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Best enlarging lens for art prints? Should I use a Meopta Opemus 6?

Garratt

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Mar 21, 2017
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Location
Germany
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Medium Format
Hello everyone,



I am new here in this forum, so I guess I introduce myself a little bit. I have been using a Canon 6D from my father for some years now, but got fed up with digital problems. So I decided to go back to analog again and bought a Mamiya 645 1000s, which I have used since then for B&W. As soon as I can afford it, I plan to go for larger (medium) formats such as 6x7. I have shot Rollei Retro 80s, but will try other b&w slow films.

Right now I am preparing an art exhibition, in which I will also show some of my recent b&w shots. I have done some darkroom developing about 15 years ago, but nothing professional. Now I am serious about getting the best out of my 6x4,5 negatives.

I was looking for an enlarger, but unfortunately, my father bought a Meopta Opemus 6 without telling me. He just wanted to help me, but now I don’t know if I can or want to use it at all. Here are my questions:

The enlarger lens, a Meopta Anaret seems not good enough to produce prints worthy enough for an art exhibition. So I am looking for the best I can afford. I plan to do maybe 40x50cm prints. So would it be worth to buy a APO Rodagon or APO Compognon? Someone posted test shots from three different enlarging lenses, and the APO Rodagon looked by far the best. Honestly, I didn’t like the other two. Here is the link. You should click the blue links beneath the pictures to open the original bigger files.

http://www.digicamclub.de/showthread.php?t=15610&page=2&s=5eba49a7a4c5c07b8857fe848ac4a2b2

Some people also report that they can see big differences in APO and non-APO even in smaller prints, other people say it doesn’t matter up to maybe 60x40cm.

How about the non-APO Rodagon compared to the APO-version? Are there big differences? And are the differences of the APO more visible in color prints than b&w, or is it the same?

I would be very happy about some example shots to show the differences in any enlarger lenses, because it seems that there is not a single right answer to what is the best lens for anyone. So I would prefer to be able to buy the one lens that just looks the best for me.

And also could I use the Opemus 6 for decent prints, or would it be better to buy maybe a Kaiser which covers the whole medium format up t0 6x9? Because I plan to get another MF camera, 6x7 probably. My Mamiya 645 doesn’t have an exchangeable film back, so if I had a second camera, I could also shoot color slide or negative film and not be dependent on digital anymore.

Can I work with the Opemus 6 well, or is it worth the extra money to buy something more common or even a new enlarger? This one looks interesting:

https://www.macodirect.de/en/darkroom/paper-developing/enlarger/4650/kaiser-vp-9005-b-w-enlarger-up-to-6x9cm

I also want to be able to use Multigrade (which I have used for my small format prints) and splitgrade. But I won’t use the Heiland system for splitgrade, just do it by hand.

I appreciate any advice I can get about how to get the best prints, and any information about what I should consider is very welcome!

I wish you all a very fine evening (it is evening in my part of the world )!

Best regards,
Garratt
 
There is nothing wrong with an Meopta Opemus 6, I have produced exhibition/art prints on one for a number of years, also, there is nothing wrong with Meopta lenses, I have a Meogon lens again I have used it for many years for exhibtion/art prints, The lenses were made on the Sheinder line and are the same quality, so I would not worry about it, If you can find a meogon it is a six element high quality lens, but these days you can get top quality lenses for peanuts, Meopta enlargers were very well made, very robust, and capable of high quality work, I have sold many a black and white print made wit the enlarger and Meopta lens,To be honest I very much doubt you will see any difference between APO lenses and non apo, maybe if you were tackling color, but with black and white the difference would not show, an enlarger is just a tool, the same as any other tool, better to print with what is an honest Meopta, and get to learn than spend a lot on a Kaiser, and then find that there is no difference in the results from your meopta any more expensive enlargers, so stick to the Meopta, if you want get a better lens, look around to find one, the Anarat id a pretty good lens, use it and see what the results are, I have printed up to 20/16 or 20/24 with my Meopta enlarger and Meogon lens from 645, razor sharp,
 
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The Opemus is not a bad enlarger quiet the contrary, the Opemus has a filter drawer so you can us MG Filters. If you want to buy a camera with a bigger format sometimes in the near future it would make sense to buy an enlarger that can handle the larger Format. The Kaiser is pretty expensive and the build quality of a pro level Durst enlarger is much better and for the price of the Kaiser you can get at least a Durst Laborator 1000. An APO lens is better than a non APO lens but the question is how big are you going to print in order to really see a difference you have to print big and than viewing distance comes into play. The only exhibition visitors who put their noses right up to the prints are usually photographers, normal visitors care more about content than technical perfection.
 
the Anart is a rather good lens, came in 4 and 5 element versions. I have a Opemus as well as a Omega D3 and find for 35mm and 6X6 the Opemus to be very good performer, in terms of APO lens unless you are printing color I don't see much of an advantage in an APO lens. I have a Schinder 60mm 4.5 that is ideal for 6.45 that I use for 35mm. So my thoughts, save money, buy a good 5 to 7 element 60 mm and have the Opemus lens board drilled. For gallery quailiyt work buy come Iflrod Galleria and Salvich FB paper.
 
