Meopta Axomat II

[SylviaW]

My son is looking at purchasing a Meopta Axomat II from Craig's list. It has never been used and is in the original packaging. The price is good but I'm wondering if this unit may be out of date.

 

[Leigh Youdale]

Sylvia, in a sense it's out of date. It was produced until about 2005 (someone may have better information) I think but the current Axomat is Model 5. The Axomats only handle 35mm. I have an Opemus which will do up to 6x6. Having said that, the design of these enlargers is pretty conventional and hasn't changed all that much. It might be out of production but it can still perform quite OK. It depends more on the quality of the 50mm enlarging lens (many people substitute a Nikkor or other premium lens for the Meopta lenses). Also the condensor lenses inside the head need to be clean and unscarred. The fact that the one you are looking at is unused and in original packing is promising. It's probably quite OK but it's up to you if you want to look for a more recent one from the 3, 4 or 5 series. They're not hugely expensive.

 

[Steve Roberts]

I have an Axomat (can't remember which model) that I bought in much the same circumstances - in its original packing, not new but not far off. I do by necessity have another enlarger for 6 x 6, and use a Nikon or Minolta lens in the Axomat (depending how the mood takes me) but I can honestly say that I can find nothing about it worthy of complaint. You could pay a lot more money for an enlarger with a more highly regarded name, but that wouldn't guarantee your son better prints!

 

[David Lyga]

I believe I turned down an Axomat II a couple of years ago. The build is excellent and solid but I simply cannot deal with a piece of glass touching the top of the negative. I use ONLY enlargers with glassless carriers. Many will disagree with that assessment and who am I to say which is the best way to go? But I at least wanted to apprise Sylvia of the fact that eliminating dust from the negative stage will be now (with a glass carrier) more of a task (although the negative will be flatter). I don't like the trade off but some praise the glass system. - David Lyga.