I'm getting back into photography after 25 years. Stuff has changed. I purchased an Artisto VCL4500 and Metrolux II for use with my old D2. The Artisto came with a separate green dimmer and the probe. I have read both sets of directions far too many times and am still confused. How do I know when the probe is properly positioned inside the head? How is the Metrolux calibrated to the Aristo? Is the green light turned on fully during calibration? I have called Aristo and spoken to a tech, who told me to remove the probe unless I was doing production printing. I won't be doing production work, but I might want to make more than a couple of the same negative. Any held would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

-- Bruce MacDougall (camelot@net1plus.com), April 15, 2002

Answers

Hey Bruce, I use that setup in my own darkroom....without digging out the metrolux instructions (been awhile since I had to recalibrate the beast), the first thing I can tell you is that you'll have to experiment a bit to get it set up properly for your whole printing style. The Metrolux comes with only one probe, and although I have only used it on the VCL4500, it is probably easiest to set up on a single lightsource....also, let me add that I used the VCL4500 for a couple of years hooked up to a voltage stabilizer and a Gralab 405 timer....AND did production printing with it as well, with no problems...when I built my new darkroom, I treated myself to the Metrolux to get the closed-loop control & the on easel probe...I never had a problem with consistency without it though....

The VCL4500 has those 2 tubes--the green & the blue. The green stays on all the time, the blue is controlled through the dimmer (unless there's something different on yours--Aristo can do just about anything as a custom job...). I took the sensor & tied it off to the blue tube--*facing*--the green tube. I calibrated the timer in the first channel--LUX 1--to the combined VC setting of 3.0 on the VCL. The Metrolux turns the lamp on & the temp stabilizes out...the Metrolux calibrates itself to this value & displays the number as a Lux unit...write this down in the manual where it shows you...you'll need this number if you ever have to reboot the thing--I have on a rare occasion or two. The LUX 2 channel, I calibrated for the all blue setting....what I call Full Blue. I use this on graded papers and for doing alot of burning with as well as split filtered printing. I can isolate this channel for the blue, and use Lux 1 for the green only setting. But I did the same for LUX 2....recalibrated the metrolux on full blue, dialed up all the way.....

View Camera magazine has published about 2 or 3 articles on setting up the metrolux & the VCL4500....I can dig those out if you're interested, or let you know the issue #'s.....the author of these articles, customized his Metrolux by tying in another sensor, and using a toggle type switch to select either tube....he managed to place a sensor on both tubes....

The Metrolux is like a little computer though....they give you a range of lux numbers, I can't remember them now (it's pretty wide), but you need to aim between this range to get usable working times...you'll know because the timer will run too fast or too slow depending on the placement of the probe....the sensor itself, has a front & a back to it...the "eye" part is what I aimed at the green tube....my experience of printing with it is that the sensor is less sensitive to the green, so even if the back is to the blue tube, it works fine for me. I've gotten used to the little idiosyncrosies of the timer...you'll get the hang of it sooner or later, I keep my instruction book (dogeared now) close at hand....hope this helps, and let me know if you want those issue numbers....

-- DK Thompson (kthompson@moh.dcr.state.nc.us), April 15, 2002.