Leica Enlarger

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Dear Sirs, 18th March 01

I have recently purchased a Leica Focomat V35 enlarger with a colour filter module. As a novice, I want to begin printing black & white photographs. I would be grateful if you could inform me as to the filteration settings on the colour module when using a multigrade paper. I am also unsure how the autofocus system works.

Yours sincerely,

Chris Latty.

-- Chris Latty (chrislatty@hotmail.com), March 18, 2001

Answers

That's one mighty fine enlarger you have, some would say the best there is for 35mm. I can't help you with the color module as I use the vario contrast one (which is great).

As far as the autofocus is concerned once it is adjusted right it is simply stays in focus whenever you zoom in or out for bigger or smaller enlargements. If yours needs adjustment do the following: set the colum to the same height as the easel, i.e. if the easel is 20mm high set the column to 20mm, check the autofocus. If it is still out at various enlargements do the this: turn the lens until you get the sharpest picture possible, hold it there with your hand so that it doesn't move and then loosen the arresting screw (a long finger screw that sticks out at right angles to the big ring that holds the lens) and while still holding the lens rotate the big ring that the lens is attachted to until you feel it drop into a detent; this is easy to feel. Tighten the arresting screw. Recheck your focus. You may have to do it a few times to get it right. The best sharpness on two Leitz focotar 40/2.8 lens I have used is somewhere between f4 and f5.6.

-- sam smith (ssmith@hotmail.com), March 20, 2001.


I believe all you have to do is dial in various amounts of magenta to give you the corresponding increasing contrast grades with multicontrast enlarging paper. The package insert with your enlarging paper should tell you how much magenta for each grade or half grade of black and white contrast. As with everything else in photography, you should do some simple tests to calibrate your particular enlarger light source etc. Good luck, Lewis

-- Lewis Lauring (eyeye@tampabay.rr.com), March 21, 2001.

Chris

Depending on which Multigrade paper you use (I use Ilford), you will find a data sheet giving filtrations. Colour heads can be divided into 3 categories namely Agfa, Kodak and Durst. Most German enlargers use Durst. Most American enlargers use Kodak. Now you have two ways you can adjust contrast. Check the data sheet to see what filtration is needed for each grade. The tables are quite self explanatory. If you use single filtration i.e either Yellow or Magenta then every time you change the setting to change the grade you will have to do another test strip. The only real benefit of single filtration grade setting is that your exposures are relatively short. The second way to change contrast is to use a mixture of both yellow and magenta. Once again there will be a table in the manufacturers data sheet showing how much of yellow and magenta you will need for each grade. The benefit of this method is that your exposure will remain constant from grade 0 to grade 5. The downside is that it is initally a little more complicated to get to grips with (but becomes easier with practice) and also exposures can be somewhat longer, especially if you use some of the slower warm tone papers. Also some papers like Forte Polywarmtone are somewhat scarce on filter information. For what its worth the following papers are worth trying

Ilford Multigrade IV - lovely punchy pictures plenty of information in the data sheets.

Ilford Multigrade RC Cool Tone - as above but with super blue blacks. Also twice as fast as Multigrade IV.

Forte Polygrade - Another robust paper with blue blacks - traditional emulsion that is receptive to toner.

Feel free to email me if you would like any further information.

-- Adrian Twiss (avtwiss@ukonline.co.uk), March 29, 2001.


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