Question reg. Meopta Opemus 35mm negative mask

[Ljós]

Hello all,

currently I am using a Meopta Opemus 5a enlarger for my darkroom work. (I am lucky to have the matching color head, so that using VC-paper is relatively easy.)

I am not so happy with the negative carrier: right now what I have is a negative carrier that goes up to 6x6cm, has a glass plate below the negative, and has two movable pins for switching between 6x6 and 35mm, plus (quite crudely operating) masking blades. The trouble is that negatives on the beginning or end of a strip of 5 frames are a pain in the neck to align, plus that there is not much film flatness to speak of. Of course, stopping down the lens goes a long way, but I do not want to keep up with this long term.

So..... I called fotoimpex (I live in Germany) about these http://www.fotoimpex.de/shop/fotola...er/meopta-einlegemaske-opemus-2-5-kb35mm.html masks. Unfortunately, the staff could not tell me exactly how they are made and whether they would solve my problem or not.

My question: does anyone of you have first-hand experience with these Opemus 35mm masks? They should fit Opemus 2 to Opemus 5.

- How easy is it to position negatives?
- I take it that they are completely glass-less: how about film flatness?
- how about printing "ragged" or plain black borders: they should be fileable, has anyone of you done this?

Your input is much appreciated, thanks in advance!

Greetings, Ljós

(who is kicking himself that he just missed out on a Leica Focomat Ic with Wallner color head for very reasonable money... sigh...)

 

[MartinP]

I also have a Meopta Opemus 🙂

The standard carrier is double glass, meaning that you should have an anti-newton glass above and a clear glass below the neg. This makes it very very flat and pretty easy to line up. So possibly you are missing the anti-newton glass and that is the reason for your problems with alignment and so on ?

The 35mm glassless carrier has two blackened metal plates with the lower having a smaller aperture than the top. The film is gripped when the holder is in the closed position. No problem there either - it works ok.

It is interesting that when you have the anti-newton glass in the top and the "upper" glassless carrier (the one with the larger hole) in the bottom, that you can get the well known filed-out neg carrier look, plus flat negs.

If you want to print both 120 and 35mm then the simplest option is to get the missing upper glass. If you are certain that you will only ever need to print 35mm then just go for the glassless holder.

 

[rlouzan]

or use a couple strips of painters tape to hold your negs flat.

 

[Ljós]

I also have a Meopta Opemus 🙂

Martin, many thanks for your reply! And of course you are right, if there were Anti-Newton glass on top, I'd be fine... I am including (excuse the crappy cell phone quality) a picture of my carrier. One can clearly see the glass that sits under the negative, and the clip for securing the upper glass, which is empty :-(

 

[Ljós]

I am beginning to think that the missing upper glass COULD be the reason why the famous Meopta "slit"-focusing system on my enlarger is off. The adjustment screws of the slit are still secured with blue laquer, so they have not been tampered with. But if all my negatives bend upwards, away from the plane the slit-focusing system is calibrated for, that could account for it...

Martin, one more question if I may: how easy is it to get the negative centered just right in the glassless carrier? I mean: do you remove the entire carrier, fit the negative in the masks, and insert the carrier, or is it possible to do this while having the carrier mounted in the enlarger?

Many thanks, Ljós

 

[rlouzan]

Perhaps you can scavenge one from an old slide mount.

+ take a look

http://www.apug.org/forums/forum41/15109-opemus-5a-manual.html

 

[Roger Hicks]

Not so much 'missing' as 'optional'. You may care to try removing the glass from the lower side and replacing it above the negative: slide forward from the rigid side against the sprung side. Check also if Foto Skoda in Prague has a spare AN glass. Try also RK Photographic, http://www.thedarkroom.co.uk, 01707 643953.

Put the neg in the carrier with the carrier out of the enlarger: MUCH easier.

Yes, frames are file-able.

Cheers,

R. (I have two Magnifaxes)

 

[rlouzan]

Some people use a black Sharpie to paint the filed carrier, in order to avoid possible reflections😱. A professional B&W printer friend of mine uses black nail polish😉 for a semi-permanent finish.

