darkroom set up advice?

Hey everyone! I am new here, it's always been a dream of mine to set up a darkroom in my house and now I finally have a room (I think) that I would be able to do it in! I took photography classes in high school many moons ago so I am very out of touch with the equipment, but I have been to dark rooms in recent years though not in the city that I'm currently living in (Toronto).

There are two sets of equipment on kijiji that I'm looking into - one has Opemus II enlarger with extra f3.5 50mm lens and focus finder and the other is LPL Condenser Enlarger 6600. They also both come with other film developing equipment as well. The Opemus looks older and is $175 for everything, and the LPL is $360 for everything, so quite a difference. Not sure what to think. Honestly the photo of the LPL and equipment is a lot nicer than the other one but I don't think that necessarily means it's better!!

Anyway any advice or direction would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks

I had the Opemus II, it is a good enlarger, but very basic. Some of them had interesting focusing aid. Standard lens Belar is considered to be low end, but if it comes with Anaret, you will have prety good setup for beginner. Unfortunately these older enlargers from Meopta use diferent lens mounting thread M23 x0,5, while rest of the world used M39. So if it comes with 75 mm lens and you need 50mm for enlarging from 135 film you will need to find one from Meopta.
Edit: Now I noticed that you mentioned the Opemus comes with 50mm which is fine for 135 format and for small enlargements from 6x6.

petrk said:

I had the Opemus II, it is a good enlarger, but very basic. Some of them had interesting focusing aid. Standard lens Belar is considered to be low end, but if it comes with Anaret, you will have prety good setup for beginner. Unfortunately these older enlargers from Meopta use diferent lens mounting thread M23 x0,5, while rest of the world used M39. So if it comes with 75 mm lens and you need 50mm for enlarging from 135 film you will need to find one from Meopta.

Click to expand...

They both come with a 50mm lens. Do you have any experience with the LPL enlarger at all?

I haven't any experience with Opemus enlargers, but I can speak to the LPL as I have a similar model, the older C670. Over the years, these have been marketed under the names Omega/LPL, Saunders/LPL and just LPL (now).
From what I can tell, the current models share many of the same components and appear to have the same build quality. Mine has been outstanding over the past 10 years I've been using it. Excellent build quality and spare parts / accessories are easy to find, used or new.

There's a shop in Ontario called KHB Photographix that is one of the best resources for information and parts for LPL, so that may come in handy later on down the line. The 6600 will handle negatives up to 6x6, and here's their page on that. If you can, verify that the enlarger comes with the correct bulb (75W), filter drawer and negative carriers for the film types you will be shooting. Good Luck!

50mm will be all you need if you shoot 35mm film. Generally, a 2.8 lens will be easier to use than a 3.5 as the image on the easel will be brighter and easier to focus.
For 6x4.5 or 6x6 negatives you will want to have a 75mm or 80mm lens.

Another benefit with the LPL is you can easily swap the condenser head for a VCCE or Dichroic head which have built-in filtration. This is not necessary for using contrast filters in B/W printing, but it is easier and quicker IMHO.

Welcome to Photrio - and a voyage that can lead to great joy.
Both enlargers are capable of good to very high quality results. Much depends on their condition and the accessories included.
If I were choosing, I would lean toward the LPL unit, despite the higher price. I cannot say whether $360 CDN is a good price in your market, but it seems to be a reasonable price.
As a matter of comparison, this is a Vancouver Craiglist listing that looks good to me: https://vancouver.craigslist.org/van/pho/d/vancouver-beseler-23-enlarger/7021267418.html

Hi Laura, I sent you a message re a kit if interested, should be in your inbox.
Best regards
Todd

I assume Toronto and Vancouver aren't close but the Beseler set for $100 seems to me(cheapskate)
a very good deal. Accessories are common and relatively inexpensive plus it will handle negatives
up to 6X9 with no problem. I see the kit has an electronic timer and an exposure meter for darkroom use.
The Ciba drums can still be used for B&W printing, The Ciba chemistry and paper is useless because
neither one has been made for years.
The LPL is a nice enlarger too, never had one myself but folks seem to really like them.

John Koehrer said:

I assume Toronto and Vancouver aren't close

Click to expand...

About 5,000 km/3,000 miles apart. Three time zones as well.
And we won't even begin to talk about differences in outlook or culture!

welcome to photrio...

using only the info provided, i'd go with the lpl - it's more widely held equipment, thus more parts available. i've had a experience with a similar lpl unit in a friends darkroom and found it to be well-built and serviceable unit. it really is dependent on what you become accustomed to. the lens with any enlarger is important.

there are other photrio members in the toronto area, contact them, see if you can spend a day watching them work in their darkroom. it will be immeasurably helpful in understanding what you may like/dislike. have fun.

jvo said:

welcome to photrio...

using only the info provided, i'd go with the lpl - it's more widely held equipment, thus more parts available. i've had a experience with a similar lpl unit in a friends darkroom and found it to be well-built and serviceable unit. it really is dependent on what you become accustomed to. the lens with any enlarger is important.

there are other photrio members in the toronto area, contact them, see if you can spend a day watching them work in their darkroom. it will be immeasurably helpful in understanding what you may like/dislike. have fun.

Click to expand...

I think for an enlarger, the lens is not that important because you can replace it with something cheap and excellent from eBay. The film holder and rigidity of the enlarger will be your limiting factor then.

Glad to hear that you are going to be printing! I would go with an enlarger that you can find future lens boards and carriers. The LPL or as Matt mentions a Beseler 23c are maybe more commonly available. I started with my Dad using a quite elementary, Federal enlarger, made in the 1940s. Any well maintained unit is, IMHO, a good place to start, spend a bit more down the road when you know exactly what you want. Often in Craigslist etc. people advertise just to get rid of clutter. You can find some good deals.

All you need is a piece of glass and a light bulb to start making contact sheets.

mshchem said:

. Often in Craigslist etc. people advertise just to get rid of clutter. You can find some good deals.

.

Click to expand...

Yes, the best strategy for getting an enlarger is to play the long game. I managed to get a Omega D 4x5 enlarger for free a few months ago from a person who was moving that day and HAD to get rid of it. And it came with a full complement of apo-rodagons and expired paper! In the end I had to "sell" it for $50 because I wanted to clear up my own clutter and go down to a 6x6 enlarger. A fellow drove 6 hours to pick it up from me. I kinda wish I had kept it...

I have retired from the art world and when I moved from New York City I disassembled my darkroom and brought it with me to my retirement home in upstate New York. Thinking I may rebuild the darkroom upstate someday but I know now that this will not happen. I have an Omega D2V and a D5 XL with dichroic head(along with voltage stabilizer,Color analyzer, negative carriers etc) that I am willing to give away to the right person. I also have all of the equipment (Easels, trays drums and rollers timers etc) to process film and make prints. As well as living in Upstate New York I also have a condo in Toronto. (I was born in Canada) and visit Toronto regularly. If you are willing to take a day's drive to New York State I would be happy to pass along this equipment to you. It would bring me much joy to see this equipment being used by someone starting out in the photo world.

David Reynolds offer seems quite a nice one, so you might consider taking him up on it.

Of the Opemus and LPL, I'd go for the LPL simply because it is current production, so parts will be available for it. I own several different LPL enlargers, and they are very nicely constructed and a pleasure to use. All of my LPL enlargers are diffusion rather than condenser, though.