Starting a darkroom: which enlarger ?

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Hi guys,
I'm considering starting a darkroom which will be used by me and a friend. We don't have any darkroom experience and we only plan to make B&W prints from 35mm negs. It may be possible that in a near future I get 120/220 rollfilm back for my Polaroid 600SE, and want to print from these type of films.
Our budget is 1200 Euros for the enlarger and we want to be able to make 30 cm x 40 cm prints. I really don't know which enlarger to choose, there are too many models ( condenser head ? diffusion head ? B&W enlarger ? Color enlarger ? ... :bang::bang::bang: )
Hope you can help me guys 😛

http://www.samysnider.com
 
I have a Besseler 67 printmaker and I'm extremely pleased with it. It's a color enlarger with a diffusion head. I only print B&W at home, but the fact of it being a color enlarger allows me to dial in my contrast setttings without having to use those contrast filters... a small point, but it's convinient. Also my understanding is that a diffussion head is a bit more forgiving with regards to small bits of dust on the negatives and such... but I'm no expert on the topic. But I would say look around for a used enlarger somewhere. I picked up mine for 60 USD (I think it retails new for a little under a thousand) from a guy who bought it new 10 years ago and never really used it. The digital reveolution has really made enlargers just a waste of space for a lot of people... so I'd say look around and you can find a good deal.
 
Like Bnack, I also use a color diffusion head to print B&W. It is much kinder on scratches, and being able to steplessly control your contrast is convenient & advantageous. However, I find that I do from time to time miss the almost 'brutal' honesty of condenser-head prints. It's a subtle difference in my opinion, but in the end, I'm not at all unhappy with the results.

As for specific suggestions, Beseler makes a great series of enlargers, and there are some great used Dursts out there that will serve you very well. I personally use a Durst Laborator and am very pleased with all aspects of it
 
Roger, a good point which I should've mentioned. Parts are indeed hard to find for Durst. I originally had trouble finding parts for the 138 as well, before I realized I could use the colour head for B&W.
 
Within Europe I think the Meoptas are impossible to beat on availability and price. Secondhand, you can easily find a condenser Opemus-5 (up to 6x6, with the right carriers) for thirty euros or less in your local paper - and the company is still making spares for them too.

The Meoptas are better than the cheaper Zenit (I owned one as my first enlarger) or Polish models and all cost the same these days.

I eventually found myself a secondhand De Vere, as that was the machine I had used professionally many year before. In truth, it is overkill if you are not printing to extremes and you might do better to spend the difference in price on paper and chemicals.....

The North American brands (Omega etc) will be more expensive to buy and more difficult to get spares for too.

Clearly my vote goes to a secondhand Meopta 😉
 
I'll put in my vote for Omega D series (D5-XL, D5, D3, D2). There were several at the darkroom I ran for my school, and if I were setting up a wet print darkroom they'd be my first choice.

They have 3 primary disadvantages, if you want to call them that. They're BIG, Heavy, and very expensive new. That said, they have many many advantages, at least to my way of thinking. They've been made for decades, so used ones can be found. They're well made, and the basic design changed very little, so newer accessories work well with older ones. They can handle any format up to 4x5, and film carriers have been made for almost any format you can think of. Various heads were made and are nearly interchangeable so you can upgrade from condenser to dichroic or even diffusion or any combination. They truly are a universal enlarger.

But the best things I can say are: They're solid, simple to use, and easy to set up and maintain. I once stripped down and rebuilt a D5-XL with a color head using nothing but my leatherman multitool, and it took less than an afternoon.
 
projectbluebird said:
I'll put in my vote for Omega D series (D5-XL, D5, D3, D2). There were several at the darkroom I ran for my school, and if I were setting up a wet print darkroom they'd be my first choice.

They have 3 primary disadvantages, if you want to call them that. They're BIG, Heavy, and very expensive new. That said, they have many many advantages, at least to my way of thinking. They've been made for decades, so used ones can be found. They're well made, and the basic design changed very little, so newer accessories work well with older ones. They can handle any format up to 4x5, and film carriers have been made for almost any format you can think of. Various heads were made and are nearly interchangeable so you can upgrade from condenser to dichroic or even diffusion or any combination. They truly are a universal enlarger.

But the best things I can say are: They're solid, simple to use, and easy to set up and maintain. I once stripped down and rebuilt a D5-XL with a color head using nothing but my leatherman multitool, and it took less than an afternoon.
Click to expand...

I had one in California. Great enlargers. But in Europe -- no. Very few available; prices high; parts availability limited to BIG cities (and expensive even there). In the US I'd second your advice. In France -- even in Paris -- I wouldn't.

Cheers,

R.
 
MartinP said:
Within Europe I think the Meoptas are impossible to beat on availability and price. Secondhand, you can easily find a condenser Opemus-5 (up to 6x6, with the right carriers) for thirty euros or less in your local paper - and the company is still making spares for them too.

The Meoptas are better than the cheaper Zenit (I owned one as my first enlarger) or Polish models and all cost the same these days.