Enlarger lens is certainly a factor in getting nice sharp evenly exposed prints, but there are many more factors worthy of consideration too - flatness of the negative, getting the right tone/grade of paper, the paper type, paper finish, paper developer, all of these things contribute to the overall look of the print. Sometimes we get a little too hung up on sharpness. Generally six element lenses are better than one with fewer elements. I can't comment on the Anaret since I haven't used one, but to be honest, I struggle to see real differences between good and budget lenses up to about 10x8", and the differences at larger magnifications are pretty marginal. Printing is an art, it takes time (a lifetime) to master, I would suggest using what you have, then adding nice things as you outgrow what you have and develop your style. Personally, I'm going backwards using older and older gear with less and less resolution for a look that I enjoy.
 
The Meopta gear is just fine. Stop down the lens, or get a better one from eBay. It won't cost you much.

But always have in mind: a true master will achieve a lot with basic tools, while a fool will achieve nothing with the most extravagant tools!
 
I have an Apo Rodagon 50mm F2.8 and it is superb. There are no adjectives better to describe it. I also have a Rodagon 80mm F4 and that is also superb, but shall I say 'class B' superb. It isn't as good as the APO 50mm version. It will make a print 16x12 from a 645 neg without a problem and there is no doubt that it would go even more - easily to 20x16. The only difference I could tell about the two lenses were the 50 was sharper at the edges and corners, with the apperture wide open. Go for the Apo version if you can afford it. They ain't cheap!

That's the lens sorted out but no matter how good the lens is it will all go to junk if the negative is not held absolutely flat or the enlarger is not rigid. I have no experience of Meopta enlargers, so cannot comment on how stable they are or how well constructed the negative carrier is, but I'm just pointing out what can affect enlarging technical qualities
 
The bigger factor for quality is whether or not your enlarger is precisely aligned. Get a laser alignment tool if you have the money.

The biggest factor with the lenses themselves is how well they were made, not the brand. If you buy a six element lens by any of the major manufacturers and is is properly aligned, it will do a good job. Some may be better than others if you take a magnifying glass to them, but no one does that.

Don't let anyone make you feel inferior if you can't afford the most expensive lens out there. It really doesn't matter.
 
First - welcome to APUG.

Enlarging lenses are in many ways similar to camera lenses.
The differences between the various good quality options tend to be very small.
And Meopta was/is a good quality option.
I'll never try to discourage you from considering something like an Apo-Rodagon if you want one, but I would warn you that the difference you will see will most likely be small, if you see a difference at all.
If you start working at the edge of the capacities for the materials - lots of 30" x 40" colour enlargements from 6x4.5 negatives - then a top end lens plus a glass carrier plus regular and accurate alignment plus a special light source will make a difference.
But you will need each (or at least most) of those elements to be in place before the result from the whole will stand out.
Any differences you might see from examples on the internet are like as not related more to the condition of the lens as they are to anything else.
 
IM[-H]O, the best enlarging lenses are the SCHNEIDER APO-COMPONON HM

Putting my money where my mouth is, i bought all available focal lengths thereof.

I've never regretted that decision.

- Leigh
 
MattKing said:
I'll never try to discourage you from considering something like an Apo-Rodagon if you want one, but I would warn you that the difference you will see will most likely be small, if you see a difference at all.
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+1!!!!!
 
