Best equipment for Develop & Print

lee

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the same can be said for every enlarger out in the world. Just because you don't like it doesn't mean others would like it. I cannot give a recommendation to some equipment I have never seen much less used. You are correct when you say that I have a provential experience but it is my experience. When I was in Frankfurt AM at Rhein Main AFB all we had were Omegas to use.

lee\c
 

Alex Hawley

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And I can remember a diesel Mercedes we had a few years ago that rusted out and refused to start during our "normal" Kansas winter. So much for automotive perfection!

If an enlarger is out of alignment, it can be re-adjusted. No mystery about that.
 
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Joe Symchyshyn

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edz said:
There ARE pretty solid 6x9 enlargers out there.. and there are some junk 4x5" enlargers out there.. They are loads of 4x5" enlargers that are horribly out of alignment... ...Don't confuse the format with "stability", quality or alignment.
Click to expand...
Really???? 4x5" enlargers can go out of alignment? Well no kidding... I didn't think of stating the obvious.

I guess while we're stating the obvious we can also give the other side... There are some junk 6x9 enlargers and solid large format enlargers out there. There are also 6x9 enlargers horribly out of alignment. I wasn't confusing the format with "stability", quality or alignment... But thanks for trying to help me too...

BTW, why are you so jumpy/defensive about letting people have an OPINION especially from users that have EXPERIENCE WITH VARIOUS EQUIPMENT in the darkroom??

joe
 

Bob F.

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...
 

edz

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Come on... Rhein/Main AFB... could just as well been in Podunk Iowa.. USAF installations are global and hardly driven by local aquisitions.. Heck they have the aircraft and logistics to move whatever they want, don't they? Back in the 1970s it could just as well have been Ford Pinto country.. The AFB, however, did pick up a lot of gear from Leitz (including, from what I've heard quite a few Focomats) and Zeiss.. especially, it seems, doing some of the surveilance stuff.. and I don't expect the counters and dixie-cups mucked with those Omegas either... Most of that stuff has been long dumped into the trash..

The key.. I think is to talk about features and characteristics and not brands.. since its all too easy for people to be mislead and start chasing hen's teeth.. Now if all there is ... are some Omega D2s.. then D2s it is.. in Germany it would be silly for someone to pay (and some poor souls have) more for an Omega/Chromega than for a good Durst--- its like comparing a Dodge Dart to a Mercedes SL.

Now in Australia.. I'd suspect that it might be easier to find a nice Durst than to get an Omega..
 

Bob Carnie

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toronto
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Med. Format RF
Hi Ed

once again I must disagree

I have Omegas, Cromegas, Durst and Deveere.
By far the easiest enlarger to work with and lazer align is the omega.
I do agree with you that the Durst is a very good enlarger , no argument, as well we use Durst Lambda, and Epson 9600.
All these items are just tools to make good images with.
The bulk of the work I do is with a condensor Omega enlarger, I love its ease of use. With three filter split contrast printing this paticular enlarger is a breeze to work with.

Nicole , if you can find one of these puppys in Austrailia , do not hesitate , you will be well served with an Omega condensor.

As well , can we end this thread soon, I'm getting tired
 

Nige

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Now in Australia.. I'd suspect that it might be easier to find a nice Durst than to get an Omega..
Click to expand...

yep! and in Perth she probably won't be able to that picky at all! The US and European markets are vastly different to here where there wasn't the sheer volume of stuff sold initially. Here in Melb, a 4x5 enlarger comes up in the local Trading Post for sale paper every few weeks, there's no selection of them to choose from and that will be a lot bigger market than Perth.. The dealers still want way to much and I think you can still buy new ones for silly (i.e. expensive) prices. I have been chasing a LPL 7451/7452 for ages and every one that was advertised was sold before I could get near it. One guy told me his was sold over the phone without thev guy looking at it. I ended up getting a 7451.

So, my advice would be to see whats available, do some research into that model do decide it it a candidate, then make sure it's got all it's bits with it. Get a good lens if it doesn't already and away you go.
 

edz

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Bob Carnie said:
Hi Ed

once again I must disagree with you.

Ed if you have moved on so be it but I think your comments are totally off base and misleading,.
Click to expand...

What moved on? I may have racks filled with servers, TBs of storage arrays and enough capacity to raster the next Pixar film, high resolution true-colour display devices etc. but I don't even own a digital camera (OK if we ignore the digi-video cameras).. The closest I get to "digital photography" is a site we created and operate for Fujitsu Middle Europe for a monthy photo contest (Dead Link Removed). I can't get too excited about digital image capture and maniplation.. Some of the satellite stuff is, however, quite cool and very usefull especially together with some of the other technologies we are working with...

But the commercial market has moved on. Here in Germany the markets have all broken away and most of the players have keiled over. PSL (daughter of Tetenal and distributor for, among other brands, Foba and Sinar) used to be around the corner (I'm in the middle of the traditonal publishing and fashion centre of Munich) but they went south.. Film-Art and PPS went south and is now part of Calumet.. its all breaking away and most of the traditional shops have been tossing out their gear.. if they are not being tossed out into the cold streets.. Everyone I hear in the industry keep singing me the same song.. "The party is over"..

