Negative holders and enlarging lenses.

[Stephanie Brim]

Someone on APUG is selling a Federal suitcase enlarger...but he only has negative carriers for medium format and the thing needs lenses. To completely set myself up I'd need 35mm negative carriers and a 50mm and 75mm lens. To this end, I'm wondering a couple of things.

Can you make negative carriers? Someone on APUG mentioned this but I thought I'd ask. Also, which lenses should I be looking at? Something cheap, but not so cheap that I'd be making completely useless prints.

 

[thelovecollect]

i dunno how to make neg carriers but they seem simple to fabricate..
some people use glass...but i am only recommending you buy used carriers..they can't be that much used..
i also dunno if the neg carriers are propietary to that specific enlarger..

as for enlarging lenses..
a 35mm negative requires a focal length of the lens that is at least 50mm. A 6x4.5 negative requires at least a 75mm lens. A 6x6 negative requires at least an 80mm lens. A 6x7 negative requires at least a 90mm lens. And, a 4x5 negative requires at least a 150mm lens.

edit: look on craigslist to see if anyone is donating an enlarger. i can get one for free at my school...

 

[payasam]

If the enlarger's carriers are the glass sandwich kind, all you need is a mask. The simplest -- though it will be a bit fiddly in use -- is a piece of black paper with a 24 by 36 mm hole cut out. Better to fold the paper once and have matching (aligned) cut outs on both halves. Anything thicker will keep the sandwich from closing. A 50 mm or 75 mm lens should be entirely satisfactory, though the second may not give particularly large prints on the base-board. The shorter its focal length, the closer to the negative a lens must be. You might need a recessed holder for a 50 mm lens. If the enlarger's column can be swung around, it's a simple matter to turn the whole assembly through 180 degrees, put heavy books or whatever on the base-board, swing the column and head around, and put your easel on a chair seat or on the floor. You can then use lenses of long focal length. So much the better if the column is slanted and not vertical.

 

[rxmd]

Good enlarger lenses are dirt cheap nowadays, at least on this side of the pond, can't speak for the US. On German eBay someone recently sold a 75/4 EL-Nikkor for 33 EUR BIN. For my 105/4 Rodagon I paid 15 EUR or something. Both are world-class lenses. So the lens shouldn't be a problem at all.

I use a Czech Anaret 50/2.8 for 35mm and the aforementioned Rodagon 105/4 for medium format (I do 6x9 every now and then, so I need the 105mm lens, and it's very much useable for 6x6, at least with my Meopta enlarger). Any six-element lens will do fine, including (but not limited to) Schneider Componon, Rodenstock Rodagon, Nikon EL-Nikkor or Meopta Meogon. There's really very little point in going for cheaper three- or four-element lenses nowadays, since eBay has made prices plummet on darkroom equipment.

Philipp

 

[Bryce]

Stephanie-
Are you assembling your first darkroom? Some suggestions-
Get an enlarger that's common. Getting neg carriers and such is SOO much easier, and unless you've got access to fab equipment, making them will prove not to be worthwhile. Darkroom equipment is so cheap at this point that getting something that will become a hassle isn't worth your trouble. I know from experience...
Which formats are you using, or expect to use? 35mm only or do you have other sizes in mind? I ended up replacing my first enlarger because I bought a 6x9 camera and had a 6x7 enlarger... The only carriers I had for the 6x7 unit were an altered 35mm carrier for another make (works dandy) and a homemade 6x6 carrier (sorta works...).
If you want a cheapie my old one is collecting dust, free to good home if you pay shipping. Includes 2 heads (diffusing and condensing), 35mm and crappy
6x6 carriers, and off brand 50mm lens. Sorry, no Nikkors...

 

[Finder]

A neg carrier can be easy of difficult depending on the enlarger design. I certainly could make one for my Omega or Beseler, but not for my LPL or Russian suitcase enlarger. Making carriers out of glass is not that easy unless you like Newton rings - the top piece of glass will need to be anti-Newton. Or you can simply cut apertures in two aluminum sheets. I have even seen folks use cardboard. The should be thick enough to be rigid, but not to thick to vignette at the edge. Paint them black and take any burs of the cuts in the metal.

I agree that any modern Schneider, Rodenstock, or El-Nikkor SIX-element design would be excellent (not the four-element design). But I would not get an old lens that is not coated. Whether they fit your enlarger (I have no experience with the manufacturer) is something the you need to check. For the most part it should not be a problem if the enlarger head is threaded for M42 threads or lens board of a similar size are available or come with the enlarger.

What format medium-format film do you want to print? The lens should have a focal length approximately the same as the diagonal of the image area of the format. You can check the manufacturer's specs to get the right lens.

 

[Stephanie Brim]

Stephanie-
Are you assembling your first darkroom? Some suggestions-
Get an enlarger that's common. Getting neg carriers and such is SOO much easier, and unless you've got access to fab equipment, making them will prove not to be worthwhile. Darkroom equipment is so cheap at this point that getting something that will become a hassle isn't worth your trouble. I know from experience...
Which formats are you using, or expect to use? 35mm only or do you have other sizes in mind? I ended up replacing my first enlarger because I bought a 6x9 camera and had a 6x7 enlarger... The only carriers I had for the 6x7 unit were an altered 35mm carrier for another make (works dandy) and a homemade 6x6 carrier (sorta works...).
If you want a cheapie my old one is collecting dust, free to good home if you pay shipping. Includes 2 heads (diffusing and condensing), 35mm and crappy
6x6 carriers, and off brand 50mm lens. Sorry, no Nikkors...

