[rollei_list] Re: OT: Enlargers/darkroom (again) (longish)
- From: Bernard <bernard_cousineau@xxxxxxxx>
- To: rollei_list@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
- Date: Tue, 29 Nov 2005 21:55:20 -0500
I had a Durst Lab 1200 next to a Meopta in my darkroom. I did not find a perceptable difference in the Enlargers ability to produce quality prints in black and white. The diffference you will see is between enlarging lens, paper and developer. Although the solid enlargers have a better and smoother user feel it will not affect your prints as in order to make good prints you will need to work very carefully and diliberately.
The other major factor that will affect the quality of the prints or so I am told by fine printers and have not used one is to find an enlarger with a cold cathode head as opossed to the hash and directional light source of the condenser type.
I've never used a Meopta, but my MF enlarger is a Durst 605 Color (my 4x5 is a
Beseler).
I used to use a cold light head, but after testing, I find that a diffusion
colour head is just as good.
One thing that does make a big difference is using a very good enlarging lens
that is matched to your film format. You often hear people claim that you should
use a lens that covers a larger format than your negatives (so you can hit the
"sweet spot" of the lens), or that a top of the line 30 year old lens is just as
good as a new one, but I've found that new lenses show more fine detail and have
better local contrast.
I've noticed this most recently comparing a chrome-bareled Componon with a new
Rodagon, but I also ran the same test ten years back with a (then) new Componon
and an older one and came to the same conclusion. Both these tests were run in a
reasonably methodical way (same enlarger, same paper, same day, same neg).
Bernard
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