Contact Printing Large Format negatives with a Leica Fotomat V35?

Hello Darkroom Enthusiasts,

I have limited space for a darkroom and am planning to do mainly contact printing like Weston for my 4x5 and 8x10 prints.

However, I also shoot 35mm and found an amazing deal on a Leica Fotomat V35. Can I kill two birds with one stone, and use this enlarger light for properly exposing contact prints. The enlarger has only one bulb, so I'm afraid that it might cause vignetting or not evenly expose a negative that is wider than 35mm.

Please advise

Thanks!

Yes you can.
The contact frame is placed on the baseboard, and you adjust the height of the enlarger to cover the frame evenly.
You need to be careful with focus, because if it is set wrong, you can end up with uneven light or even a partial image of the light bulb.
The V35's auto-focus would most likely prevent that.

Thanks Matt! Do you have any experience with the V35 yourself?
I found a really good deal on one ($200) but want to determine the pitfalls to look for before purchase. I know these things are well made, overall, but just wondering....

V Kapoor said:

Do you have any experience with the V35 yourself?

Click to expand...

Only to admire one.
Every enlarger I have ever owned (and most others I have used) have been used to supply light for contact proof prints.
I haven't done a lot of contact printing of final prints.

Ok - got you.

MattKing said:

Only to admire one.
Every enlarger I have ever owned (and most others I have used) have been used to supply light for contact proof prints.
I haven't done a lot of contact printing of final prints.

Click to expand...

No problem making contact prints with a V35. The only real issue with this enlarger nowadays is the lamp; original lamp no longer available. I've read of folks adapting other bulbs, but I have no knowledge if this works or how effective (even) the light output is.

I have a V35 and I really love it, so much that I even upgraded it to a Heiland LED head. I use it for all of my 35mm enlargements and also for my contact prints.

When making 8.5x11 contact sheets I do notice a little bit of fall off if I only have the enlarger high enough to cover the paper. If I raise it up further to project a 12x18 area the vignette is gone as far as I can tell. I haven’t done any individual 4x5 contact prints, yet, but I imagine the vignette wouldn’t be noticeable if it was around 8x10 height for a 4x5 print.

All of this talk of fall off could sound like a problem, but when using the enlarger as it was intended (for enlargements) it is really nice. It actually saves me a bit of work since my favorite lens, 28mm Elmarit-M, has fall off that would need some correction.

One thing to be aware of is the light bulb situation. It’s surprisingly difficult to find the correct bulb. I started testing/searching for the best current option but decided it’d be worth it to invest in the Heiland system. Couldn’t be happier!

Very helpful - thank you! Consider me a novice, but how do you use a Heiland LED head with the Leica enlarger?

xtol121 said:

I have a V35 and I really love it, so much that I even upgraded it to a Heiland LED head. I use it for all of my 35mm enlargements and also for my contact prints.

When making 8.5x11 contact sheets I do notice a little bit of fall off if I only have the enlarger high enough to cover the paper. If I raise it up further to project a 12x18 area the vignette is gone as far as I can tell. I haven’t done any individual 4x5 contact prints, yet, but I imagine the vignette wouldn’t be noticeable if it was around 8x10 height for a 4x5 print.

All of this talk of fall off could sound like a problem, but when using the enlarger as it was intended (for enlargements) it is really nice. It actually saves me a bit of work since my favorite lens, 28mm Elmarit-M, has fall off that would need some correction.

One thing to be aware of is the light bulb situation. It’s surprisingly difficult to find the correct bulb. I started testing/searching for the best current option but decided it’d be worth it to invest in the Heiland system. Couldn’t be happier!

Click to expand...

I was informed that Leica may no longer have replacement parts fo V35. I have a Focomat, my friend has even older Veloy. These will probably outlast the pyramids.
However, upgrading V35 illumination system seems to be a sound investment.

@V Kapoor it's pretty simple. The Heiland LED replaces the original Leica bulb and filter module with it's own version. It just drops right into place, fits perfectly like it was part of the system all along. The only difference is you have a cord that runs outside of the enlarger from the head, instead of everything being tucked aways nicely inside the machine as Leica intended it. The cord runs to a control unit that has dials for whichever process you need. I only print black and white, so I ordered mine with the VCCE module. They also have a color module and a split grade module if that's your thing. Also, just noticed you're in Los Angeles too!

@guangong my thoughts exactly!!

Great, thank you. Very helpful.

