> >My tests have shown an amazing difference in print sharpness
> >between just plain fluorescent bulbs and bulbs with a reflector
> >behind them.
>
> Worse with the reflector I presume?
Yes -- and I found the difference in both vandyke brown & gum.
>
> > True, the "reflector" was rather crinkled foil, but
> >I decided when I noticed the effect I could do without the extra
> >"speed," especially since times were already very short.
>
> Hmmm ... I would have thought that the reflector would be a good idea, and not a
> problem with a diffuse source of light. Perhaps the "crinkeled foil" actually
Well I thought it was a good idea, too. It wasn't. Don't know what "the
crinkled foil actually focussed the light" means. Anyway, it diffused the
light, dramatically.
> focused the light somewhat? Was your reflector a plane surface or curved?
>
I had wrapped foil around the flat base of the fluorescent fixtures. As
I mentioned, however, extra "speed" if any was not very significant. The
important thing is to put the bulbs close together -- and whatever smooth
talkers on this list may say about inverted square roots, distance *is* a
factor. Closer is faster.
Judy