I eventually found myself a secondhand De Vere, as that was the machine I had used professionally many year before. In truth, it is overkill if you are not printing to extremes and you might do better to spend the difference in price on paper and chemicals.....

The North American brands (Omega etc) will be more expensive to buy and more difficult to get spares for too.

Clearly my vote goes to a secondhand Meopta 😉
Click to expand...

Or Magnifax (up to 6x9) for under 100 euros.

Seconded.

Cheers,

R.
 
Enlargers are a buyers market today. I am working with a Saunders LPL 6700 enlarger w/ a dichro head (color/B&W). I added a mint Nikon 50mm/2.8 lens. There is nothing like seeing a B&W image on 11x14 fiber paper.

My total investment $150 (US).
 
35mmdelux said:
Enlargers are a buyers market today. I am working with a Saunders LPL 6700 enlarger w/ a dichro head (color/B&W). I added a mint Nikon 50mm/2.8 lens. There is nothing like seeing a B&W image on 11x14 fiber paper.

My total investment $150 (US).
Click to expand...

I have exactly the same outfit bought new more than 20 years ago at a cost of over $800. $150bucks?? unbelievable.
 
I guess that it would be easy to buy an enlarger at a very low price. People have them on their hands and want to dispose of them, but would rather it were used than being dumped. It's easy to start a collection of them when trying to find the features that you may need.
For myself, I have a tried a few very inexpensive enlargers and have been given a couple of Durst models when friends and family learned that I wanted to set up a darkroom. I have even dumped my first Opemus 5 when I found it impossible to sell or give away, making room in my loft for the other two enlargers.
As for what type, well at a bargain price, all you need is one which is complete. Whilst using it, it may become clear what other features you could want from your "next" enlarger.

For me and my learning curve, I found that I wanted to add MF negs to my 35mm work. 6x6 lead on to playing with 6x9 folders and so my target enlarger narrowed. When offered the opportunity to have a 5x4 Durst complete (again, a pro photog unable to sell his gear and gave it to me!) I took it but found that it was enormous, and put it in the loft. 5x4 may yet be a treat for me to discover.
I too now use a Meopta Magnifax 4. I no longer look for other enlargers, but recently was the only bidder (£40) on a complete Magnifax 4a with Meograde head. I wanted the head and asked the seller to dump/sell the rest, criminal!

Take your time and you should get one for a song.......
 
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Meopta stopped manufacturing of enlargers and they are selling the remaining stock. So if you can, get the parts while they are available. I've had problems with proper aligning of Opemus 6 and the recommended Magnifax 4 is build the same way, just bigger and more robust. I don't like the control of it, but seems the others like it.
 
Ohhhh, then anyone needing neg carriers should get them quick while they are still widely stocked ! The neg stage is pretty simple on an Opemus though, so (carefully) self-made carriers would be ok.

The main problem I ever found was focussing with the head high up, because the focus-knob is on the lens-stage and therefore difficult to reach. There is an accessory "cable-drive" extension to solve the problem on the later models. I don't recall any parellel adjustment problems with the Opemus and fortunately never had to fiddle with the thing.

The De Vere bench enlargers have the height and focus controls at the base-board and so are super convenient, except for too being huge and heavy for a temporary darkroom that you might set up for an evening.
 
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I've had one Durst, one Omega, and two Beselers - all were fantastic, but my favorite rig was the Beseler 45 MXT. Rugged, easy to adjust, and lighter than the VXL - since I moved around a bit.

I used them it with a few arista (and one Zone VI) cold light heads (nice for 4x5) - but was looking into a nice color head as an option (especially for VC papers, rather than filtering).

I have not owned one for 8 or 9 years now.. and I'm not sure I'd be printing bw LF again... so I'm personally looking at the Beseler 23CIII-XL (unless I find a used Omega near me cheaper - I'd be happy with either for 6x7 work).
 
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Hi,

If you do a lot of 35mm a Leitz focamat 1c or V35 is unbeatable. They feature automatic focusing which is VERY convenient.
Ad a cheap meopta for the MF stuff.
i use a focomat 1c with a componon-s and a very old IFF 4x5 enlarger for the bigger stuff. All very cheap nowadays. also the lenses are cheap on ebay. Top lense like the componon-s go for $50 or so.
Cheers,
Michiel fokkema
 
Hi guys, thx for your answers.
I did some searches and it seems that the Meopta Opemus 6 is the most available enlarger on the french market. Is it as good as the Meopta Magnifax ?
I didn't know that Leica made enlargers, I suppose it must be really good.
Thanks to your help, i'll focus my searches on Focomat, Meopta, and Beseler even if i didn't find lot of enlargers on ebay.fr
Any other comments/suggestions are welcome 🙂
 
How about this alternate viewpoint: get whatever you can find for free or $20. Lots of folks are unloading darkroom equipment. Film is dead, don't you know? 😉
 
Hi FrankS ,
yeah people say film is dead ^^ . The problem is i don't know where i can find darkroom equipment for free or 20 bucks !
 
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