Uncle Fester
Well-known
One thing worth bearing in mind with the Valoy enlarger is that they were never designed to accept multigrade filters. You can work round this by either placing the square filter in the enlarger head (underneath the bulb) or, as I did, adapt the swing out arm (with the red filter in) under the lens to take the Ilford under lens filters. However, you should be aware that the standard holder that attaches to the lens in the Ilford under lens filter kit will not work with the focotar, or I believe any other lens, due to the focussing method of the Valoy.
Personally I found neither of the above solutions really satisfactory and would either bite the bullet and get a V35, or for a cheaper option look into the Meopta range of enlargers.
John
Or one can do what I am in the process of doing. Get an old Chromega B or C dichroic colorhead and figure out how to make an adapter that will sit on top of the enlarger, with the upper part of the lamphousing removed and the colorhead in its place. I got my colorhead and power supply for $20.00 U.S. in working order and I'm now in the process of making an adapter plate to attach the colorhead to my Valoy II. Nothing on the enlarger itself is going to be altered in any way, so this will be a 100% reversible modification. This will let me use the enlarger, with the condenser still in place, for VC or color printing and with the original lamp setup for printing with graded papers. I'll post some pictures as soon as I finish it.
Last edited: