Choice of 6*9 cm enlarger

[vartan_grigorian]

I intend to purchase a 6*9 cm variable contrast or colour enlarger in

the near future. In the UK the choices seem to be limited to Kaiser

and Meopta. I am particularly interested in the Meopta Magnifax 4 as

it seems to be robustly built at a reasonable price.

 

I have had real problems with alignment of my current enlarger so I

was wondering if people have had any difficulties with the Meopta

product.

[roger_michel]

your mind seems made up (perhaps a function of local availability -- but you're not exactly in the boonies!!), but i will offer a suggestion anyway. i think you should consider a 4x5 enlarger such as the beseler 45 (what i use) or the saunders lpl (what everybody else seems to be using these days). apart from giving you the flexibility of moving up to the larger format some day, it has always been my experience with dedicated 6x9 enlargers that they are really just souped up 6x6/6x7 machines and so don't offer good eveness of illumination. in addition, at least with the beseler and (to a slightly lesser degree) the saunders, there are an amazing array of new and used parts and accessories widely available. dedicated 6x9 enlargers tend to be very low volume units with few accessories or parts available, especially on the used market (it's just amazing how many things i find cheap at fairs, ebay for my beseler -- 16mm carriers, polaroid p/n neg carriers, compensating timers, etc etc). now it may be that the meopta unit you mention IS a 4x5 enlarger, and then you can disregard this. but if not, think about the beseler saunders options. a mint used (of which there seems to be an ndless supply here in the us) 45 with dichro head and a couple carriers shouldn't run you more than $800 or UKL550. i think midwest photo will ship to the uk . . . .

[george_nedleman]

I agree with Roger. I bought a used Omega D-6 from Midwest, added an Arista cold lt. and bought an 80 mm ElNikkor lens from B&H. Total cost $550US. There must be hundreds of used 4x5 Omega/Beslers around.I'd love a Saunders but $2000??

George Nedleman

[triblett_lungre_thurd]

ditto Vartan.... great advice. 4x enlargers are going cheap.

[vartan_grigorian]

My current enlarger is a 6*7 cm Omega c670 with dichroic head (purchased used, thought it was a bargain, but now I know why!) and it is a complete waste of space, being impossible to align correctly and with enough light leaks to illuminate the darkroom. Omega parts in the UK are ridiculously expensive and there is only one? distributer. Beseler is not available at all as far as I am aware. Something like a DeVere 504 would be a nice idea, but they are enormous and cost £1000~£2000 used. I do not want to spend more than about £500~£600 (I already have lenses). I would not consider buying from the US (even though the cost seems lower) as it will be a big hassle to get support if something goes wrong. I would rather buy new, because despite careful checks I have bought a number of faulty cameras etc. In every case the dealers were helful and provided refunds without question, but I have better things to do! Thanks for the replies, but please try to keep within the scope of my question.

[vartan_grigorian]

The specs. of the Meopta model state that it can handle film up to a full 6.5 by 9 cm. It will be primarily used for 6*7 cm but I want even coverage and a little room for expansion. It seems to be used by some noted printers in the UK as well as in some educational institutions. It would not win any beauty prizes but seems to be built to last. I have not made up my mind, but at a price of about £400 depending on options it seems like my best option unless people have had real problems. Amateur Photographer gave it a very mediocre review recently stating that the machining was rough and a part of the filter drawer chipped upon insertion. Unfortunately their reviews need to be taken with 20 Kg NaCl and I am more interested in having good structural integrity and alignment rather than cosmetic or minor convenience issues!

[Aoresteen]

The Beseler 23C III is a great enlager. The VC head is wonderfull for B&W.

 

Accessories are easier to find and cost less that the 4x5 versions.

 

I have two 23C's.

 

Tony

[vartan_grigorian]

Please! No more posts about Beseler or Omega. Availability is marginal or non-existant in the UK!

[patrick_drennon]

The tendency on this forum (including myself) is to respond

about that with which we are familiar. Beseler and Omega make

up 90% of everything I've seen used in the U.S. I personally am

not familiar with the Meopta.

 

That said, you mention that the Meopta is 'robustly built'. If that is

true and there is a way to align the carrier/lens board with the

base with some since of dependability then it is likely going to

serve you well. Enlargers don't tend to get alot of abuse during

their years of service so the the sales points tend to be

adjustability, dependability and light source quality. If those

criteria are satisfied you will have made a successful purchase.

