Just curious: is anyone out there enlarging multiple formats 35mm and under (35mm, half-frame, 16mm, 110, 8x11, etc.)? If so, which enlarger do you use?
Being as the shortest focal length on my Super Chromega is about 63mm-75mm (with bellows compacted as far as they can go), I am thinking of adding an enlarger for 35mm and under. One thing that does seem logical would be an all-in-one negative carrier, so as to avoid hunting around for individual fixed-format ones, which seem hard to find. Would a Focomat IC suit this purpose, for example? Thanks in advance for the input!
I do quite a bit of small format work. I use Minox and 16mm. I Use an Omega D5500 and have dedicated masks for these formats, however, anything over 4x5 enlargement requires the flatness that only the glass carrier can produce. I use the same glass carrier for 35mm, 16mm and Minox. I use a 45mm APO High Mag. Schneider Componon-S for 35mm and 16mm. Currently I am using a Rokkor CE Minolta 30mm lens for the Minox (good things are said about this lens on /www.subclub.org/)
My D5500s do not have adjustable negative stage alignment and for 4x5in negatives this is ok. At the very high magnifications needed for Minox, the negative stage needs more precise alignment to the baseboard. I made adjustable false baseboards for the enlargers. These are adjusted with set-screws on each corner. Used in conjuction with the laser alignment they allow the exacting alignment required for very high magnification.
Other things to watch are that the Minox negative is exactly in the center of the image circle. I set the easel frame right in the geometric middle of the image circle, then fiddle with the negative in the glass carrier to get the negative in the right spot.
So, basically I have my second D5500 set up for the smaller formats, with the 35mm mixing box and glass carrier. The 3 lens turret goes on the other D5500 that I use for 4x5, and MF.(there was a url link here which no longer exists)
Also, the D5500 has rescessed lens cones for my 45mm and 30mm lenses.
I do enlarge Minox to 16x20 with this setup. It is VERY tedious!
I could do it all with a single D5500 but to do the small formats I would need to swap out the mixing box, swap out the 3 lens turret, swap out the negative carrier and perhaps do a re-alignment with the laser.