It turns out the owner selling the Fotomat V35 for $200 had taken apart the lens to clean out the dust, but never put it back together! Aperture blades everywhere. Seems dicey to purchase it like this...

xtol121 said:

@V Kapoor it's pretty simple. The Heiland LED replaces the original Leica bulb and filter module with it's own version. It just drops right into place, fits perfectly like it was part of the system all along. The only difference is you have a cord that runs outside of the enlarger from the head, instead of everything being tucked aways nicely inside the machine as Leica intended it. The cord runs to a control unit that has dials for whichever process you need. I only print black and white, so I ordered mine with the VCCE module. They also have a color module and a split grade module if that's your thing. Also, just noticed you're in Los Angeles too!

@guangong my thoughts exactly!!

Click to expand...

Photos of disassembled lens here.

Hmmm, I'm not sure what I would do in that situation. If you feel capable, the lens assembly shouldn't be too hard. And if it isn't easy you'd be looking at a small repair bill. Any competent repair shop should be able to assemble the lens for less than the price of replacing one. Replacements seem to be around $300-$500.

The V35 still works with a typical 50mm lens, but without the autofocus. In practice, for me, the AF is great for changing heights and composing, but I still have to do tiny tweaks for fine focus every time. Just saves you the back and forth of raising/focusing/lowering/focusing/rinse/repeat when composing.

Personally $200 is a steal for the enlarger. And if it makes you feel any better I have the Vario-Contrast module and a box of lamps I was testing (some successfully) before my Heiland arrived. You're welcome to pick them up from me in WeHo for free if you need it.

$200 is still worth it, in my opinion. If you can't put the lens back together, they do come up from time to time on eBay. i actually replaced mine with the 40mm Rodagon.. and sold the original for $100 on eBay some time back. Any 40 or 50mm lens would work in a pinch...

Radical. I called a camera repair shop recommended by Samy's but they said they would stay away from reassembling, as they didn't disassemble themselves. Good to know these 40mm are available from time to time. What's the exact model of the lens, if I need to replace?

jbmia said:

$200 is still worth it, in my opinion. If you can't put the lens back together, they do come up from time to time on eBay. i actually replaced mine with the 40mm Rodagon.. and sold the original for $100 on eBay some time back. Any 40 or 50mm lens would work in a pinch...

Click to expand...

Ok thanks. That's really kind of you! I would love to pick them up - perhaps I should pull the trigger on this V35 then.
As the newbie: is the Vario-Contrast module just a back-up I could use in case this one craps out? Same with the lamps?

xtol121 said:

Hmmm, I'm not sure what I would do in that situation. If you feel capable, the lens assembly shouldn't be too hard. And if it isn't easy you'd be looking at a small repair bill. Any competent repair shop should be able to assemble the lens for less than the price of replacing one. Replacements seem to be around $300-$500.

The V35 still works with a typical 50mm lens, but without the autofocus. In practice, for me, the AF is great for changing heights and composing, but I still have to do tiny tweaks for fine focus every time. Just saves you the back and forth of raising/focusing/lowering/focusing/rinse/repeat when composing.

Personally $200 is a steal for the enlarger. And if it makes you feel any better I have the Vario-Contrast module and a box of lamps I was testing (some successfully) before my Heiland arrived. You're welcome to pick them up from me in WeHo for free if you need it.

Click to expand...

Of course, just shoot me a PM whenever you have the enlarger.

The V35 came with 3 different modules. A color module with CMY filter dials for color printing. A multigrade Vario-Contrast module with continuously adjustable black and white filters from #0 to #5 for black and white printing. And a BW module which as far as I can tell just puts a red safe light filter in front of the bulb so you can focus with the paper in the easel, and you would use under the lens multigrade filters.

I'm not sure which module yours comes with, but I find the VC module very convenient for black and white printing. If yours already has that module, feel free to sell it on eBay or keep it as a back up, but I don't think the modules will ever break.

The lamps are a different story. They discontinued the proper bulb a few years ago, and it's a bit of a pain finding the right one. You can find plenty of bulbs with the correct pin, but there are very few that have the correct spread. If you use a bulb with the incorrect spread you will have ridiculously long printing times. Like 40-60s @f5.6 for an 8x10 print... I found one that works, but is 100W instead of the suggested 75W. Another problem is the older bulbs had lifetimes of around 1000 hours, but the newer ones are only good for 50 hours. Not the end of the world, but I'd suggest stockpiling if you plan on keeping the enlarger for the next 30 years, or buy into a Heiland system and forget about it like I did.