Meopta Magnifax 4

hughitb · Oct 6, 2008

Hey,

Someone near to where I live is selling a Meopta Magnifax enlarger + Scheider 105mm lens + trays + timer for 250 euros. This seems like a bit of a steal to me as the only similar enlarger I can find for sale on the web is 600+ euros.

The only problem is I have nowhere to set it up right now but do aspire so have somewhere within the next few years. My questions are:

1. Is this a decent piece of kit?
2. Can it be easily disassembled and reassembled? The reason I ask this is that if I could disassamble it easily, I could store it in my attic but there is no way I would be able to manouever the thing intact up there ...

Hugh

Denis P. · Oct 6, 2008

Yes, Magnifax 4 is a decent enlarger.
But, the price doesn't really sound like a "steal"... They are cheaper over here - when they are found

I'd say that it's more like a "fair" price, considering the lens and the rest of the stuff....

And yes, it can be dismantled. The column + head can be separated from the baseboard easily (4 screws, IIRC). And it's not as heavy as some of the 4x5 enlargers I've handled

It's a decent piece of kit. I've used mine (Magnifax 4 with colour head) for some 2-3 years now, and never had any problems. The late Dead Link Removed liked his, too...

BTW, I think you should be able to find those (Magnifax enlargers) much cheaper on eboy in UK. Shipping to Ireland is another matter, though, and will surely add to the cost...

hughitb · Oct 6, 2008

Thanks! I had a search on ebay and didn't come across any for sale. As you say, shipping would be a big problem for something like this anyway so as it stands this seems like a good deal to me.

I don't know what sort of head it has, so I have emailed the seller to find out.

Good to hear it comes with the Barry Thornton seal of approval. If it's good enough for him ....

Peter Black · Oct 6, 2008

As Denis says, the late Barry Thornton was highly complimentary about the Magnifax and it is also the standard enlarger used by Roger Hicks & Frances Schultz. You don't mention what head it has, but I think you might expect a colour head at that price. Price is fine with the Schneider lens and the timer etc, but perhaps not an out and out "steal". It will break down into component parts and in fact there is one on eBay just now without a head fitted, and this can be broken down further by unscrewing the column from the baseboard. Even at that, the seller will still not post and that is the real reason why enlargers go so cheaply on eBay. :confused:
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/MAGNIFAX-ENLA...39:1|66:2|65:12|240:1318&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14

Trevor Crone · Oct 6, 2008

Hugh, they are great enlargers, quite robust and reliable when correctly set up. I still have mine tucked away in my loft along with the Meograde VC head. Would not part with it, its there in case I ever get the chance to set it up as a second enlarger.

If you see one at an affordable price, go for it.

Trevor.

hughitb · Oct 6, 2008

Actually I am kind of ignorant about the different types of head available and the implications of having over another so maybe you guys could clarify this for me.

A colour head means it has built-in filtration with Cyan, Magenta and Yellows dials right? This is primarily for making colour prints and if you are going to do b&w then you use different combinations of CMY that correspond to the different grades. Is this correct? If so, I used such a head like that once and found it to be a bit of a pain to be honest ...

VC means variable contrast I presume? Is this the sort of head that has grades 0 to 5 built-in? And then the condenser head just has a light source and you control grades by sticking actual filters underneath the light (which is what I am used to) ...

Or am I completely off?

Trevor Crone · Oct 6, 2008

Hugh, not ignorant at all, you're spot on.

As I only ever print B+W I went for the Meograde head with dial in contrast filters plus a very useful neutral density filter. I used it to fine tune exposures. For example if an exposure was rather short I would dial an ND value rather then change lens f-stops.

Trevor.

Denis P. · Oct 6, 2008

Trevor Crone said:
For example if an exposure was rather short I would dial an ND value rather then change lens f-stops.

Magnifax colour head also has this ability - i.e. besides C, M and Y filtration, it also has a built-in (adjustable) ND filter... Like Trevor said, it's great for situations when you want longer exposures without changing the f-stop.

Regardless of what kind of head the one you're after has, it will be a good enlarger - provided it's in reasonably good condition. Just make sure you get the proper negative mask (the "drawer" where the negative goes).
The Magnifax negative mask has a nifty feature - a built-in focusing aid: you just pull the "drawer" halfway out, and it projects a straight line of light on the baseboard. Once this light line is perfectly straight (unbroken), the negative is in focus.
(Easier to show than to explain, I'm afraid...).

