LPL 67 dichroic head enlarger - help?

[Johnmcd]

I'm starting up a darkroom after nearly 15 years and had been keeping a close eye on ebay for a 6x7 enlarger.

Yesterday I managed to pick up two enlargers for $1 each (no one else bid). One is a Meopta Axomat 5 (35mm only), the other a LPL 67 colour dichroic head. Both have 35mm neg carriages.

Does anyone know much about the LPL 67? I have searched the internet but can't find any real info at all. From what I can find out it can take a 6x7 neg carriage. Is it possible to buy one or use one from an existing LPL model?

Cheers - John

 

[ChrisN]

John, good buy! You might try getting in touch with http://www.khbphotografix.com/LPL/index.htm in Canada. They supplied some neg holders for a LPL 7700 I have.

The dichroic head can be used for B&W printing by dialing in an appropriate mix of colours to substitute for the contrast filters one would normally use with white light and variable contrast paper. With my old colour enlarger I found the internal filters had faded and the mix didn't give me consistent results, so I just switched to using Ilford contrast filters. This has proved to give better results and is quicker to change as well.

Did they come with lenses? Some of the Meopta enlarger lenses are very good. You'll need a 50mm lens for 35mm and an 80mm for 6x7.

Edit: how are you off for a timer and easels?

 

[Johnmcd]

Hi Chris,

Yes it was a good price and came with a spare colour head! I was going to hand him twenty bucks but he refused to take anything at all.

I used to have a Meopta with a colour head which was great to use with B/W. Previous to that I used to use the Ilford filters to adjust contrast.

I am currently on the look out for a 50 and 80 lens as my next acquisitions.

I just hope that I can get a 6x7 carrier for it. There's not a lot of room so I doubt whether a glass carrier will be available. The instruction (only a couple of pages) says that it should have come with a 6x7.

I have contacted KHB Photografix in Canada and I'll see what they suggest.

I don't have any of the other paraphernalia yet, in fact the darkroom still has to be built 🙂

Cheers - John

 

[surfer dude]

A great buy! If space is limited in your darkroom you might consider buying WA enlarging lenses - a 65 rather than an 80, and whatever instead of a 50. As darkroom stuff is so relatively cheap, why not? The WA lenses allow you to enlarge to a given size with the enlarger head much lower than with the standard lenses. In other words, you can get a much larger print without having to project onto a wall or off a table onto the floor.

 

[sepiareverb]

KHB are some of the best folks out there. I suspect they'll know anything you want to know about the enlarger. Looks exactly like an old Japanese enlarger a friend of mine has, can't recall what brand that one was (but it was not an LPL- I remarked on how much like an LPL it appeared). He got it at Olden in NYC in the 80s.