 

[Ljós]

Thanks Roger and rlouzan for chiming in!
You all really give me hope that this only source of frustration with the Opemus 5a can be remedied! 🙂

The thing I have to find out for sure is whether the 5a is compatible with the Opemus 6 accessories, or whether it still counts as "old" 5. If compatible with Opemus 6 I should be able to get AN glass cheaply from fotoimpex. I am going to call them again, maybe I can get an Opemus expert on the line this time.

Again, thank you for your answers and ideas!

Greetings, Ljós

 

[MartinP]

Hi Ljos, yes - the plates in the neg-carriers for the 5a and 6 are basically the same. I previously had the 5a and now have a 6 and have used the parts interchangeably. There are other differences though, such as the lens mounting plate, so no-one should assume that they are the same size for all parts !

Using 35mm in the carrier it's probably easier to remove the whole thing, dust it with a blower-bulb, then position the neg. For 35mm, the shape made by the masking blades will be at the smallest size, about 24x36, so if you put the carrier over something white then it will be simple to line up the neg.

When the carrier is in the enlarger you can still move the negative strip a little when the upper plate is held up, by moving it in and out or 'rotating' it around a guide pin (on the long side of the neg strip if it's the last frame), but it's much too easy to move too far and so doing it on the bench is usually simpler. The focus-aid device may well have originally been set up perfectly, but there is no guarantee that it started life in the enlarger you are using! See what happens you have a flat neg before deciding about that of course.

Just to clarify this thing about filing neg carriers, if Fotoimpex have both the anti-newton glass and the 35mm glassless carrier then there is no need to actually file anything as you can put the plate with the larger hole (25,5 x 37,5mm) on the bottom, and use the anti-newton glass on top. The Focomat V35, for example, uses a single-glass negative holder, so this sort of set-up is quite legitimate.

Fotoimpex may also still have the micro-adjusting focusing knob available (possibly that's only for the Opemus 6 though?) and that is nice to have. All these spares may double the cost of your enlarger! 😉

 

[Ljós]

Hi Ljos, yes - the plates in the neg-carriers for the 5a and 6 are basically the same. I previously had the 5a and now have a 6 and have used the parts interchangeably. There are other differences though, such as the lens mounting plate, so no-one should assume that they are the same size for all parts ! [...]

Martin, excellent, many thanks! Once I have taken delivery of the items I will post here for future reference.

Having the AN-glass above and the 35mm mask sounds like a good way, thanks for the tip. The filing will then be reserved for experimenting with a ragged border, in case I wanna go there 🙂

About my negative carrier not originating in this very enlarger: I had not thought of that, but that is of course entirely possible...

All the best,
Ljós

 

[Ljós]

Update: availability of Opemus 5a accessories from fotoimpex.de

Update: availability of Opemus 5a accessories from fotoimpex.de

Hello all,

an update, but first of all thanks to everybody who chimed in!
As you will see the problem (for 35mm) is solved for me since I now got a Focomat Ic ;-), but I wanted to add the update nonetheless, for other Opemus 5a users and future reference:

So, I mailed fotoimpex.de (I am located in Germany) about 35mm glassless inserts, and Anti-Newton-glass for my Opemus. They kindly responded, telling me that for the 5a glassless inserts are available, Anti-Newton-glass NOT. Negative carriers are no longer available either. Also they told me that Meopta has ceased production and that they (fotoimpex) will not be getting any more accessories further down the road. I mailed a second time with the measurements of the AN-glass (I measured the glass insert I have, which is normal glass), and adding the guess that actually the glass for Opemus 6 and 5a might be interchangable? But I did not get a second answer.

And then I had the chance to get a nice Focomat Ic, and I jumped on it! 🙂
I am keeping the Opemus for 6x6 enlarging... and in the long run I will try to find AN-glass separately somewhere, or harvest from another 5a.

I'd like to highlight MartinP's advice again, sounds very useful for aspiring Opemus-users:

"It is interesting that when you have the anti-newton glass in the top and the "upper" glassless carrier (the one with the larger hole) in the bottom, that you can get the well known filed-out neg carrier look, plus flat negs."

All the best,
Ljós