I am interested in different approaches to enlarger alignment. I have always just used a spirit level to make sure that the paper, lens and negative are all level. Recently I have been researching this topic and the results I have found have ranged from quick and dirty approaches like the one I use to very sophisticated devices costing many hundreds of dollars. Please enlighten me on the degree of precision needed. Thanks

-- Jeff White (zonie@computer-concepts.com), November 05, 1998

Answers

Jeff, There are many effective ways of aligning your enlarger, some more expensive than others. The finer the degree of film plane/lens plane/paper plane alignment, the better your print focus will be. It might seem obvious, but the most important thing is having an enlarger that allows for the very fine alignment adjustments necessary to achieve the precision you are seeking.

Most of the enlargers I've used allow for adjustments of the entire enlarger head unit on side-to-side and front-to-rear planes. Some also allow the lens stage to be further adjusted on these two planes. The problem seems to be that the adjustment mechanisms never seem to be very precise, and some seem rather crude and inconvenient. My current enlargers, a pair of Beseler MXTs, have pretty crude mechanisms for precise alignment adjustments.

Years ago, after several frustrating attempts to precisely align these Beseler enlargers with a variety of tools, I purchased several adjustable accessory lensboards from Zone VI (Calumet Photographic now sells them, 1-800-CALUMET). I've also seen other similar designs on the market.

Essentially, they are just two parallel lensboards, with a dense piece of thin, flexible, black, light-tight foam material sandwiched between them, with three very fine adjustment thumbscrew knobs that allow for incredibly precise adjustments in any plane, not just the side-to-side and fore-and-aft planes. The top board clips into the enlarger head's lensboard opening, the bottom board holds the lens. The three thumbscrews, protruding from the bottom of the lensboard and spaced at every 120 degrees around the perimeter of the lens, allow alignment in any combination of planes, not just the usual side-to-side and fore-to-aft planes.

After the initial rough adjustments possible with most enlargers, using the spirit level methods, these adjustable lensboards permit me to finely align the lens-to-paper plane. Rather than use the spirit levels to achieve this final precision alignment, I place a well-focused negative in the carrier, project it and focus it onto the baseboard, and use a micro-grain focuser to verify focusing alignment at the center and all four corners. It's a simple matter to just reach up and slightly turn the three thumbscrews, while looking through the micro-grain focuser, rather than get up and loosen/tighten a series of bolts on the enlarger head.

Hope this helps, Sergio.

-- Sergio Ortega (s.ortega@worldnet.att.net), November 06, 1998.

The gadget Sergio talks about sounds like a very good way of ensuring the lens is parallel to the film or the paper. You also must ensure that the film and paper are parallel to each other. If they are not parallel to each other, then the method Sergio describes will only be correct for one magnification.

Adjusting the paper angle is fairly straightforward, with packing under the easel.

-- Alan Gibson (Alan.Gibson@technologist.com), November 08, 1998.

The quick & dirty approach I use involves a very good *bullseye* spirit level (the circular ones that measure in all planes) and a 5X7 plate of glass. I start at the base board and work up. First I make sure it's sitting level, using tape underneath to shim as needed. Then I place the level on the easel and get it straightened out. Bessler easels are adjustable for leveling, so may others be, other- wise, use tape. Next I level the lens by pressing the glass plate against its filter ring and placing the bullseye level on the glass

-- David Dutchison (ddutt@vcn.bc.ca), December 15, 1998.

The quick & dirty approach I use involves a very good *bullseye* spirit level (the circular ones that measure in all planes) and a 5X7 plate of glass. I start at the base board and work up. First I make sure it's sitting level, using tape underneath to shim as needed. Then I place the level on the easel and get it straightened out. Bessler easels are adjustable for leveling, so may others be, other- wise, use tape on the bottom. Next I level the lens by pressing the glass plate up against its filter ring and placing the bullseye level on the glass. Most enlargers do not allow for full adjustment of the lense plane in all axis, so shims on the upper surface of the lens board have to be used. Finally, the glass is inserted inplace of the neg carrier and that area is leveled. If your enlarger does not have any adjustments to level the neg. plane, then try placing the glass on or in the neg. holder itself, and use shims on its bottom surface to level it in its slot.

-- David Dutchison (ddutt@vcn.bc.ca), December 15, 1998.

The product sold by Calumet is called 'Bes-Align 4x4 Adjustable Lensboard' made by Delta One for Beseler 45 and 23 series enlargers. The cost is $33.99 The tech guy at Beseler said he heard very positive comments about this product. I can't wait to get mine, as I have the same problem w/lens alignment. Another suggestion (from Beseler) would be to purchase a lens stage conversion kit that replaces everything from the lower neg stage casting down. Sounds complicated. I'm going to try the Bes-Align first.

-- Regina Hugo (vhugo@earthlink.net), February 16, 1999.

I use a level to do a ruff alignment upon installation, but to fine tune the alignment you need two mirrors. One lays on your easel with the reflective surface facing up. The other needs to be the same width as your carrier and twice the length. It is inserted into the enlarger in place of your carrier with the reflective surface facing down. When you look down through the hole you predrilled through the center of the extended section it will be obvious which corrections will have to be made. Its hard to imagine exactly what I'm talking about, but when you do it you will be amazed at the simplicity and obvious accuracy of the procedure. I learned this trick from a Hungarian fellow who grew up in the back of a studio and spent his whole life in the business.

-- Tim Ruck (auroraphoto@compuserve.com), March 16, 1999.

Tim, I could imagine that looking through the pinhole in the upper mirror, you can see the reflection of the lensholder in the bottom-mirror which should be square or rectangle. If the paper-plane is not parallel to the lens-plane you should see the lensholder not square or rectangle but distorted, e.g one corner stretched out, or two left sides smaller or larger than the two right corners. The same would go for the mirror in the negative carrier reflected in the bottom-mirror. Is that correct? (If so, it would be handy/safe to have the bottom of your enlarger spirit-leveled first but not necessarily so).

-- Lot (lotw@wxs.nl), March 16, 1999.

I meant of course "the left side smaller or larger than the right" instead of "the two left sides..." (forgot to skip some words in refrasing).

-- Lot (lotw@wxs.nl), March 16, 1999.

Lot, This procedure is done on the assumption that your lens is aligned properly with your carrier. Since you are looking down through one mirror at another, you will simply see an infinite reflection of the two mirrors. Yes, if you are out of alignment you will see the reflection bend in one direction or another.Once you have shimmed either your enlarger or the printing surface correctly the reflection will be square.

-- Tim Ruck (auroraphoto@compuserve.com), March 17, 1999.