Elwood Enlarger

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

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

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Charlie

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.