The suggestions promoting a 4X5 are good ones by the way

(adds flexibility to the process).

[roger_michel]

there must be some 4x5 machines available used where you are!!! anyway, you are certainly rit eto be concerned about alignment. it is the true bugbear of all enlargers if you are really concerned about quality (and especially if you make big prints). i heartily recommend the versa dynamics laser alignement tool. it is one of the three or four most important accesories i have acquired in forty years of photography. the only other thing i will say is to get the best enlarging lens you can afford -- certainly an apo quality lens from schneider or rodenstock. it is a horrible false economy to buy expensive taking lenses exercise care in making your negs, and then print them thru a mediocre enlarging lens. good luck. p.s. thanks for explaining why amateur photographer always reviews what are, to my us eyes, such oddball enlargers whenever it does its surveys. i guess enlargers are not great world travelers!!

[roger_michel]

oh, one last thing, are the meoptas still made in the czech republic? last i remember the company was turning out those nifty microma stereo cameras. they were fairly high quality as i recall.

[vartan_grigorian]

Meopta is manufactured in Czechoslovakia. Used 5*4 enlargers are at least as expensive as as a new Magnifax 4 in the UK (£350-£450 depending on head). They have probably had many years of abuse at the hands of students or professionals (I doubt if many are in private hands). My present enlarger was bought used and it is impossible to align correctly (despite the alignment being adjustable!). I once tried to buy a DeVere 504 (which is 5*4") at auction and it went for about £2000! I am surprised that people are so keen to recommend used goods. I traded in my Canon FD equipment (which was bought used) to buy my (new)medium format system. Two cameras were faulty as bought and after failed attempts at repair they were returned for a refund. Two other cameras developed faults as I was using them. I don't think that these were manufacturing faults, they were just worn out! I thought I had checked everything carefully before buying, even down to timing the slow shutter speeds! Cosmetically they looked fine. I was really sorry to see them go because I had some nice lenses and the cameras were ergonomically better than the Nikon equivalents for me. What happened to these cameras? Presumably someone else bought them! Fine if all you want to do is put it in a cabinet and occasionally fondle it (you may never notice subtle defects), but not worth the effort for real use! Apo lenses would be nice but my budget will not extend beyond the enlarger and 50 mm Leitz Focotar (35 mm) and 80 mm EL-Nikkor (up to 6*7)that I presently own. I will not be printing larger than 12" by 16" (no space for the processing trays!)for the forseeable future so I really don't forsee a need for 5" by 4" or exotic lenses.

[wim_van_velzen]

Vartan,

 

A lot of people here are from the other side of the big pond (me just on the other side of the small pond!). Stick to a brand you easily can get assecoires for. Here in Holland I almost never saw a Beseler and never a Saunders. (Nor too much 4x5 enlargers as well!).

 

My experience with axomats and opemus with colour head has been very satisfying. Not much luxury, but everything works fine (especially the newer colour head; the old one 'colour 1' is a bit difficult to get the same settings precisely) even after years of use.

 

I wouldn't hesitate to buy one. I never had problems with alignment (I am satisfied with even sharpness from edge to edge with Rodenstock 80 4.0 @ 5.6); never tried to fix something that wasn't broke.

 

BTW The magnifax is not a Opemus on steroids, but a machine on its own. Take a look at www.meopta.com.

[vartan_grigorian]

Thank you Wim! Finally a simple answer to a simple question.

[vartan_grigorian]

Roger, you mentioned using APO enlarging lenses. I wonder if this would really make any difference for B&W work. If you use at least a yellow filter on the taking lens and a blue gel in your grain focussing magnifier I suspect you will not see an improvement with APO correction. Should be better for colour work, but I usually use 35 mm and a film scanner for that.

[q.g._de_bakker]

Nobody mentioned Durst yet? Amazing! I'm sure they are available in the UK too, new and used.

The Durst M 805 is one very fine 6x9 enlarger. I can wholeheartedly recommend these.

The larger Durst Laborators (4x5" and up) are great machines as well, but rather big for 6x9 only.

