A few enlarger questions...

[Amund]

I have this old Agfa Varioscop 60 enlarger that I paid $8 for, and found it was time to put it to use. It has a Agfa Color-Magnolar f/4.5/105mm lens that needs a little CLA as one of the aperture blades seems a little stuck, but I believe that should be easy to get fixed locally. It seems to take up to 6x9cm film from the variable negative carrier.

There`s no bulb above the condensor, what kind of bulb should I buy for it?
There is a drawer above the condenser, is it for filters?

I`ve searched all over the net for info on this enlarger, but there is very little to find...

I pretty much blank on enlarging, as you probably understand
I have only done contact prints until now.

 

[Nige]

can you post a piccy... then those of us who haven't seen/used this unit can start guessing

globe wise, check the fitting, probably a std screw or bayonet in which case you want a 'photocresenta' bulb, which is a normal looking bulb but doesn't have writing on it. (might be a different colour temp to a normal tungsten bulb too)

The drawer is probably for filters, my old Durst had the drawer there.

 

[Amund]

I`ll be back in a second with some digisnaps

 

[Amund]

Here they are..

 

[David A. Goldfarb]

Many enlargers have a plate on them somewhere or a sticker inside the lamp housing that says what kind of bulb to use. Enlargers like this one often take a PH211 bulb, which looks like an ordinary 60 Watt bulb that's more heavily frosted and has no printing on the top.

The drawer is a filter drawer for color or contrast CP filters.

 

[Nige]

I have an old Meopta Magnifax in the garage that looks pretty similar. Make sure you have a play with the location of the bulb as it governs the eveniness (hope that's a real word) of light across your neg.

 

[dschneller]

http://www.donsbulbs.com/cgi-bin/r/t.pl/equipment.agfa-gevaert_incorporated.htmldonsbulbs.com shows that it uses a PH212, if this is in fact the correct reference.

Agfa-Gevaert Incorporated - 35-44-60 - VARIOSKOP - Enlarger / Photo Printer - PH212/120V/150W, PH2120, PH213/120V/250W, PH2130


Dave

 

[Amund]

Thanks , I`ll order the right bulb, and wet my feet with a common household bulb.

 

[Amund]

Beeing the impatient one, I couldn`t wait....
Printed with a 60watt household bulb, on way outdated, not coldstored Polywarmtone, paper loosely taped to the baseboard(no easel yet) using a lens with stuck aperture blade. And it came out pretty good! The enlarger "autofocus" seems spot on, even though the enlarger has been knocked around in the back of cars etc, German craftmanship....

Can`t wait to see how it will look when everything is in better shape!

So, who makes the best easels?

And are white dots on the print what you get, when you try to tone in selenium when the paper isn`t even close to beeing properly washed?

 

[Nige]

white dots on the print usually are dust on the neg... If they are 'sharp' dots, they are probably on the neg itself. if the are a bit soft, then they are a bit further away from the neg, most likely on the glass if using a glass neg carrier. Also, the writing in the house globe might show up, no idea what it would look like (that one of those internet folklore tales... someone, somewhere might have actually done and proven it!) So, check the print closely once fixed before blaming the selenium.

 

[Mongo]

Regarding easels, you'll probably get as many recommendations as you'd get asking who makes the best lens or best film. Personally I use a Saunders 14"x17" Universal easel (a 4-blade easel), but only because I got very lucky on eBay. I'm finding lately that speed easels are very useful for a lot of my work. I generally fill up the paper with the image, so unless I'm doing something interesting with cropping it's just easier to grab a speed easel.

The Saunders easel is a wonderful piece of equipment and I'm glad that I have it, but you can get a number of new speed easels for the amount that I paid for a used Saunders. Not as flexible as the Saunders, but only you can decide if that's important to you.

Best of luck...it seems you've found yourself a nice enlarger there. Enlarging lenses are going for peanuts these days...it's probably worth buying a few while you can still find them easily.

Be well.
Dave