First, thank you all very much for your answers, that helps a lot!
R.Gould wrote:
I have a Meogon lens again I have used it for many years for exhibtion/art prints, The lenses were made on the Sheinder line and are the same quality
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I'm not sure if I get this right - is what you mean that the Meopta lenses are the same as the Schneider's, just with a different name on them? There is one Meogon 80mm on ebay right now for 122USD, it says the lens is new, but from the photos it looks to me that it might not be in perfect condition.
http://www.ebay.de/itm/Meogon-2-8-8...202041?hash=item3adb59da39:g:zgIAAOSwTuJYq3Ae
You are right, I may start printing with my Meopta enlarger, I don't doubt it works nice. I will save the money and spent it on something more important. I was just wondering because if I want to go for negatives larger than 6x4,5 I will have to get another enlarger anyway.
@MDR: I'm writing in English, feels a bit strange to not write in German to someone from Austria.. I didn't know about the filter drawer! Sounds very good! So now I know what the drawer is for. I have Multigrade filters, but they won't fit into the drawer. I guess I can easily get a Multigrade system that will fit for the drawer. So all I hear about Durst is that it should be great. There are quite a lot Durst enlargers on ebay. But the problem buying any used enlarger is that often there is hardly any information from the seller, which drives me crazy. So you have to do extra research about what you get at all. Is there any particular Durst suitable for my purpose / up to 6x9?
An APO lens is better than a non APO lens but the question is how big are you going to print in order to really see a difference
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Right, I will base the printing size on how big they can be on the Opemus with a 80mm and also on how big I can make the prints from the 6x4,5 negatives and still be perfectly sharp. But probably not smaller than 30x40cm. 40x50 or more would be better. Since I haven't tested that,we will see what the Opemus does.
@Paul Howell: Would a 60mm lens be suitable for 6x6 negatives? How big is the difference in the print size between a 60mm (or 75mm WA lens) and a 80mm lens? What about the lighting of the negatives at these focal lenghts?
For gallery quailiyt work buy come Iflrod Galleria and Salvich FB paper.
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Thanks for the tip! Sounds good. I will do some research on that.
@xtolsniffer
Personally, I'm going backwards using older and older gear with less and less resolution for a look that I enjoy.
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Hmm, that sounds pretty interesting to me.
@Patrick Robert James Thanks for comforting me, I can really use that now And concerning enlarger alignment - I don't have a clue how that works yet, first I have to find out how this works and then hope it will work with the Opemus. Honestly, I'm a bit worried about getting that done properly..
@MattKing The Opemus uses a 100W opal lamp, is that okay or should I go for another option?
So, considering what you all said, I could start just making some contact prints with the Anaret just to bring order into the process and get a first impression of what the Anaret can do, and then see if I want another lens.
Thanks again for all your advice, highly appreciated, since everything seems still very complicated and I really want to present some decent prints in the upcoming exhibition.
 
I would not hesitate to use theMeiopta for your job;they are very good!
 
Make sure the lens you use is the correct focal length.

For 6x4.5 it should be minimum 75mm
for 6x6, 80mm
for 6x7, 90mm

If you use a 50mm lens for medium format the results will be poor no matter what lens is it (unless it's a special wideangle lens).

Any Rodagon or Componon lens will be fine, no need for APO lenses.
 
Before buying you should know that there were different versions of the APO-Rodagon. The first APO was the 90/4. You can easily identify it by its huge and protracting rear lens. Nowadays it is the cheapest of the APOs. Then came the 80/4. Then the 80/4 N and 90/4 N. The latter are the most desired versions. I cannot say how big the difference between these versions is. Some people say it´s there, others doubt it. The non-APO Rodagon 80/4 is very good as well.

The test you have linked looks interesting, but it´s also a bit flawed since he used these lenses on a far away object, something they were not designed for. The APO is said to be corrected for a wider range of distances/image sizes, so it´s no wonder it came out best.
 
Any of the top-tier 6-element lenses from Nikkor, Schneider or Rodenstock will serve you well. There may be other ones (Omega, Minolta, etc) that will also give excellent results. I'm not familiar with Meopta, but it sounds like other members here think highly of them. I have a 75mm Kodak Ektar lens from 1954 that gives very similar results to my modern 80mm Schneider Componon-S. If you're printing color you may see a more significant difference between the top lenses, but not for B/W.

It's more important to make sure your enlarger is aligned, your safe lights are really safe, and your paper and chemicals are fresh, if you want to obtain optimum results. Beyond those basic requirements, it's the skill of the printer that makes the biggest difference between a great print of an image and a bad one, assuming that you're confident in your exposures and film developing. Printing is often not a straightforward process, it's a craft that takes most people years to learn effectively. Choose the right papers, developers and filtration to suit the negative and the desired result you're looking to achieve. Split grade printing can be very helpful for certain images, as well as a bunch of other techniques like toning, bleaching and masking.

Get some good books on printing, practice a lot and don't be afraid to make mistakes. I can recommend books like Tim Rudman's "Master Printing Course" and Eddie Ephraum's "Creative Elements" if you want to see what master printers can really do. For more basic, but thorough information I'd look at David Vestal's "Art of Black and White Enlarging". If you have specific images that are giving you trouble, post them here on APUG and you will get lots of advice on how to improve them.

Good Luck!
 
Garret, yes the Meopta lenses were Shneider lenses under a different name, and if you can get a Meogon lens then get it, it is a fine lens, with an 80mm lens you can print 66 negatives that is the negs I most often print from my Rolleis and other cameras, a 60mm lens is rely too short for MF negatives you need a 75 or 80mm lens, the Meopta 6 takes you to from 35mm to 66 with the correct inserts, there is a opemus 7, which would give you 67, I have printed to 20x24, or 50x60 in your sizes, from both 645 and 66, in the past, although these days I like to print much smaller, to 24x30, but my prints were razor sharp with the lens and enlarger
 
R.Gould said:
Garret, yes the Meopta lenses were Shneider lenses under a different name, ...
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Where did you get this information?

