European enlarger source ?

George Papantoniou · Sep 11, 2007

Could someone give me a hint about where I could find a European retailer who can provide me with 6 enlargers for our new darkroom ? They could be from 35mm to 6x7's, with condenser, diffusion heads... they just need to be not too expensive...

For the "overexposed" group, (www.overexposed.eu)

George

Raphael · Sep 17, 2007

Hello George,

Maybe I say things that are already well known to you, but have you tried FotoImpex in Berlin ? http://www.fotoimpex.de

Otherwise, you can go to the Meopta website, and check the dealers section, several are still photo-enlarger retailers, in several country in Europe (not in Greece, sorry).

I think Meopta maybe a good choice for your project (in my modest opinion), these enlargers have good robustness/price ratio, and exists up to 6x9 cm negatives (No 4x5" though) with the Magnifax 4.

I know Meopta plans to cut their Enlargers business, but dealers may have stock (replacement parts too).

Hope this helps,

Best regards,

Raphael

P.S : of course you can answer me in French, if you prefer

Roger Hicks · Sep 17, 2007

RK

www.thedarkroom.co.uk

JanaM · Sep 17, 2007

Dear George,

besides Fotoimpex have a look at www.alles-foto.de (that is Foto Brenner in Weiden, Germany) and www.phototec.de (that is Peter Löffler in Hatten, excellent source; at the moment he is still in vacancies, but he will be back in business next week).

Best regards,
Jana

Marco B · Sep 17, 2007

Haven't you yet tried to find them second hand? If not, I'd go that way. Even in Greece, there should be a fair amount of digi converts wanting to get rid of their analog stuff. It's the way I started my own darkroom. Two enlargers second hand in perfect working condition, including a professional Laborator 1200 with all electronics for a bargain...

One soure you might like to check out (besides sites like e-bay):
http://www.fotoabro.nl/
ABRO in Zaandam, the Netherlands, speciales in second hand stuff... Yes, the Netherlands, but since you were already talking about a "European" source, I thought I'd mention it...
The site is in Dutch though, but under "Doka" (dutch for darkroom), you can see what they have available second hand in terms of enlargers.

Cheers,

Marco

Jon Butler · Sep 17, 2007

George,
How about tying KIENZLE in Germany, I'm going to buy one direct from
them. They have vast selection of enlargers that are built to order to your requirements.
google KIENZLE ENLARGERS.

JON.

Roger Hicks · Sep 17, 2007

JON@jb-ci said:
George,
How about tying KIENZLE in Germany, I'm going to buy one direct from
them. They have vast selection of enlargers that are built to order to your requirements.
google KIENZLE ENLARGERS.

JON.

Kienzle kit is stunning. So is De Vere. But George did specify that it shouldn't be expensive. If you want top-flight gear at reasonable (but not cheap) prices, I'd recommend either.

argus · Sep 17, 2007

George,

I know somebody who can maybe help you with 3 or 4 enlarger at the moment.
All fine and in good condition.

Where should they be headed?

Greetings,
G

George Papantoniou · Sep 18, 2007

Dear friends,

Thank you all for your help. Thank you for the links, I'll check them out.

Indeed, I have thought of Meopta, they're sturdy machines sometimes working OK as well. There is a Greek importer and I have checked him out.

The second hand question is always on my mind, I have already found a few Durst (M370 etc) and others (Kaiser, Revue) and I am considering buying them.

We have recieved a few offers, between them one Durst Laborator 138 (I don't know in which condition, I haven't see the monster yet...)

Argus, tell me more about what you know, we'll have to see if transporting them will be financially interesting... I do intend to make a trip to the cold climates of northern Europe, but unfortunately not right now...

GeorgesGiralt · Sep 19, 2007

George,
Have a look at Dunco (Germany) and Kaiser (Germany also) they have (had ??) excellent value products. A camera club in my town had a lot of Dunco and they are enduring severe abuse...

Roger Hicks · Sep 19, 2007

George Papantoniou said:
Indeed, I have thought of Meopta, they're sturdy machines sometimes working OK as well. There is a Greek importer and I have checked him out.

What problems have you had/heard of? I bought my first Magnifax 13-14 years ago, and would not have bought a second 5-10 years ago if I had not been happy. We have two Meograde VC heads and two colour heads. You need to change the mixing chambers every 5-10 years (they go yellowy-grey) but that is all.

Cheers,

R.

Christopher Nisperos · Sep 19, 2007

Hi George,
pm me. I'll put you in touch with someone who has lots of used enlargers and lenses at reasonable prices.

Best,
Christopher
Paris

George Papantoniou · Sep 20, 2007

Roger Hicks said:
What problems have you had/heard of? I bought my first Magnifax 13-14 years ago, and would not have bought a second 5-10 years ago if I had not been happy. We have two Meograde VC heads and two colour heads. You need to change the mixing chambers every 5-10 years (they go yellowy-grey) but that is all.

Cheers,

R.

My Opemus does not cover the 6x6 negs evenly, resulting to reduced density in the corners of the prints... I guess this would be resolved if I placed a diffusion head on it, but I just decided to change to a Beseler when I wanted to do some serious printing...

Roger Hicks · Sep 20, 2007

George Papantoniou said:
My Opemus does not cover the 6x6 negs evenly, resulting to reduced density in the corners of the prints... I guess this would be resolved if I placed a diffusion head on it, but I just decided to change to a Beseler when I wanted to do some serious printing...

Dear George,

No such problem with Magnifaxes and either colour or Meograde heads, though I've not tried other Meoptas.

Cheers,

Roger

Ole · Sep 20, 2007

No such problems with my Opemus 6 either - not with condenser head, nor diffuser head.

Mick Fagan · Sep 20, 2007

George,

I just checked out some older prints made with my Meopta 5 and 6x6 negs.

My prints had what I would call, no fall off.

In fact I wonder whether it is camera lens fall off, causing your problem instead of the enlarger, or the wrong lamp?

Mine are 23 year old prints.

Mick.

George Papantoniou · Sep 21, 2007

My camera is not responsible for that, it's a Hasselblad. The printing lens is a Componon and so it shoudn't be responsible, either. After all I now print the same negs with the same lens on the Beseler and there is no falloff.

Maybe it's the lamp... anyway, I don't mind since I only use this enlarger for contact prints now...

European enlarger source ?

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