What are the differences between the different types of enlarger heads?
There are 3 types of enlarger heads. Condensor, Diffusion, and Cold light. There have been lots of articles and discussions about the merits of each, but basically a condensor head has sharper light quality – dust and scratches on the negative are more prominent in the print. Cold light and diffusion head both are more difuse, hence the diffusion moniker. A cold light head does not generate anywhere near as much heat as either of the other two, and must be controlled with a special controller, they output more accurate light levels. Cold Light heads are skinny flourescent tubes wrapped back and forth in the head. Ansel Adams swore by Cold Light heads. But many of the best printers will argue that condensor light is better, and many others will argue that diffusion heads are better. Dichroic heads are diffusion heads with color filters built in. Dichroic heads can be used to print on Variable Contrast paper, by dialing in the correct color combinations. There are a couple other variants
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