Focomat 1c - need some advice please

[lynnb]

1. I have the opportunity to buy a Focomat 1c with Elmar 5cm f3.5 for around $140.. however the wiring underneath needs replacing (see picture).

I am capable of soldering new wiring - but is there anything else that I should be aware of, e.g. circuit boards? If it's just a matter of replacing the wiring and if that's not cosmically difficult (disassembly/assembly) I think I can manage that quite OK. If it turns into a can of worms I don't want to waste my money. $140 seems a good deal to me; I had a look on the big auction site and the lens alone may be worth at least that (assuming it's in good condition).

Any advice much appreciated.

2. The same seller has a Meopta Opemus 6x6 for $100 which he says is in good condition. However no mention of a lens. As I shoot 35mm and 120, would this be a better option? Or would I be mad to pass up the opportunity to get the Focomat 1c at that price for my 35mm printing?

Thanks for your thoughts!

Edit: pictures to follow!

 

[lynnb]

Focomat 1c

1c faulty wiring

Meopta Opemus 6x6

 

[Jan Pedersen]

The 1C is a great enlarger, very accurate and once you focus your lens it stays in focus if you change enlargement.
There are no circuit boards so just replace the wiring and you are good to go. I changed my wires a few years ago as they were falling apart.
The only minus to the 1C is the lack of filter tray, you will need to use under the lens filters.
The Elmar lens is not as good as the Focotar that normally comes with the 1C but the price is still good.
I would forget about the Opemus.

 

[lynnb]

thanks Jan, much appreciated

 

[Tom A]

I usually tear out the old wiring and wire the bulb directly to the head. Just replace the wires that comes out of the head (and bulb fitting) and run it over the top of the post (just make a U shaped thing that keeps it in place. The base board switch is more trouble than it is worth - and if the wires are frayed and dried at the base board control - they are probably even worse in the up-right column.
You are going to run the wire to a timer anyway and the over the top way is more flexible anytime.
The Elmar 50 is an OK lens - but try to find a modern 50mm lens as it will give you better centre sharpness and also more even corners.
Check things like the surface of the condenser - flip up the head and look for scratches on it.
Once you set the auto focus on a 1c you are fine. You can go from a 5x7 to 11x14 without worry of any focus shift. Check that it comes with the negative carrier - they are difficult to find and expensive when you do.
You can use under lens filter - but I prefer simply lifting the lamp housing and dropping the filter on top of the condenser. Less chance of scratches on the filter diffusing the light. Once you have used a Ic you will never go back to a "regular" enlarger!
Move the focussing up and down and check that it is smooth too. The post that screws in to the top is also an adjustment for the bulbs positioning - you move the bulb up and down and check the evenness of the light on the easel.
I have used Ic's and IIc's for decades. Tried others, but for 35mm film nothing beats the Ic.
Don't know enough about Menopta and without the lens I think it is over priced.

 

[M.Hilo]

Like Tom A I would not bother to renew the wiring. But I would run a new wire from the socket at the top of the column - down the column - to the socket on the baseboard. This is very easy. Then you can just connect a timer to the baseboard socket (if that thing is called a socket?). Obviously you better check the wiring coming out of the enlarger head.

I don't know about prices for the 1C in Australia, I do not find this cheap for this early version 1C. Before you do anything, I would check it's completeness. In addition to what Tom already mentioned, you also need to prevent Newton rings. Leitz made a Anti Newton glass for under the condensor. Can be expensive. You can also fabricate something yourself for that.

All in all I wonder if you are not better off to find a 1C with the filterdrawer, AN glass, long 1,20 meter column, a Focotar etc. The late grey ones are expensive, but here you find the black version with filterdrawer at the price you are about to spend . . . (Germany, Holland, etc.)

Having said all that: it is a fantastic and easy-to-use enlarger !

 

[--s]

if you shoot 6 x 6, the meopta is your only choice between the two. the reputation of the meoptas is good.

 

[Rangefinderfreak]

There is a company in in Germany that sells most of the parts to Focomat I and II, also refurbished Focomats, color and Multgrade heads, film carriers, even a special one for X Pan!! They don`t advertise, but I found them at Photokina: www.kienzle-phototechnik.de
Check them out. I got everything I needed there, even some items I thought didn`t exist !
Also Check E Bay for Ilford Multigrade heads. You lift the condenser head off and substitute it with the Multigrade head with all wiring etc. usually there is the timer also, so you actually use only the mechanics and the lens. be sure to unscrew the lens and clean it. Usualluy they are terribly dusty after neglecting for decades...

 

[Peter de Waal]

I have a Focomat Ic, 3x Valoy II, 1 x Valoy I, a Reid & Sigrist copy of the Valoy I with a Taylor-Hobson Ental 3.5/50 that is better made than the Valoy I, a Meopta Opemus III and an Opemus 5, plus a Kodak Precision for 6x9.

The Focomat Ic is excellent and worth persevering with, particularly if you can obtain a Focotar. No problems re-wiring them either, and nothing to worry about with the switch wiring - all very basic and durable. I have an electrician's ticket, but rewiring these old enlargers is just point-to point wire replacement and it's hard to get wrong. I always check for continuity of phase, earth and neutral with a multi-tester before plugging them in.


Biggest problem is the wire that runs into the Focomat head shell. The cable seems to get quite cooked and brittle at that point. It sits in a somewhat fragile gimbaled plastic carrier centered on three springs retained by brass caps of about 4mm diameter floating in a steel tube that comprises the inner part of the top head shell. If you pull the bulb holder strait out the springs fly everywhere. Wrap a towel around it before you pull the bulb holder out!

