylesales.com I think.

-- Conrad Hoffman (choffman@rpa.net), August 13, 2000.