condenser vs diffusion

[Raven Garrow]

I will be purchasing a Saunders enlarger soon, and they now make a variable cont rast enlarger. The filter system that is "housed" in the enlarging head would be great, but it is a diffusion enlarger. I've only worked with condenser.

I'm well aware of the "Callier" effect, and I've heard there is less burning and dodging with diffusion because of this.

The price tag of the two enlargers is expensive, so I want to make the right dec ision.

I'm doing b&w exclusively. Anybody I've asked so far has said condenser!

[Darron Spohn]

Get the diffusion enlarger. Who has told you to go with the condenser? Every tim e I get into this discussion with someone who argues for condenser heads I end i t quickly by asking the other person to name one excellent photographer who uses a condenser head to print black-and-white. I counter with Ansel Adams, John Sex ton and all the other famous landscape photographers. Actually, I don't have to present a counter argument, because no one has ever shown me an exhibition quali ty print made on a condenser head. If condensers are so great why do all the gre at black-and-white photographers use diffusion heads?

[Sergio Ortega]

Raven, Use a diffusion light source with your enlarger for B&W printing. I can not imagine why anyone would tell you otherwise! Read Adams' The Negative for a good discussion on the benefits of diffusion light sources with B&W. Good luck , Sergio.

[Sergio Ortega]

Correction: Raven, Not The Negative, read Adams' The Print.

[K. Eisner]

< name one excellent photographer who uses a condenser head to print black-and-w hite...?

Try the 35mm guys, like Eisenstadt and Cartier-Bresson (or at least Eisenstadt's guys in the lab at Time-Life and and that fine old gentleman at who was Henri's Magnum printer.) I guess it depends on your definition of what makes a great p hotograph.

[Ellis Vener]

Try a dichroic color head. yes i know that you will only be doing b&w but if you are using multi-contrast papers you will A.) have dialable, constant filtration but also more even illumination than the standard flourescent tubed diffusion h eads.

[Darron Spohn]

"Try the 35mm guys, like Eisenstadt and Cartier-Bresson ..."

Um, this _is_ a large format discussion group. 35mm is a different beast, and ph otojournalism is a different game.