Luckily theses springs are the same as British 2-pin bakelite bulb light fittings from the 1950's and it's not too hard to find one of those to wreck for pins + springs if needs be. You need to halve the length of the standard UK bulb spring if needed though.


The Opemus III is an excellent unit and cheap. There are lens mounts available for it in both Meopta 22.5mm mount and Leica 39mm thread. The Opemus comes with a handy range-finding device on the film carrier and a built-in adjustable mask that instantly changes frame size from 18x36mm up to 6x6cm. The top glass in the neg holder is treated to prevent Newton's ring's. There are lens tilting stages and all sorts of other accessories available for them. I recently bought an Opemus III with a 50 Meopta Belar for $10; and an Opemus 5 with a color head and 80mm lens for $20.

The Focotar (or a Valoy) is a better choice for 35mm in my opinion, but for cheap and effective 6x6 enlargement an Opemus is excellent.

 

[lynnb]

Thanks very much for all your advice folks! I have collected the 1c. It has the negative carrier and seems to be in reasonable condition. There is a slight dent in the upper lamp housing shell on the edge, where it has probably been dropped. However the shell still fits snugly when mounted so I suspect it's not a problem. I can't see any scratches on the condenser and the focusing works smoothly. The seller had cut the main power lead as he was concerned the wiring was unsafe so I can't yet test the light. He had a 75W incandescent bulb in it.

The seller agreed to sell both enlargers for AUD$150. The Opemus 5 is working and came with a Meopta Anaret 4,5/50 with a 4 blade aperture - I assume it's a budget model and my guess is that it will only do 35mm?

These enlargers are my Christmas present so I'll replace the Focomat's wiring and then it will have to go into a box so I can act surprised on Christmas day 🙂

 

[Peter de Waal]

well you shouldn't have too much difficulty replacing that main power cable on the Focomat. Just take your time and check each phase carefully. It's only a lamp after all!

The Focomat is not "Double Insulated". It even has a screw on the back for wiring it to a substantial earth and it's best used that way. Although you can make it double insulated by not wiring in the earth phase, it's safety very much depends on how the location your using it in is wired. Many older houses still have tin-plated copper fuses and these take about 2-and-a-half sine waves to blow, whereas a modern house with HRC's will trip the fuse within a quarter of a sine wave of the AC supply. That much longer time for a fuse wire to stop supply to a short-circuit is the reason for the extra earth. Use it.

With regard to the 50 Anaret, that's actually Meopta's up-spec lens option and probably as good as anything else like a six-element EL-Nikkor 2.8/50. The Belar was the cheapo triplet.

To use a 75mm or 80mm lens on the Opemus you need to reverse the orientation of the lens mount. It is bowl-shaped and you have it facing up for one focal length and downwards for the other. I can't remember which is which but the Meopta manual will tell you.

I have some Meopta enlarging lenses available cheaply if required, but they all need cleaning. PM me if you need one.
I'm in Auckland, NZ.

 

[lynnb]

Thanks Peter. We have a fairly recent power board with circuit breakers and I also have a portable HPM residual current interrupter, which I will use with the Focomat. I will also take your advice about earthing - thank you.

 

[davidpg]

As others have said, the Focomat 1c is a great enlarger, and rewiring it is not a big deal.

There is one gotcha, though, if you want to use a modern (or not so modern) enlarging lens. Early on, many people (like the previous owner of your new enlarger) used a camera lens, especially the 50 mm Elmar, as an enlarging lens, and the LTM became a default standard for enlargers. But, most enlarging lenses with Leica threads have a mount that is significantly shorter than a LTM camera lens. This usually isn't an issue for other enlargers, since there is plenty of adjustment in the bellows. But, the Focomat was designed to use a lens with a mount like the Elmar's, and most newer enlarging lenses have mounts that are too short to work with it, turning it into a "Focowont".

The solution is an extension tube with female Leica threads at one end and male at the other. The official Leitz adaptor for this was the DOORX. There is one described on this page, along with a lot of other information about Leitz enlargers:

http://www.glennview.com/leitz.htm

It may take some looking to find one, and probably won't be cheap. Several years ago, I managed to find one attached to a beat up Focotar on E-bay. I also used to see on E-bay lots of cheap (non-Leitz) sets of LTM close-up extension tubes, and I suspect that one of those would probably be close enough to work.

David

 

[Landshark]

davidpg,
Your link says the Doorx is needed for "most all" 50mm enlarging lenses including the focotar.

FWIW, I didn't realize they made a separate Elmar for the enlarger. Nifty!
Is the one with the enlarger this style with external aperture ring?

 

[Jerevan]

The enlarger Elmar is called DOOGS and is finished in black.

 

[lynnb]

Here's some pictures of the Elmar:

 

[davidpg]

Lynn,
I'm sorry. I was assuming that the lens on your enlarger was the standard LTM camera lens. I may have known, at one time, that there was an enlarging Elmar, but I didn't think of that. It looks like you are all set, if you want to use a newer lens.

David

 

[lynnb]

No apology necessary David - I was in blissful ignorance thinking that all enlargers had the same standard lens mount. When I bought it I had no idea there was an Elmar enlarging lens that was different to the LTM 50mm f3.5 Elmar camera lens. My only earlier experience was more than 35 years ago when I used Durst 35mm BW enlargers.

I can't wait to play with my new toys 🙂