Meopta Opemus 5a Issues

Sky Golding · May 13, 2020

Hello,
This is my first post so I apologize if I have not formatted it correctly.
I recently bought a Meopta Opemus 5a enlarger from eBay so I could start printing in my student house. It was in rough condition but for £40 I thought it was a steal. It was listed as used so therefore working, but I have a feeling it is missing some parts. Does anyone have a list of what I should need? I think it is missing a difuser and I think the condenser lenses might be set up incorrectly. I worry this might have been a waste of time with a couple more minor issues with the enlarger which sadly is putting me off for getting into printing a little now.
Many thanks

Sky

Paul Howell · May 13, 2020

I have a Meopta, found the manual on line, it will show you what parts you need. Do you have a picture of how the condenser is set up? Mine is currently boxed, but as I recall the condenser is pretty straightforward, hard not install in proper alignment .

R.Gould · May 13, 2020

I use a Meopta opemus 6, and with a condenser hesad you don't use a diffuser, when new they come wit a piece of ground glass hat fits in th filter draw, I never used it and don'know where it is, the condenser on imine is pretty simple, you have 2 condenser lenses each with the flat side uppermost, whic fit into the enlarger above the filter drawer, you can't really go wrong, your-s is an earlier model to mine, but if you have a 2 lens condenser, which seems about right for the 2 meopta's I have owned, as long as it is fixed in place with the flat sides uppermost, curved side inside, then it should be fine, You should also have a negative holder, mask's fitted, filter draw (I think) as I don't know the 5 then you should be fine,
good luck and enjoy using it, and keep safe
Richard

Martin Rickards · May 13, 2020

One thing to note, at least on the Opemus VI is the lens board. For printing 35 mm negatives with a 50 mm lens, this should be fitted with the domed side towards the negative and for 120 film with a 75/80 mm lens, with the dome facing downwards.The condenser doesn't need changing for either unlike other enlargers.

elerion · Jun 1, 2020

Sky Golding said:
I think it is missing a difuser and I think the condenser lenses might be set up incorrectly

Why do you think that?
Is it using a B&W or a color head ?
The B&W head uses a condenser, and it is not hard to fit properly.
The color head uses a diffuser.

As Paul already said:

Paul Howell said:
the condenser is pretty straightforward, hard not install in proper alignment .

By the way, Sky Golding, a picture will help a lot.

Geoff Bartlett · Aug 18, 2020

Martin Rickards said:
One thing to note, at least on the Opemus VI is the lens board. For printing 35 mm negatives with a 50 mm lens, this should be fitted with the domed side towards the negative and for 120 film with a 75/80 mm lens, with the dome facing downwards.The condenser doesn't need changing for either unlike other enlargers.

Thank you! I have a 50mm lens arriving today (the 75mm is a bit unwieldy for printing 35mm) but I did not know about the lens board dome and only found this by accident. My Opemus V has the domed lens board. I'm not quite sure of this Opemus's history. It is in good condition and still in its box but has a neg carrier that takes 120 film and was used by its previous owner purely for 120 film. Opemus V's are normally referred to as 35mm only.

Anyway, thanks again.

Geoff

Martin Rickards · Aug 18, 2020

The Opemus range was always a dual 35 mm/6x6 format or the Opemus 7 up to 6x7. The single 35mm format was the Axomat enlarger. If you want to use the Opemus for only 35 mm you'll have to get a dedicated 35 mm carrier but they're still plentiful on the 2nd hand market.

Geoff Bartlett · Aug 20, 2020

Martin Rickards said:
The Opemus range was always a dual 35 mm/6x6 format or the Opemus 7 up to 6x7. The single 35mm format was the Axomat enlarger. If you want to use the Opemus for only 35 mm you'll have to get a dedicated 35 mm carrier but they're still plentiful on the 2nd hand market.

Thanks. I'll have a look at the 35mm film carriers, although the standard carrier is quite useable. I do want to move to medium format, but don't have access to a medium format camera right now.

I bought a Nikkor EL 50mm f/2.8 and discovered that it does not fit inside the dome of the Meopta lens board. The shoulder on the aperture ring is too broad, so back to looking for a 50mm lens

Martin Rickards · Aug 20, 2020

Geoff Bartlett said:
...

I bought a Nikkor EL 50mm f/2.8 and discovered that it does not fit inside the dome of the Meopta lens board. The shoulder on the aperture ring is too broad, so back to looking for a 50mm lens

That's strange because my Rokkor CE 50 mm f2.8, which is fairly large, fits with no problems.

Geoff Bartlett · Aug 20, 2020

Martin Rickards said:
That's strange because my Rokkor CE 50 mm f2.8, which is fairly large, fits with no problems.

Ah.... I should have stumbled across this first

[EDIT] https://www.photrio.com/forum/threa...-el-50mm-f-2-8-diameter-too-big-to-fit.46908/

Martin Rickards · Aug 21, 2020

My Rokkor lens has an OD of about 55 mm.

Martin Rickards · Aug 21, 2020

nusproizvodjac said:
I was just about to buy the older version of EL Nikkor 50mm/2.8 to use on my Meopta, but l too was wondering if it would fit. Maybe l should go down the Schneider route, since the 3.5/50mm Componar can fit inside Meopta lens board.

Photocornucopia doesn't list a Componar 50 mm f3.5; just two 50 mm f2.8s that are 3&4 element designs and in the "economy" range.

Geoff Bartlett · Aug 22, 2020

Martin Rickards said:
My Rokkor lens has an OD of about 55 mm.

Hmmm... mine has an OD of 50mm, but that is only 5mm from the top of the lens thread. I've upload photos of the lens and my lens mount. Perhaps it's the profile of the lens.

Martin Rickards · Aug 22, 2020

nusproizvodjac said:
I have a Componar C 3.5/50mm. I too was surprised that they didn't list it, here's what it looks like:
View attachment 252865

All of Schneider's Componar range (and that of Rodenstock's Rodagar) are 3/4 element designs built with economy more in mind than performance.

Martin Rickards · Aug 22, 2020

Geoff Bartlett said:
Hmmm... mine has an OD of 50mm, but that is only 5mm from the top of the lens thread. I've upload photos of the lens and my lens mount. Perhaps it's the profile of the lens.

View attachment 252882 View attachment 252883 View attachment 252884

That's really strange that you have trouble fitting it inside the lens carrier. My Rokkor CE has a similar profile, is 10% wider and gives me no problems. ???

Geoff Bartlett · Aug 22, 2020

Martin Rickards said:
That's really strange that you have trouble fitting it inside the lens carrier. My Rokkor CE has a similar profile, is 10% wider and gives me no problems. ???

Thanks Martin for the providing a comparison. The threads on lens need to reach about 3mm further into the dish of the lens carrier. I am wondering what it would cost to get a another lens carrier machined up. They're not exactly complicated.

John Koehrer · Aug 22, 2020

The earlier Schneider Componon and componars were chrome or nickel finish and used a 25mm thread.
Is the mount on the lens board 25 or 50mm?

That aside, I have a Leitz focomat ll with a trashed 100 V Elmar; 39mm thread and the mount in the enlarger is too narrow
to accept a 105 Rodagon OR a Leitz 39mm extension tube for a LTM camera both are to wide to reach the threads.
I guess they wanted me to use the Elmar

Meopta Opemus 5a Issues

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