Laborator 1200 - diffused or condensed

Hi,

I've decided to give a try to the large format - 4x5. Obviously my medium format Durst Modular 70 will not handle it, so I need to have my enlarger upgraded. I would stick with Durst as I'm really happy with my M70, so the natural choice is Laborator. As a matter of fact, I've got an opportunity to buy L1200 either with dichroic CLS350 or condenser head. I'm printing on multigrade fiber paper but I consider to try colour, but I shoot B&W in 90%, so this is the major focus. Probably for colour I'll switch to hybrid anyways - reversals and drum scanner. Now, dichroic head seems to be more flexible and is less prone to dust, while condensed gives more contrast but less highlight details. Moreover it is easier to put Ilford filter in the drawer than fiddling with yellow and magenta filters - currently I've got very convenient Vario head with one knob to control grades, on the other hand I could have dichroic head now and buy Ilford Multigrade 500 or Heiland head as an ultimate solution. Could somebody help with my dilemma?

As you are already used to a diffusion head I would recommend sticking with that. That way there is one less variable to be concerned with when learning your new enlarger. Have fun with printing from 4x5 negatives, I know I do!

I have both a condenser and very old diffusion cold head for my Omega, and in MF a LP with a color head. I prefer the condenser heads for black and white. I develop roll film for highlight zone VII which seem to print fine, In terms of color, a color head is the way to go, saying that I printed a set of 4X5 negatives in my Omega with a filter color pack.

Has anyone printed on multigrade papers with colour head? Is it hard to get used to it? An idea to check the table for Y and M settings each time to set a grade seems not very appealing to me.

I have, but prefer filters, reason is that the vast majority of my negatives are scaled to print at grade 2, sheet film I use the Zone system, roll film I expose shadows in ZIII develop for Zone VII. Depending on the paper I print with either a #2 or 2.5 filter. Having to flip between white light then back to the como of yellow and magenta is an extra step. A color head is somewhat easier when split grade printing, less risk of jarring the focus using the color wheel or dials from max yellow to max magenta that fussing with the filter drawer or with the D3 opening the condenser head door to insert a filter above the condenser.

I use zone system as well, but I develop on standard times - so I'm exposing on shadows bringing them do ZII or ZIII, but exposing on ZV - usually I get full tonal range, but still I tend to boost contrast a bit, so normally I use grade 3 - 3.5. Haven't tried split grade yet, I wonder if I could use it with my RH Designs Analyzer. Need to read further on that. On my current enlarger, I've got a lever to disengage filtering, so I can focus and measure on white light and bring the filter in just before the exposure. I believe this lever exists as well in L1200

Disadvantage of the color head is power supply reliability which will be the deciding factor in long term use. Sometimes a color head can be powered from an alternative power supply if the specs of the original are known.

However, condenser heads which run straight off the mains, require a lamp with no writing on the dome which can be hard to find in some countries.

Both will produce high quality prints in the right hands.

I'm sure it does, my LP has it, as I use a #2 to 2 1/2 I can focus with the filer in place. I have experimented with split grade, in my case only a few negatives benefit. Others find split grade to be their standard method.

I have a Laborator 1200 with CLS501 color head and the Bimacap condensar head. I did a comparison of both printing B/W using Ilford multigrade filters. Contrast was all the same and condenser print just a bit sharper than the diffuser one but also dustier.

What about LED source? I'm checking Heiland offer right now and it sounds great.

kal800 said:

Moreover it is easier to put Ilford filter in the drawer than fiddling with yellow and magenta filters - currently I've got very convenient Vario head with one knob to control grades.

Click to expand...

Well, if looking up filter values in a table and setting them you consider as fiddly. It rather is a hassle. But over time you shure have memorized the values for the most used grades. Alternatively you could mark the grades at the filter wheels, thus no more looking up in tables.

kal800 said:

What about LED source? I'm checking Heiland offer right now and it sounds great.

Click to expand...

LEDs are great. Heat is low enough that negatives do not warp ("pop") out of focus. Unlike tungsten bulbs, LEDs don't burn out. And if you can control individual red-green-blue colors, you will not need filters for VC.

But, due to the high cost of the Heiland unit, many of us make our own LED light-sources. Here is a good thread about that:
LED Split Printing Enlarger Lamphouse
I copied his design, and it works well. If you can build electronics and the mechanical parts, DIY will work well for you. Otherwise, I suggest considering the Heiland unit.

I have a 1200 condenser. Never had a diffusion or color head for it, but have a color head on an adjacent Beseler 23xl.

The 1200 condenser has worked without issues for 20 years. I’ve changed the bulb twice. Placing filters below the lens is a tad fiddly, but not really a big deal. I like the sharpness and don't find dust to be a significant hassle. I like not having to worry about the electronics of a different head.

I only use the Beseler for occasional flashing. It’s color head makes it easy to dial in filtration, but the dang thing is so noisy I hate to turn it on.

Durst professional enlargers are almost bullet proof and extremely well made, the Durst L1200 with the CLS450 head is the unit I know of for the L1200 chassis. Whichever Durst enlarger you get, make sure you have the correct adaptor for the head. I know that the CLS450 head requires the correct chassis adaptor, once I have seen a Durst enlarger purchased without the correct adaptor.

Durst professional enlargers are as good as the DeVere enlargers, in other words, there really isn't anything better.

My personal choice is to get the diffused colour head system, the ultimate control you have with paper grading changes is enormous. With hand held filters in a filter drawer, about the best you can do, is ½ grade stops increments. With my colour head (DeVere) I have the option to very quickly change in ¼ grade increments by simply placing the filtration values halfway between the half graded figures.

