De Vere 504 Dichromat Head

Hi,

I am new to APUG and this forum and hope the question is posed in the right sub-forum.


Anyway, I like developing my own negatives but have done mainly small and medium format. Recently (2 days ago) I have acquired a De Vere 504 enlarger with Dichromat Head (no manual) mainly to enlarge my 5x4 bw negatives.

I am used to having a red safe light filter under the enlarger lens, i.e. as you may find it on an LPL enlarger. The De Vere however has no such thing.

Does anyone here know perhaps how to achieve the same filtration as a red safe light filter with a combination of the build in c m y filters?

Your answer will be much appreciated.

Christian

(Scotland)

There's no safelight combination in enlarger head filters. The only way is to mount special red filter. One of my enlargers has no red filter too and i use cokin red one

Hi Christian

The De Veres' should have a metal post screwed in to the lens stage, which has a threaded end to which a safety filter is attached. If you do not have that post, you will have to cover the hole into which it attaches to the lens stage to prevent light spill when printing.

Like yours, my 504 doesn't have a Red Filter or even the Metal Post that Steve describes.

I very quickly got used to not having one

However, I use Ilford MG Under the Lens Filters – and it turns out that there is a red safe light filter included

Having been weaned of the Red Filter, I have never gone back to using it again, now its available

I prefer the separate filters to fiddling with the CMY on the head, as I can slide the filters in and out of their carriage without disturbing the head

Martin

Many thanks for your answers.
I discovered the hole for the metal post as described by Steve. It is already covered by a fitting screw.
I will give it a try with the Ilford MG under the lens filters which I have and then will become used to not having a red filter.
Anyway, I think it is a really good enlarger and I will have lots of fun with it (hopefully).