DeVere DS504 Enlarger

[robc]

Have just been talking to Odyssey Sales and they tell me their digital enlarger has just recently been upgraded to a 17million pixel projection matrix(Sony) which is double the previous version.

http://www.odyssey-sales.com/products/browse.asp?range=71

Out of my price bracket unfortunately but probably very viable for any lab needing to produce B+W or Chrome prints on a regular basis.

A snip at £15000.00

[bob carnie]

The Price has really came down from when I first looked into this unit. There is also a Variochromat unit that is on market. I would soon imagine Omega Satter and Durst would be putting out their versions of digital heads for existing enlarger systems.

[robc]

I'm still not convinced.

17m pixels is approx 5000 x 3400. At 300 dpi in the print that makes for around a 16x12 print image size max.

Odyssey tell me the quality is very high upto 20x16 so without seeing the actual results it's difficult to know how they compare to a 4x5 neg print to 20x16.

The pixel array is moved very slightly, during exposure, 9 times in a random pattern to take the edge off the pixels. That means overlaying the pixel edges. Again Odyssey tell me that you cant see any blurring and the result is equal to trad prints.

I think it is really targetted at colleges and labs but apparently some B+W art printers are buying them.

But then a big epson is only a third of the price and you don't need a darkroom...

[bob carnie]

I use a lambda 76 plus for printing digital files and am very happy with the results. I think the digital heads will have a future market and like anything as time goes on these units will improve in price and quality.