As for the problems in determining gradation for B&W prints using C, M and Y filtration, it only takes a little while of testing to determine the necessary numbers - besides, I think some tables can be found on the 'Net.

(I don't do much VC printing, mostly use graded papers, so this feature is not that critical for me...)

hughitb · Oct 7, 2008

Thanks again everyone.

I have established that it has a colour head and is in good condition. The colour head puts me off a little but now that I think about it I probably should not let it. I mostly do split grade printing these days so I just need to establish what the equivalent of grade 0 and grade 5 is in CMY terms and use them. Right? This could even be easier than messing around with filters.

Is there any other disadvantage of using such a colour head for b&w printing that I am not aware of?

Specifically: a colour head would be a diffusion enlarger right? Does this not give softer prints when used for b&w?

srs5694 · Oct 7, 2008

Don't worry about grades when split-grade printing; just use maximum magenta followed by maximum yellow (or the other way around, whichever you prefer).

Most color heads are indeed diffusion devices. (There are a few exceptions, like the Philips PCS 130 with PCS 130 light source/control unit.) I can't verify that the Meopta Magnifax 4's color head is a diffusion unit, but it probably is. If you're split-grade printing, you'll just figure out the right exposure times on a print-by-print basis, although of course you might decide you want to adjust your film development times.

One issue I've heard of with color heads is that the filters are optimized for use with color paper, not B&W paper, and it may not be possible to get quite as high a grade as is possible with B&W VC filters. I've not tried to verify this experimentally, though. If it's true, keeping a grade 5 filter around might be helpful for those rare occasions when you're printing an extraordinarily low-contrast negative.

hughitb · Oct 7, 2008

srs5694 said:
One issue I've heard of with color heads is that the filters are optimized for use with color paper, not B&W paper, and it may not be possible to get quite as high a grade as is possible with B&W VC filters. I've not tried to verify this experimentally, though. If it's true, keeping a grade 5 filter around might be helpful for those rare occasions when you're printing an extraordinarily low-contrast negative.

Yes, good point. It occurs to me as well that I could simply set all the colour filters in the head to 0 (so I am just getting white light) and then use manual colour filters underneath the light source (or in the drawer or whatever) as I normally would with a b&w enlarger ....

srs5694 · Oct 7, 2008

True; if you just can't stand the color filter sliders/dials/knobs/whatever, just ignore them and treat the enlarger like a conventional B&W enlarger.

Bob F. · Oct 7, 2008

Colour enlarger heads do not normally come with filter drawers (but I don't know about the Magnifax specifically).

Ilford paper comes with a chart that lets you know what filtration to use with different enlarger heads to get the various grades. As already said, some colour heads do not allow a full grade range; especially grade 5 might not be attainable...

OK, just checked the Ilford Contrast PDF (available here - pull down the Fact Sheets menu). The Ilford chart shows that Meopta may only reach grade 4.5 (with the max. 200 magenta) but reaches grade 00 easily (with 150 yellow). That is not a problem.

Have fun, Bob.

srs5694 · Oct 7, 2008

There are always under-lens filters. These have their problems, but if you can't seem to get to a paper's highest grade using a color enlarger's built-in filters, using an under-lens grade-5 filter might be preferable to settling for a print with too little contrast.

hughitb · Oct 7, 2008

srs5694 said:
There are always under-lens filters. These have their problems ...

This is very interesting to me ... I have been using these for a while. I always thought it seemed a bit suspect shoving the light down through a potentially dirty/scratched/bent filter but it seems to work okay.

Could you elaborate a bit on the problems?

srs5694 · Oct 7, 2008

The problems are exactly what you think: It's another piece of glass that can collect dust, be scratched, and otherwise introduce problems between the negative and the paper. They obviously do work well enough to be used, though, and those problems are likely less than the problem of getting a too-soft print if your color head can't quite reach the highest grade on VC paper. All in all, that's why I suggested using it as a last resort for extremely low-contrast negatives.

hughitb · Jan 3, 2009

So I never bought that enlarger but now I see another for sale. A Meopta Optemus 6. Any comments on that? I need it for 6x6 and 6x7 primarily. Is it also a good piece of kit?

Peter Black · Jan 3, 2009

hughitb said:
So I never bought that enlarger but now I see another for sale. A Meopta Optemus 6. Any comments on that? I need it for 6x6 and 6x7 primarily. Is it also a good piece of kit?

It's good for 6x6, but won't stretch to 6x7. Meopta made the 7 for that purpose.

Meopta Magnifax 4

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