LPL C7700MX enlarger question

Hi,
I may be able to get one of these. Could someone who has this enlarger please measure the distance between the column and lens axis?
When enlarging 6x4.5 negs I often can't position the easel as freely as I wish on my Opemus 6 because the easel hits the column and I wonder whether this enlarger would be better in that respect. Of course, being able to do 6x7 would be another bonus.
I have searched the archive fairly extensively and the consensus seems to be that the LPL is a quite decent enlarger. However, one person mentions that the red filter is not safe. Any comments on that?
Also, the negative holder has AN glas at the top and normal glas at the bottom, i.e. no inserts. If you have something similar, do you find enlarging 35mm negs difficult? What I mean is centering the neg and blocking light from "outside negative" areas.
Thanks a lot in advance.
Cheers, omar

I just paid a hefty amount for the 35mm carrier in addition to the "universal" carrier. What does bother me about the "universal" carrier is that it sometimes seems to crop the top/bottom edge a little more than I'd like.
How big are you enlarging these negs and with what sort of lens? That will somewhat dictate the easel situation.
I don't use the red filter, if you don't get it situated right in the holder it just falls out and it annoys me and I was taught to never trust those things anyway so I've never used them - I've always used an electronic timer that attaches to the enlarger power to turn it on and off.

Remember, centering is a state of mind when it comes to enlarging - you can always rotate your easel slightly to adjust for a slightly tilted neg. It's not very hard to get medium format film in the carrier though. I found it slightly annoying for 35mm and you can get an insert for it rather than go out and buy a whole 35mm carrier like I did.

I own a Kindermann LPL 707B, which is the BW Version of the LPL, distributed now by Jobo. They are build modular, so the distance should be the same. In my case it is 24.5cm.
I like the LPL, it is a very stable enlarger and highly underrated, esp. when sold in Germany under the Kindermann brand. The long column allows enlargements up to nealrly 18 with a 50mm lens and more than 10 with a 80mm lens.

In my next darkroom i will mount the enlarger with standoffs on the wall.

I believe an extension piece that fits between the column and head is what you are looking for. Contact your LPL agent and enquire their availability.

Hi, I have the LPL VCCE 670 model. As to the glass carrier, very easy to use 35mm and it has adjustable masking blades built in. I also do 645 and you can insert the neg carrier from the left side (instead of front) and slide the neg a bit in the 6x7 space so the column doesn't interfere with easel.

Jon

Dave Miller said:

I believe an extension piece that fits between the column and head is what you are looking for. Contact your LPL agent and enquire their availability.

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Dave, the only enlarger company that has a proper agent here in Turkey is Kaiser. I doubt I would be able to find ANY spare part of an LPL enlarger, apart from the auction site.

Anyway, thanks to all who wrote. Andreas, danke for the measurement.

Cheers, omar

ooze said:

Dave, the only enlarger company that has a proper agent here in Turkey is Kaiser. I doubt I would be able to find ANY spare part of an LPL enlarger, apart from the auction site.

Anyway, thanks to all who wrote. Andreas, danke for the measurement.

Cheers, omar

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I have obtained LPL spares from RK Photographic in London.

www.thedarkroom.co.uk

however I appreciate the postage costs to you may be prohibitive.

An alternative would be to get an extension made locally, it is a simple machining operation for any small engineering firm with a lath.