[vartan_grigorian]

Durst is certainly available, I have not seem the 805, but the 6*7 cm versions I have looked at are not especially well built with rather crude plastic negative carriers etc. Variable contrast versions are considerably more expensive than the Meopta. Basically, unless someone can tell me that Durst, Kaiser, or LPL (Brands that are easily available in UK) are noticeably better in use, then I think I have made my decision.

[steven_finlay1]

What a timely thread. I'm having trouble with my own (used) LPL C7700 enlarger. (It seems to project more of a rotated parallelogram than a rectangle.) Anyway, in the course of researching a replacement, I have come across a brand called Kaiser. They are German made and are readily available in the UK. You can see them at the following Website; http://www.thedarkroom.co.uk/home.htm. This is the website of RK Photographic in London. If you do buy the Meopta then please share your experiences with it with us. I for one would be very interested.

 

Regards

Steven Finlay

[roger_michel]

i mentioned the apo lens because you said you were in the market for a color enlarger.

[vartan_grigorian]

Thanks Steven, I have come across Kaiser, but again it is quite a lot more expensive than the Meopta. In a recent issue of Amateur Photographer Meopta(with condenser head), Kaiser, Durst, Dunco and Paterson enlargers were tested. Funnily enough the Kaiser was said to be well built but some corners of the image were not sharp! This was attributed to a lack of alignment of the tilting (adjustable) lens panel. Unfortunately unless a number of sources tell the same story these tests and posts can only be considered anecdotal. In the end you might as well trust own opinions, but worth a try anyway!

[roger_michel]

in re-reading your question about the use of an "apo" lens for enlarging, i realize that you also were asking about whether the extra money is well spent for mono work. in my experience, yes. an "apo" lens first and foremost has better apochromatic correction, and so is suitable for critical process work like making color separations. however, it also will improve performance when a dichro head is used for VC papers when doing mono work. more imprtant, an "apo" quality lens invariably will also have significantly better correction for astigmatism, spherical aberration, and general field curvature. the improved flat field performance is reason enough to pay the modest extra amount that schneider charges for its apo lenses. the name, therefore, is something of a red herring. it ain't just about chromatic distortions. an apo designated lens -- indicating that it is suitable for the most demanding process work -- will exceed the performance of a non-apo lens in nearly every significant performance area.

[vartan_grigorian]

As I understand the term APO, it refers to a lens that brings three wavelengths of light to a common focus (as opposed to achromat which is corrected for two wavelengths). I don't think there are any standards of how closely a lens must meet this requirement before a manufacturer can call it APO. It does not say anything about other lens abberations which may be better or worse. I agree that the term is usually reserved for manufacuturers's top of the line lenses. Sigma make a line of APO lenses while Nikon only market theirs as having ED glass. Which are better? I don't know, but I don't suffer fools gladly and succumb to the marketing hype.

 

Since the spectral responce of printing paper is limited to the blue end of the spectrum(or blue and green for VC so maybe a marginal benefit)if you focus the blue light, in theory you should get a result which is all but indistiguishable from using an APO lens. In practice when you factor in all the other variables that conspire to blur your results you may not notice any difference. I have no reason to believe that my lenses are limiting at the moment so will be sticking with them. I think your advice is valid in so far as avoiding cheap 3 and 4 element enlarging lenses and sticking to reputable names.

[studio jb]

I have Saunders with Rodagon Apo lens which I get superb results and better sharpness than a lens without Apo future even in B&W although some people don't believe Apo doesn't do much for B&W.

[q.g._de_bakker]

Vartan,

 

About the Dursts not being well built.

That's true, but only for the newer, 670 line of enlargers. The old ones, the Mx05 series (M305 M605, M805), are very good not flimsy at all, and really high precision things (unlike all Meoptas i have ever seen).

The Mx05 series has been discontinued a long time ago, but there still are plenty to be found used, and the M805 (the 6x9) machine was promoted to the Laborator line (the "large format", professional line).

You would be wrong judging the M805's quality by the current 670-line.

[roger_michel]

vartan, as i emphasized in my post, apo lenses typically have higher (sometimes much higher) performance features in many areas, not just in terms of reduction of chromatic aberration. if you contact schneider usa by email tomorrow they will promptly confirm as much about their own enlarging lens line. i don't always follow (or even believe) some of the advice i receive from well-intentioned fellow photographers, but i always receive it graciously. i wish you luck in your search for an enlarger.