V35 VC (was Kodak/Ilford consistency; was X-mas Tree Test)

[ATANOVIC@genre.com]

Adrian Tanovic@GRN
02/05/97 11:06 AM

>From: c.blaue@bmsg.de
>Date: Wed, 5 Feb 1997 08:52:44 +0100
>Subject: Re: Kodak/Ilford consistency; was  X-mas Tree Test
>
>It seems as if it is sensible to buy a multicontrast head
>for the V35. Is anyone on the list using it. How about
>sharing the experience.
>
>Thanks
>
>christoph

Hi Christoph,
As as I was just saying to Bill, I use it as my regular
head (hmm...that sounds a bit funny).  It works the
same way any other modern VC head does: you simply
dial in the contrast grade you want.  The setting is
infinitely variable, i.e. you're not limited to whole-number
contrast grades.  In theory, the internal filtration is
designed so that no exposure change is necessary when
you alter the dial setting, whether it's 0 or 5.  In practice,
different papers have somewhat different spectral sensitivities,
so if the head is calibrated so that no exposure change is
necessary with one kind of paper, some relatively small
changes will be necessary with other kinds of papers.  The
Leica VC head is calibrated for Ilford Multigrade papers
(or any paper that uses the same general spectral standard
as Ilford, of which there are a few).  There are published
lists of what exposure adjustments will work for what
other papers, but in my experience, these are best found
out by trial-and-error.

All that being said, there's also the much larger issue of
personal taste.  You may find that you want to render a
lower contrast version of your print quite differently from
a higher contrast version, and you may give different times
for that reason alone.  "Low" and "high" are relative terms,
but the dividing line is generally around 3.5.

I know there are at least four or five other V35 users on
the list, and they will undoubtedly have their own thoughts
to add.

Adrian Tanovic
Tokyo