LPL 7700

Jayd · Feb 22, 2009

I've been looking for a enlarger that does all things well : color,B&W, formats from 110 to 6x7 CM and think I have found just the one in the LPL 7700 but need to make sure I'm understanding right before I buy as these enlargers and the parts and accessories are rare and expensive, and unfortunately I have not found any owners manuals etc to defintively answer my questions.

My questions are about the color dichiorlic head 770 model

Is it correct that you don't need to change condensers, mixing boxes or anything but the negative carrier and lens to change formats?

Will the standard adjustable negative carrier accomidate 35mm and 6x7?

Will it do variable contrast B&W reasonaibly easily?

Do you need diffrent lens boards for the small and medium format lenses?

Can one make drop in adaptors for 110 negatives to fit the standard negative carrier?

What all should I get with a 7700 enlarger to fill my needs?

Are there any things to watch out for when buying a used LPL 7700 ?

Thank you for any information

Jay

Jon Shiu · Feb 22, 2009

Hi, I have a lpl vcce 670, which is the same, I think. You don't need to change mixing boxes or condensers. I use the universal glass neg carrier for all formats, and highly recommend it. The lensboard (cone) is reversible for 50mm or 80mm lenses. Dichroic color head should work fine for VC printing.

Jon

Michael Finder · Feb 22, 2009

The LPL 7700 is an extremely versatile and robust enlarger with perspective control. The head can rotate for wall projected images. I do 35mm, 6x6, 6x7 with different negative carriers - although I'd like to get my hands on a universal carrier. It's very easy to use - just reverse the lens board for 35mm and medium format. I have made a cardboard negative holder for up to 6x9 negs and lose only a tiny amount of the image. I've even printed the centre part of a 4x5 negative. No condensors if you get the dial in colour head. Also you may be able to find a separate condensor head for bw printing, it's very easy to change over. The only issue could be replacement dichroic globes in the future. I'm not sure how long they will be available. I get globes on special order. In terms of ease of use the LPL 7700 is my favourite enlarger. I have the 7700, 2 x 6700, 2 x Durst 138S condensor enlargers (1 for scavenging parts)and a tiny 35mm Durst enlarger. The 7700 dichroic head prints very nice variable contrast black and white images. I think I've seen manuals on-line for about ten bucks. Cheers Michael.

Jayd · Feb 23, 2009

What are replacement dichroic globes ? and how often do they need replaced ? , how would I kniow if the ones in place need replaced ?
There is an outfit in Canada that seems to sell all the LPL stuff both on and off eBay.
Thank You both I am alot more confident now
Jay

Michael Finder · Feb 23, 2009

It's the lamp or bulb in the lamp housing. Bulbs lose their effectiveness as they get older; not really an issue for black and white prints however colour printing is more critical. Replace when the bulb blows or get a new one now and start off with the best light - keep the old one as a backup. Cheers Michael

Jon Shiu · Feb 23, 2009

The dichroic filters are a non-fading filter that move across the light source to provide various amounts of filtration. You can see them if you take out the mixing box from the top. I don't think they would need to be replaced. Possibly the cyan filter could be damaged from leaving the light on too long, but of course cyan is not used in black and white printing.

edit: oops, I guess he meant the quartz halogen light bulb

Jon

Mick Fagan · Feb 24, 2009

If you see one with the optional fine focusing knob, I would jump at it.

The fine focusing knob, is a smaller focusing knob that sits inside the normal focusing knob.

About 20 odd years ago, that option was an extra $110 in this country.

Once you have used the 7700 with that option, you really do miss it if you use an enlarger without it.

They are perfectly all right without it, but trust me when I say it is a wonderful feature.

Mick.

Kevin Caulfield · Feb 24, 2009

I use an LPL 7700 and have seen Mick's one. Mine doesn't have the fine focussing knob, but I can imagine that it would be quite useful. You don't need separate lens boards for 35mm and MF but you do need separate lenses. It will do VC B&W just fine. Just dial in the filtration settings and you're set to go.

Graham.b · Feb 24, 2009

As above, i do have the 7700, very nice and easy to use, i have the multi mask and the 645, the multi does come up on Ebay time to time. The bulbs can be found at most dealers in home dev,,, and printing. I have not used mine as colour printer yet but it is on the cards in the next week, i hope. I find the 7700 for 645 and above, ( i have only done a couple over that though) very good, i do use a little blue on mine it seems to help in the contrast, "i may get a couple of posters no saying you do not need to do that". When i do 35 i swap to my paterson PCS 2500 this one is a condenser.
But on the LPL i would say yes, but if parts are needed they can be got. But to pass this by is not what i would do, now knowing what i now know.

Graham

vitus · Feb 27, 2009

Follow Mick's advise I would honestly recommend one with the optional fine focusing knob.

LPL Fine Focusing Attachment is 5:1 geared fine-focusing device which is essential for very critical focus control. B&H sells it new for $100.

LPL 7700 is a well engineered, modern, sturdy enlarger with optional color, VC and condenser heads which should easy fill your needs.

A lot of community darkrooms and photo schools in US and Europe were set on LPL7700 or cheaper, smaller LPL 6700 enlargers. They are all great.
Any accessories you might need like: negative carriers, lens boards, etc are readily available on the used market.

Here in Europe you can find second hand JOBO LPL 7700 for about 50-ty euros including the great fine-focusing knob and nice used Rodenstock lens.

I did the jump for 2 JOBO-LPL’s (6700 and 7700), it was worth to grab just because of the fine-focusing attachment they were equipped of.

I would like to have that great fine knobs attached to all of my adjusting knobs.

Cheers,

Jan Wilhelm

tbm · Feb 28, 2009

I have an LPL 670 MXL dichroic enlarger that I have been making black and white prints from on both of Ilford's RC and fiber paper for more than five years and it is wonderful to use for that purpose! I previously used a Saunders condensor enlarger, but its strong tendency to leave numerous white spots on my prints from dust led me to get rid of it and buy the 670 MXL. Thanks to the latter, there is very little touching up of prints with spotting ink and a fine brush that I bought at Freestyle Camera. Yay!

yellowcat · Feb 28, 2009

I have used an LPL 7700 in a previous job and found it to be an easy to use, sturdy well made machine, we also had a camera bracket that could replace the colour head to convert it into a copy stand.

LPL 7700

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