LPL 7700 VC

[sidewind]

My darkroom just had a kitten yesterday.
I just entered the darkroom, and heard the feeble cry of a LPL 7700VC wanting to work, and it wasn't there saturday, do they procreate when you are not there ?

Anyway, I don't have the manual for it, but compared to the c7700 it is easy to figure out (btw. thank you all who helped me in my other thread (there was a url link here which no longer exists)), that and working with my old Opemus IIa should have me running in no time.

Now comes the $64.000 questions, variable paper, if I stick to Ilford RC paper, I use the settings at 2 on the head to get a "vanilla" print ?

If I have a flat negative, I raise the contrast on the whole picture if I dial in a filtration higher than 2, and thus if I have a hard negative I lower the contrast by going 1,5-1 or lower ?

Even if I raise/lower the contrast, I am still able to dodge and burn as I am used to (I understand it is called d&b when you mask off some of the picture so that you don't burn out the highlights, using fingers, hands or cardboard as I am used to)

 

[presspass]

The grade you use depends on the negative - lower contrast negs can mean higher contrast filters and the reverse. I have a similar enlarger but with the Heiland Splitgrade system, so I can't advise on the exposure changes for the various grades or if that VC module does not require a longer exposure for the higher - 4 and 6 - grades. There are some pretty good printing books out there with instructions on how to determine the contrast and exposure. You can also decide if you want to get into the splitgrade/normal fight. It's a good machine. Enjoy.

 

[bdial]

The answer to all of the questions is "yes"
Exposures will be generally consistent from around 1 1/2 through 3 or 3 1/2, but you may need to fine-tune for your final exposure. Testing will tell what's needed.
You can dodge and burn in whatever way you need, either using the same grade or some different grade filter.
There are 2 scales, one for Kodak's polycontrast filtering and the other for Ilford, Ilford's is the second scale, as I recall.

 

[ParkerSmithPhoto]

There is nothing better than an LPL. Going from an Omega to an LPL is like upgrading to a BMW from an AMC Gremlin.

 

[sidewind]

The grade you use depends on the negative - lower contrast negs can mean higher contrast filters and the reverse. I have a similar enlarger but with the Heiland Splitgrade system, so I can't advise on the exposure changes for the various grades or if that VC module does not require a longer exposure for the higher - 4 and 6 - grades. There are some pretty good printing books out there with instructions on how to determine the contrast and exposure. You can also decide if you want to get into the splitgrade/normal fight. It's a good machine. Enjoy.

Hi presspass

Thank you for your input.

I am used to have 5 different grades of each paper to compensate for faults/errors of the negatives, and in this day and age, it gets expencive, thus that is why I'm dabbing over to multigrade paper.

All the other things you suggest, will come later when I am feeling comfortable using this new paper.

And yes the enlarger feels sturdy and well put together, although it is a little lightweight compared to my now deceased Opemus IIa, which have developed a crack in the black clock that covers the opal bulb.

 

[sidewind]

The answer to all of the questions is "yes"
Exposures will be generally consistent from around 1 1/2 through 3 or 3 1/2, but you may need to fine-tune for your final exposure. Testing will tell what's needed.
You can dodge and burn in whatever way you need, either using the same grade or some different grade filter.
There are 2 scales, one for Kodak's polycontrast filtering and the other for Ilford, Ilford's is the second scale, as I recall.

Hi bdial

Thank you for confirming what I thought was how it was done

 

[sidewind]

There is nothing better than an LPL. Going from an Omega to an LPL is like upgrading to a BMW from an AMC Gremlin.

Hi ParkerSmithPhoto

I really don't know a AMC Gremlin, I'm from europe
It was you that wrote something about dropping the diy of making a lightbox out of diodes right ? and buying a VC7700 ?
Do you have a manual for using the head, or is it the same that comes with the color head ?

About how it works, I'll reserve the rights to judge that over the next couple of months, while comparing it to my deceased Omega IIa I have been using since ~1990, but anyway thank you for your opinion

 

[bdial]

A good substitute for ParkerSmith's comparison might be a Trabant, though AMC Gremlins weren't that ​bad.

A hard copy manual is available from KHB Photografix in Canada, and they are a good source of information and parts as well;
http://www.khbphotografix.com/LPL/LPLmanuals.htm

I don't know of any on-line sources for a soft copy.

 

[sidewind]

A hard copy manual is available from KHB Photografix in Canada, and they are a good source of information and parts as well;
http://www.khbphotografix.com/LPL/LPLmanuals.htm

I don't know of any on-line sources for a soft copy.

bdial, what I can see on their homepage, it is only a "how you assamble the enlarger" manual, and as I allready have the manual for the 7700 color model, it would be redundant to get that one.

And by the way, I found out that the VC and color head really is the same, the difference is that the VC head only have 2 adjustment knobs

 

[ParkerSmithPhoto]

A good substitute for ParkerSmith's comparison might be a Trabant, though AMC Gremlins weren't that ​bad.

Worst car, ever!

 

[ParkerSmithPhoto]

bdial, what I can see on their homepage, it is only a "how you assamble the enlarger" manual, and as I allready have the manual for the 7700 color model, it would be redundant to get that one.

And by the way, I found out that the VC and color head really is the same, the difference is that the VC head only have 2 adjustment knobs

There really is no manual for the VC head as far as I know. Just use the #2 channel for Ilford papers and you're good to go.

 

[Truzi]

Worst car, ever!

If you seal it air-tight and over-inflate it, you get a Pacer

 

[ParkerSmithPhoto]

If you seal it air-tight and over-inflate it, you get a Pacer

You know somewhere in America there's a God-dang hipster driving one of these (totally un-ironically) and he'd be sure to tell you how the 1975 carburetor tech is superior in all aspects to fuel-injection. Probably owns a damn donut shop as well... Or plays guitar in the Decemberists... Grrrr... hipsters...

 

[sidewind]

If you seal it air-tight and over-inflate it, you get a Pacer

And if yoy do the same with a Beetle, you will die of hunger before it sinks
My uncle's 1303 Beetle took 45 minuttes to sink, when he forgot to pull the handbrake at the docks back in the seventies

 

[sidewind]

You know somewhere in America there's a God-dang hipster driving one of these (totally un-ironically) and he'd be sure to tell you how the 1975 carburetor tech is superior in all aspects to fuel-injection. Probably owns a damn donut shop as well... Or plays guitar in the Decemberists... Grrrr... hipsters...

ParkerSmithPhoto I once heard a salesmann selling a WV Golf Diesel with the argument that it was better than a carburettet Golf diesel, because it had fuelinjection
To my knowledge ALL diesel's are fuelinjected, or what ????:confused: