LPL 4500 II opinions requested

I have been pulling info off of websites on the LPL 4500II and am getting mixed information on wether they are stabilized in the stock form or if a seperate voltage stabilizer is need with the model.
Most folks are responding to/praising the VCCE head- how about the B&W diffusion head?

Lastly price wise I would love to hear opinions on the estimated value of a LPL4500II with the B&W head with three middle of the road lenses - 80,105,135 (in VG++ condition)?

I love my 4500 vcce. Go with a 50 or 80/80 or 135/150 or 180 for 35mm 6x6 and 4x5. But dont go middle of the road if you are talking quality. Buy the best you can. Why put work into a great neg to enlarge with a bad lens.

I too have a 4500, but with a Dichro head and think it's great. I have never had any issues that would make me think that a separate voltage stabilizer would be needed. I agree with raucousimages above to stay away from "middle of the road" lenses. Enlarging lenses have gotten so cheap on ebay that I would urge you to get the best you can. I'm sorry that I can't help you with valuation.

Richard

lylep,
Another suggestion to go with the best lenses you can. If you don't you won't achieve optimum results.
Kind of like putting a coke bottle on a Leica

I have the 4500 - and it has a power supply box that is a voltage regulator - I would be surprised if it did not do stabilization as well. I've never noticed any issues with the brightness fluctuating.

I would go with the color head. It's diffusion just like the VCCE head, but it gives you more flexiblity. The VCCE head has the grades speed matched, which can be nice.

But what about that really large print you want to make, from that dark negative - you'll want to get the exposure time as short as possible. You will not be able to do that with the VCCE head, your filtration settings are speed matched.

But with the color head, you can determine the filtration settings for both speed matched grading or maximum speed grading. Speed matched grading is achieved by adding neutral density to the filtration setting, to match the speeds. You can run the color head without adding the neutral density filtration for minimum printing times.

See http://www.butzi.net/articles/vcce.htm for a much more thorough discussion.

(Edited to correct poor use of "B&W" head with proper use of "VCCE", to which I had intended to refer.)

Kirk - www.keyesphoto.com

There are 3 different "slide-in" filtration modules available for this enlarger: the color dichroic, the VCCE dichroic, and what they call "B&W". The color and VCCE modules both use dichroic filters, with the VCCE intended for B&W printing only with a single knob to control paper grade. From what I can tell from pictures of it and its low price compared to the other two, the "B&W" module has no filtration and just lets the light pass straight through to the diffusion chamber. It also doesn't seem to have any sort of filter drawer, so you'd have to use below the lens filters for multicontrast printing. I just looked at the omega-satter website www.omegasatter.com, and it looks like their description of the 4500-II enlargers is wrong - they've put in the same description for the VCCE and B&W diffusion models. The B&H website also makes this error. Search for "LPL module" at B&H to see a pic of the B/W module. Thought I'd clear this up in case of any confusion...

Jim

There is also an 4th "slide in" filtration module e.g the Heiland SplitGrade unit. See page http://www.heilandelectronic.de/html/english/price_list_main.htm (look at modelno. SPL-J1, wich is simular to Jobo, LPL en Saunders). If you like splitgrade printing this is the one you need. After making of only one proofprint you get the right filtration and time for your final print. The system automaticaly "swings" the yellow and magenta filters in the lightpad. This unit is also equiped with a shutter so that there will be no afterburningeffect of the lamp. Printing times shorter than 3 seconds will be no problem because off the shutter.