No worries on the Nikkor...I can get one from someone if needbe. And if anyone HAS a 50mm or an 80mm lens they're not using, I'll give it a good home. 😉

I'll be shooting 35mm, 6x6, and 6x9...I'm guessing that the 35mm and 6x6 will be the only two I actually print for a while...I won't be able to find a good lens for the 6x9 for a bit. I'll be printing in my grandparents' basement so something that I can easily store is crucial to my printing survival. I'll be taking over the downstairs bathroom for a few hours a week.

See how much it would be to ship to 50595 and I'll see what I can do. I'm broke right now, but two weeks from now I may not be. I have to sell my PSP. I don't know why I bought the thing...I don't use it anymore.

 

[rxmd]

Uhm, what do you mean, not finding a good lens for 6x9? For the camera or for the enlarger? A 105mm enlarging lens is no problem whatsoever to find. As negatives get larger, the quality requirements on an enlarging lens become less strict, too (to get 14x10 out of a 35mm negative you need a lens that is good at 10x enlargement ratio, to get it out of 6x9 you only need 4x), so you can use cheaper lenses. Before I got my Rodagon, I used a four-element Anaret 105/4.5 and was quite happy with it (until the Rodagon jumped at me). Are enlarger lenses that scarce in the US? I've still got the Anaret lying around, but shipping it to the US from Germany seems kinda inefficient to me 🙂

Philipp

 

[Stephanie Brim]

I'd like to get the best my budget will allow. People have been asking me when I'm going to start selling prints and I don't want to give them crap...even though there will be a learning curve. 😉

 

[Stephanie Brim]

I'm bringing this up for the afternoon crowd. Thought I'd give you an update.

The Federal enlarger would cost me around $50 to ship. That isn't bad. Dimensions when closed are 19"x15" and it's 5.5" thick. I could EASILY store that. However, I'm also thinking that negative carriers for 35mm are going to be important to me because, at this time, I shoot more of that than I do of medium format.

Someone mentioned Minolta lenses for the enlargers and I'll be looking into those as well as the Nikkors for my purposes. I'm going to look into Ilford Multigrade IV paper and developer because they're supporting APUG with server costs. I'll be developing in trays because I'm more interested in seeing the image develop on the paper than I am in getting tons of prints done at one time.

Anything else anyone wants to tell me that can be helpful is appreciated. 😀

 

[Michael I.]

I just got an enlarger as well. I am moving in with my girlfriend and the "new" appartment has a small storage room which will magicly become a darkroom(with no flowing water but again,beggars cant be choosers).

Mine is a meopta opemus III with some kind of wetzlar 75/4.5 lens. Does anyone here have negative holders for it(It has a negative holder with masks-I need the masks for 6x6 and 35mm) I didnt find them on ebay and they seem to be not that common.

 

[Stephanie Brim]

You can most likely make the masks as long as you are careful.

 

[Bryce]

Stephanie-
I'll look into shipping costs on the enlarger setup. If you already have a setup minus 50mm lens, you should be aware- nearly all enlargers use m39 mount lenses. Sound familiar? It should, that's Leica screw mount. So in a pinch, any lens that will thread onto your Canon will work. They aren't optimized as macro or process lenses, but they will work.

 

[Michael I.]

You can most likely make the masks as long as you are careful.

It has a built in adjustable mask - the masks I mean actually hold the film flat - making them is a bit more problematic due to flatness issues.A friend who gave me the enlarger used roughly cut peaces of glass to hold the negative down on the perforation lines-isnt flat but makes the prints edges assymetrical and pretty. I want flatness. Whats the point of using good lenses if the final print is unsharp(not on purpose)

 

[ChrisPlatt]

Check out your local camera shops before you buy anything.
Enlargers are dirt cheap now; they can't give them away.

Carriers for most major brands are available on *Bay.
I'm sure someone here will donate a lens to you...

"Excelsior, you fathead!"
-Chris-

 

[Stephanie Brim]

No local shops around here still carry enlargers, IIRC. I'd have to make ONE call, and I'm pretty sure they don't have anything. That's what sucks.

 

[payasam]

Michael, I will not give you any part of my Opemus III, never mind that the whole caboodle has been sitting in its carton for three months short of 29 years. I dream on...

 

[rxmd]

Six-element enlarging lenses (I made a short shopping list when I was buying my enlarger setup):

Rodenstock Rodagon
Schneider Componon
Meopta Meogon
Kodak Enlarging Ektar (some of these apparently are four-element, but have a good reputation)
Vivitar VHE
Nikon EL-Nikkor
Minolta CE-Rokkor/CE Minolta

There may be others, too.

Any of these should give you excellent results, to the point that if anything is wrong with your prints it's likely not the enlarging lens that is at fault, so there is little reason for preferring one over the other. Some of these are real sleepers (would you have thought of buying a Vivitar enlarger lens?). You shouldn't have a problem finding some of these for low money. Some of them were also marketed under different names as well; Durst, for example, used to sell Schneider lenses IIRC.

You have to be careful about the mount. I bought a 113/f4.5 Printing Ektar once, only to find it didn't have M39 mount. (It also didn't have an aperture ring - a "printing" lens isn't the same as an "enlarging" lens; and it happened to be quite radioactive.)

Philipp

 

[Andrew Sowerby]

No local shops around here still carry enlargers, IIRC. I'd have to make ONE call, and I'm pretty sure they don't have anything. That's what sucks.

Even if you're pretty sure the shop won't have anything, I'd still call. Someone at the shop might know of an enlarger looking for a good home.