If there was still a market why do you think that Durst has left the "analog" market? Or DeVere crossed the Jordan? Or.. Now.. I don't agree with the stuff I'm hearing but I've been hearing it from among others the heads of some very well established traditional German photographic and optical companies.. For many it seems just a question of "when" to "call it a day"...


P.S.: My employees and trainees think I'm nuts (they all own digicams) and customers and colleagues just consider it another one of my quirks (like the tendency to hardly wear long trousers but instead knickerbockers and other other "archaic" clothing items).
 

edz

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Nige said:
yep! and in Perth she probably won't be able to that picky at all! The US and European markets are vastly different to here where there wasn't the sheer volume of stuff sold initially. .
Click to expand...

One thing to also keep in mind... a smaller enlarger can be more cheaply moved about and even shipped by boat. Moving a freestanding L-138 across town is a pain but something like a Kaiser V-System can be packed up in a box and sent with the post.. A lot of Focomat Ic and even IIc enlargers are moving these days from Europe (where they are cheap) to Asia (where they are under demand as object of extreme desire and high prices).... and it seems to not even be that expensive..
 

Bob Carnie

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Hi Ed

Didn't want to burst your bubble but your statements need some clarification
as this thread is getting too long.

durst usa -does retrofits for 8x10 condenser enlarger, call Jens and he can hook you up
durst Italy - produces an unit called a Lambda. We have been putting analog paper (fibre) for two years now elevatordigital.ca (oops a plug)
San Miguel Photo Lab have been using a DEVEERE digital retrofit for the last two years on their enlargers to produce fine art fibre prints
Image Press Germany - have been touting a digital fibre printer ( I don,t speak german but if I did I could tell you which unit they are using.I suspect it is the Mullerston unit which manufactures the Deveere unit.
I would not be suprised that Picto -France and a contender in the UK doesn't buy into this technology.
To say analog is not vibrant ,is to say the least misleading, maybe in your world and your employees this is so. But not mine.
This is totally off Nicoles original post, but if I listen to you I will quit .
These advances in technology will require analog materials which will secure a supply of materials for Nicole and other young photographers to use for years to come.
 
OP
OP

Nicole

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Perth, Western Australia
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Hi everyone!

This has become an interesting thread. Thank you all for your input! My options in West Australia are very limited, but the internet does help - especially the APUGers.

In the meantime I have discovered a friend of mine has an entire kit which was top quality back then packed away in his attic for the past 20 years. He'll pull it out this weekend for me to have a look at and see what still works and what doesn't.

Then I'll have to find out how much it's worth on today's market and whether I can still get parts if necessary.

I'll keep you posted as to what's in the kit for some more of your advice and tips if that's ok.

Fingers crossed Santa will be nice to me this year!


Kind regards to all
Nicole

And don't get your knickers in a knot.
 

edz

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Bob Carnie said:
Hi Ed

Didn't want to burst your bubble but your statements need some clarification
as this thread is getting too long.
Click to expand...

Not such thing as "too long a thread" as long as there is content. Its about content, afterall.. and while we have detoured into other terrain I don't think we have hardly left the subject.

Bob Carnie said:
durst usa -does retrofits for 8x10 condenser enlarger, call Jens and he can hook you up
Click to expand...

Hardly as I'm in Germany. Jensen has some cool stuff but he's not set to serve the European marketplace. Luckily, however in contrast to North America, we have a very good supply of Durst gear floating around--- one needs to recall that Durst, like many of the other photographic companies in South Tirol, considers themself a German company and they had a very high share of the market (which is also fine given the very good quality).

The trend to digital--- save some of the quad ink-jet stuff that have been penetrating into "Fine art" circles--- is and shall probably remain very much silver-halide based within the current technological horizon. Given, however, the cost of ownership of the technology and the product lifecycles the shift is from in house to services and we've seen a large rush of companies trying their luck.

Bob Carnie said:
To say analog is not vibrant ,is to say the least misleading, maybe in your world and your employees this is so. But not mine.
This is totally off Nicoles original post, but if I listen to you I will quit .
Click to expand...

Why. The glory days of portrait photography too are well behind us but there are scores of portrait photographers still supporting their families with the trade--- and some, in fact, able to have a very good standard of living (although I don't quite expect any to the relative level that Richard Beard earned in the 1840s (which was as much as £125/day--- 1840s money-- in a time when the average yearly income was not even as much as £2/Day in 2004 money).

Bob Carnie said:
These advances in technology will require analog materials which will secure a supply of materials for Nicole and other young photographers to use for years to come.
Click to expand...

I'd stay off from "will" (to much of a projection into a future of very volatile markets) and keep to "These advances in technology require analog materials ".
Given the low-tech nature of photographic papers and chemistries I see little reason why--- irrespective of the developments in the mainstream-- the "supply of materials for Nicole and other young photographers to use for years to come" should even be questioned. Paper art is not set to vanish and photography is hardly dead. I'm convinced that there is still tremendous potential for money to be made... But the old formulas and business models are finished... and the players all know it.. and given a lack of vision and flexibility of many.. its created a very doomsday feeling. Add the observation that the past Photokina was little more than a Photo-China--- and one considers the total collapse of the information technology markets following a high flying and senseless boom driven by false promises and ignorance-- then there is perhaps good reason to the songs I hear...
 

Lee Shively

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Nicole, I hope everything works out for you in setting up your darkroom. I think things got a little off-topic with opinions and such. Best of luck.
 
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