Enlarger Question

[Eric Biggerstaff]

I have used my LPL 4500 with the VCCE head for many wonderful and trouble free years. Great product, easy to set up, stable and hassle free.

[tgtaylor]

Folks:
I've lost my mind and am planning on building a darkroom while the rest of the world is abandoning them in droves...

I only plan on doing B&W printing, mostly 4x5 negatives but maybe some 8x10 contact prints. I don't plan on doing any color printing as the chemistry looks like a pain...

...The question is how much of a pain is doing VC printing with a dichroic head instead of a VCCE head? My understanding is that it can be done with dichroic head but one has to adjust the total exposure after changing the contrast by adjusting the individual colors of the head...

Dave B.

The fact that the rest of the world is abandoning them in droves is an excellent reason to acquire one: Your prints will look "different" than those of the masses. And isn't individuality/uniqueness what you and the masses are seeking?

Don't give-up so easy on color. Some images just look better in color than B&W (and visa versa). As far as the color chemistry, it just takes a little longer to mix than B&W. Instead of, say adding 3 parts water to 1 part Dektol and then you're done with the developer, you have 3 chemicals to measure out into so much water. Just a few extra minutes doing the math and measurement. And with color, clean-up is quicker as you don't have to wash prints. I get to bed a good hour early when printing color. All you would need is a Jobo CPA-2 or CPP-2 and you're in business to process color prints up to 20x24.

As far as B&W VC printing with a dichroic head, it is not necessary to change the exposure time or aperture to change contrast. Suppose, for example, you decide to bump the contrast up from grade 2 to 2.5 or 3.0 and your starting filter pack was x-yellow and y-magenta. Then you would make the contrast adjustment by simply dialing in the appropriate values of yellow and magenta for those grades without changing the exposure or aperture. On the other hand, if you were using white light (cyan, yellow and magenta all set to zero) or one filter (C, Y, or M) then you would have to change exposure when changing grades. Ilford's starting filter pack for B&W, which is included with their paper and available online, is accurate and a good place to start. For color, I have found 45Y and 45M to be a good place to start.

Thomas

[Gene McCluney]

The mechanical parts of an enlarger are almost eternal. The only electronics would be in whatever dichroic head you decide to buy, and even then, some of these heads are 90% mechanical, only having a cooling blower and a transformer for the lamp voltage. Of course some are more sophisticated, and those are the ones that fail more frequently.

[Lightbenderrandy]

Everyone has a personal preference on equipment. I use a Super Chromega D enlarger I have used for at least thirty years. It is solid and super easy to use. I don’t think the brand name is as important as features. Doing B/W you still want a nice dichroic lamp house for your polycontrast type papers. Who knows, you may want to jump to color someday why not be prepared. Don’t let color scare you; it’s not as hard as it sounds. I just saw a Chromega D Lamphouse with power supply on eBay for $85 bucks.

Like your camera, if you are serious put your money in the glass. Start out with cheap lenses to learn the ropes but put some money away for the day you want to really control your images.

While your designing the darkroom take a look at several others to get ideas. Depending on you kind of photography there are probably a lot of things that others are already doing. You don’t have to reinvent the wheel!

Hope this helps.

[Lightbenderrandy]

Everyone has a personal preference on equipment. I use a Super Chromega D enlarger I have used for at least thirty years. It is solid and super easy to use. I don’t think the brand name is as important as features. Doing B/W you still want a nice dichroic lamp house for your polycontrast type papers. Who knows, you may want to jump to color someday why not be prepared. Don’t let color scare you; it’s not as hard as it sounds. I just saw a Chromega D Lamphouse with power supply on eBay for $85 bucks.

Like your camera, if you are serious put your money in the glass. Start out with cheap lenses to learn the ropes but put some money away for the day you want to really control your images.

While your designing the darkroom take a look at several others to get ideas. Depending on you kind of photography there are a lot of things that others are already doing. You don’t have to reinvent the wheel!

Hope this helps.

[Greg Blank]

Hi Dave;

Glad to hear some people actually are buying new photo equipment. I work for Omega Satter PT and do photo as my primary and preferred source of income.

I am still working on my personal darkroom #3, Over the years I have bought
lots of new and some used stuff.

I have two Enlargers. A Besler MXT and an Omega Prototype 10x10 which never was
marketed extensively. I think Dave at KHB Foto in Canada and myself are the only ones with the enlarger. Anyway all these machines are done well. Omega does not make so many new D5 enlargers, Omega Satter sells the LPL enlargers as well.

LPL Enlargers are very well thought of in the Photo community in general. They come factory aligned, most likely if you are careful in building the work space around an enlarger you may only have to align it once. I moved my Besler enlarger one time 15 miles to this new location without realigning it. It is fine. I aligned once in 22 years of
ownership. Most enlargers should be this way.

LPL enlarger owners include, John Sexton, Bruce Barnbaum and Jerry Uelsmann....Jerry and Bruce I know have like 10 each of the 4x5 enlarger each.
If you have any questions to be answered feel free to contact me at www.omegasatter.com

Folks:
I've lost my mind and am planning on building a darkroom while the rest of the world is abandoning them in droves. The main reason for doing this is that in ten years it won't be possible and I will regret never having done this. I have a question about enlargers and VC B&W printing and would appreciate some help from the folks here.

I am contemplating getting a new enlarger (don't ask, others get it on with their secretaries or get a sports car, I'm going to get an enlarger, go figure). I am thinking about either an Omega LPL 4500-II 4x5" Variable Contrast (VCCE) Black & White enlarger or a Beseler 45V-XL enlarger with a dichroic head.

I only plan on doing B&W printing, mostly 4x5 negatives but maybe some 8x10 contact prints. I don't plan on doing any color printing as the chemistry looks like a pain. I like the looks of the Beseler, it kind of has a brick s___ house look to it and seems well-regarded by folks here. The question is how much of a pain is doing VC printing with a dichroic head instead of a VCCE head? My understanding is that it can be done with dichroic head but one has to adjust the total exposure after changing the contrast by adjusting the individual colors of the head. The VCCE head lets you adjust the contrast but keeps the total exposure constant. VCCE seems like a nice feature but the Omega looks a little flimsy and people don't seem to rave about them here. Some folks here seem downright hostile about Omegas.

So the question is whether the more solid Beseler with the dichroic head is a better way to go or the Omega with the VCCE head. I'm only going to do this once and so don't really want to spend the next thirty years wishing I had the other one. Your input is appreciated.
Dave B.

[ki6mf]

I agree on used enlargers I have seen them from free to $800 depending on accessories! My personal favorite is a Omega D Series. The one thing Omega gives over besler is the weight of the condenser/lamp housing is above the negative. Once focused and locked down you will never have to refocus, assuming he negatives don't need any cropping and are in focus. Check out used lenses from Keh.com i picked up a Snyder componon for $135 used when they were lots more on e bay.