The only thing better than a colour head, is a dedicated B&W head, this does exclude your colour printing options though. With a colour head you can easily dial in neutral density in whole or partial stops of density. This can be handy if using a powerful enlarger and small enlargements. Adding 30 units of Cyan, Yellow and Magenta into the head is approximately one stop of neutral density. You simply add whatever filtration is required on top of the base 30 units of each filter to get your correct paper grade.

Attached is a picture I just took from the wall behind my enlarger, it shows colour filtration for my DeVere head, as well as my f/stop exposure chart; which is in 1/8 of a stop increments. For f/stop exposure changes, start from the left with whatever your enlarging time is, then work to the right for whole stop changes, up and down for 1/8 stop changes.

If say grade 2½ is too soft and grade 3 is too hard, then I work out the values for grade 2¾. Where grade 2½ is Y42-M80, grade 2¾ is Y36-M85.

With all of the people who have been in my darkroom not one of them has had any problems in quickly learning how easy and quick it is to change paper grades in ¼ grades for meaningful paper hardness changes. As well as f/stop printing.

Mick, Durst uses different numbers than Kodak. But you are right about the usefulness of a color head. If you need 3 1/4 you can do it. I would get both. Sometimes a condenser head is better. I use a valloy 2 for 35mm most of the time. But some times the color head will work better.

Get both and as much accessories you can get. They will become harder and more expensive to get over time.
I have a 1200 with cold head and a 1000 with condenser head with 5 lenses, I live in fear of dropping one.

ags2mikon, thank you for that.

I do know that Durst uses different values, but as that is in my darkroom and I have a DeVere enlarger, they are the values I use.

I'm sure Kal800 is aware of the different values, but it is good that you pointed out that there are different values for other colour head systems as there may be people not that acquainted with darkroom work who may be lead up the wrong garden path.

Just touching on another question that Kal800 posed, which is about an Ilford multigrade 500 head. I have used two enlargers side by side in a commercial darkroom fitted with Ilford Multigrade heads. Wonderful enlarger heads and possibly the best B&W printing experience possible.

But, the two that I used over longer than a year day in day out, were troublesome. This was around 33 years ago and within reason, both multigrade heads were new, or at least not that old back then. Problems happened more than we liked and we had to call in technicians to repair both heads several times during the time I was in that darkroom. Now I freely admit this was a commercial darkroom and those enlargers worked for around 12 hours 5 days a week, which is what they were supposed to do; but I would be wary of any Ilford Multigrade 500 heads in my own darkroom for longevity purposes.

Whenever the Ilford multigrade head enlargers were down, we simply reverted to any free darkroom with a colour head enlarger and did the work.

I had a small durst with the color head and a beseler, and had to make a chart for the wall to convert. As far as the quality of the durst enlargers it is top of the line. I now have 2 138's 1 with a color head and the other with a condenser head, that are larger than my shop drill press! Finding all the parts for them has been like a geocaching game. Somebody always gets there before me. But they are as good as it gets. I want to be buried with them. For such a big enlarger they are not bad for 35mm. Just slow. That is why I bought the Valloy II"s for 35mm. I always wanted a MG 500 head until I read about some of the problems. The other enlarger the OP may want to look for is the Meopta magnifax. I used one in a friends darkroom one time and thought it was really good. It even had a neutral density function built into the color head. It was made in eastern Europe if I remember right.

Scratch the Meopta. The OP said 4x5.

Meopta made a 4X5, have not any in the U.S, a small shop in Bari Italy that I bought film from in the 80s used one for both color and black white.

albada said:

LEDs are great. Heat is low enough that negatives do not warp ("pop") out of focus. Unlike tungsten bulbs, LEDs don't burn out. And if you can control individual red-green-blue colors, you will not need filters for VC.

But, due to the high cost of the Heiland unit, many of us make our own LED light-sources. Here is a good thread about that:
LED Split Printing Enlarger Lamphouse
I copied his design, and it works well. If you can build electronics and the mechanical parts, DIY will work well for you. Otherwise, I suggest considering the Heiland unit.

Click to expand...

It came to my mind to produce it, maybe not as DYI project, but manufactured as a prototype. Heiland price tag is overkill, but I wonder if density of LEDs could somehow justify it. That's one LED per 4 mm - I'm not familiar with that technology, but it seems to me that it is not as dense to charge so much.

I have a question, will a LED head print color or only black and white?

Both - Heiland has dedicated splitgrade controller for B&W, VC B&W controller which can be plugged to the existing darkroom timer and colour controller with RGB knobs.

kal800 said:

It came to my mind to produce it, maybe not as DYI project, but manufactured as a prototype. Heiland price tag is overkill, but I wonder if density of LEDs could somehow justify it. That's one LED per 4 mm - I'm not familiar with that technology, but it seems to me that it is not as dense to charge so much.

Click to expand...

There are two methods of making LED lamps:

1. A matrix of many LEDs. Heiland uses this design.
2. A few high-power LEDs around the perimeter. I used this design. Here's a link.

For uniform lighting of the diffusor, option 1 needs to have more LEDs around the perimeter and fewer (less dense or lower power) in the center.
For option 2, some of us buy LEDs mounted on "stars" such as this example.

kal800 said:

Both - Heiland has dedicated splitgrade controller for B&W, VC B&W controller which can be plugged to the existing darkroom timer and colour controller with RGB knobs.

Click to expand...

Yes.
Here's an informative posting about which colors of LEDs should be used.