Meopta has started as optics works and make lenses themselves.
 
Why should Meopta import for hard currency lenses from West-Germany ?? That makes no sense at all.

Only explanation would be that Schneider lenses would have been rebadged by the UK Importer.
Similar to japanese zoom lenses sold on western markets under the Pentacon Prakticar brand.
However zoom lenses were not yet made by Pentacon, and the rebranded ones only available on western currency markets.

But why should such be done in contrast with a type of lens inherent to Meopta's product range?


As a side note: As far as I know Meopta did not even made 3-element enlarging lenses (as Schneider and Rodenstock did) but only 4-6 element ones.
 
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The Meopta is fine. Spending more money will get you an enlarger that is little bit nicer to use as the focus and height adjustments are a bit smoother, but as long as it stays stable (which it should) whilst printing you won't really notice a difference when printing. It's not that the Opemus 6 is hard to focus, it's just a big heavy enlarger with finer controls is more pleasant to use. But you don't spend much time adjusting the height and focussing. Once you've set focus you don't really touch the enlarger itself (other than to adjust filter grades if you have a multigrade or colour head).

I did a printing course at a local university and they had very nice De Vere enlargers with Ilford multigrade heads and nice lenses (I can't remember exactly which lenses they were though).

The prints I made on the De Vere's are indistinguishable from those I make at home. But they had cool adjustment dials at bench height making quick focus and height adjustments a breeze. They also had timers that let you set the filter grade directly. But using manual filters doesn't make the print worse, it's just a bit more fiddly.

If you think you'll need 60 x 90mm in the future, I'd still recommend keeping and using the Opemus 6 you have whilst keeping an eye out for bigger enlargers such as the Meopta Magnifax 4a. They can do negatives up to 65 x 90mm and are compatible with the same heads. It's nice having compatible parts for spares or even different options (I have a colour and a B&W head, the only way worked out which i preferred, diffuser or condenser, was to actually use them and judge the prints myself). You might even find one without a head for peanuts.

Keeping and using what you have will allow you the time to keep your eye out for darkroom job lots locally, or the perfect bargain enlarger or lens in the future. I have picked up some amazing bargains by being patient, especially for job lots sold as 'collection only'.

I know the Opemus 6 isn't necessarily the sexiest enlarger ever made, but it works fine and is more than good enough for making super prints.
 

If you look at the meogon that I have it is the same as the identical Shneider lens, and it is not re badged by the importer, I have 2, one was purchased in France, identical to the same lens, a friend of mine who has the Shneider version of the same lens, it appears that the Meogon lens is rebranded Shneoder lens, I can't speak for the other lenses that were in the range, I have never used them,
 
Ian Grant said:
Some of the Meopta lenses were made by Schneider, these were expensive lenses and amongst the best available.

Ian
Click to expand...

Ian Grant also stated that some Meopta lenses were made by Schneider Kreuznach, but he gives no details which.

The 80 mm Meogon was available at F/2,8, F/4 and F/5,6 while the Componon only exists at F/4 and F/5,6 (at least I have not been able to find a 2,8 version). If Schneider made the Meogon, why would they offer a superior "rebadged" 2,8 lense while not offering it under their own brand?

R.Gould said:
If you look at the meogon that I have it is the same as the identical Shneider lens
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Which lens do you have?

I would not got too much after apparent similar looks - it is not the lens barrel that matters but the optics. Have you compared datasheets to confirm identical optical performance?
 
I have the Meogon F4, 80mm, this was a very expensive lens at the time, one of the top of the range, sorry, but I compare performance, not charts, and you would be able to tell the difference the meopta lens is superb, it was one of the best reccomended lenses when it was around, it was around 20 years ago that I bought the lens along with my Opemus 6, it was considered top of the range at the time,,
 
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I have a Meopta Opemus 6 and have found it, on the whole, more than satisfactory for my needs. My only complaint is the rather poor quality of the negative carrier. The sliding masks are far too loose and, having set them, I find it necessary to use a strip of adhesive tape to prevent them from being moved. Also, when printing from 35mm negatives using the adaptor masks that sit in the 2 1/4" frame the negative strip is barely gripped by the carrier when being handled for alignment and several strips of my negatives have taken a nosedive into the developer dish that sits to the right of the enlarger. Once the carrier is in position the springs seem to hold it OK but I have a devilish scheme afoot to make my own 35mm carrier (along with the other million things planned for when I retire!)

Steve
 
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