Leica 1C Enlarger Won't Focus

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I just acquired a really mint Leica Focomat 1C enlarger with a 5cm Elmar and am stumped. When I try to focus a negative at a mid position of the enlarger head, focusing out as far as the threads go do not give me a sharp negative. I need to manually pull the lens stage further down below where the cam is taking it to get a sharp negative image. Am I missing something? I even have the owners manual and it does not contain any further instructions for this situation.

Maybe someone with prior experience with this enlarger can assist me with this situation. Many thanks.

-- Michael Kadillak (m.kadillak@home.com), October 25, 2001

Answers

Michael, My Focomat 1c came standard with a 50mm FOCOTAR enlarging lens.Your ELMAR lens despite being an appropriate focal length may either be the wrong lens or may need an adaptor. I recall that the lens head of one of the older Summicron 50mm lenses could be used as a correct enlarging lens on the Focomat. Regards, Sheridan.

-- Sheridan Zantis (albada60@hotmail.com), October 26, 2001.

I found out that I needed a 15mm spacing adapter to make the lens focus properly. Thanks

-- Michael Kadillak (m.kadillak@home.com), October 26, 2001.

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