Meopta Opemus iii Enlarger

[morrisphotos123]

Hi i have got a Meopta Opemus iii Enlarger and was wondering if i would be able to enlarge Colour prints on it with the xorrect chemicals

 

[R.Gould]

Simple answer is that unless you have a colour head, which was not available for this model opemus, then no, it is a black and white enlarger not a colour,better to use your local mini lab such as Jessops, cheaper and easier than trying it at home without a lot of experience, personally, I wouldn't eveb try it.

 

[morrisphotos123]

what would a colour head look like

 

[R.Gould]

you won't get a colour head for your enlarger, but a colour head has dial in colour filters to correct the colour balance when making colour prints,if you want to get an idea what colour enlargers look like take a look on the firstcall website, they have plenty, and they are all very expensive, plus for colour printing you also need special papers, you need to work in almost total darkness, your c41 chemicalss are fine for film but you need different chemicals for colour printing, I reckon to set your self up for colour printing you won't get much change out of a couple of thousand pounds, unless you are VERY keen then for the odd film it is realy not worth the money, better to use your local mini lab, as far as Meopta goes, they no longer make darkroom equipment, and your opemus 3 is getting on a bit, very well made and does a great job for black and white, but never meant for colour, so if you have the money to spend in setting up for colour printing then look around the firstcall website, or try searching for second hand equipment,there is a lot around, and that is as much as I know about colour printing.

 

[morrisphotos123]

so if i tried using it would they just come out as b+w prints

 

[R.Gould]

so if i tried using it would they just come out as b+w prints

As I have never tried I don't know, I have never tried colour printing, the most I have ever tried is E6 processing for slides, and that was not very good, so if I do any colour then I leave it to the professionals

 

[wogster]

Simple answer is that unless you have a colour head, which was not available for this model opemus, then no, it is a black and white enlarger not a colour,better to use your local mini lab such as Jessops, cheaper and easier than trying it at home without a lot of experience, personally, I wouldn't eveb try it.

This is not 100% true, many enlargers have a filter drawer, and you might be able to find a set of colour compensating filters, that would allow colour with a B&W enlarger. The filter sets were common at one time, less common now, but you may still find them around. Don't expect to find them at the local (digital) camera store though.......

 

[R.Gould]

The opemus 3 does not have a filter draw, if you want MG filters you need a below the lens set, so the filter pack, even if you could find one, so if he wants to try colour he will need to get another enlarger,I have not seen such a set this side of the pond for many years, I don't think they are made now, which is why I didn't mention them,

 

[Soeren]

what would a colour head look like

An Opemus colorhead could look like this.
IIRC they where available from the Opemus 4 series.
Best regards

 

[wogster]

The opemus 3 does not have a filter draw, if you want MG filters you need a below the lens set, so the filter pack, even if you could find one, so if he wants to try colour he will need to get another enlarger,I have not seen such a set this side of the pond for many years, I don't think they are made now, which is why I didn't mention them,

Didn't know they made them much past the early 1970's without filter drawers, really though enlargers are cheap enough now, that it would be easier to pick up a colour enlarger. The hardest part might be to find a replacement for the proprietary bulbs that some enlargers used, where the bulb hasn't been made since 1986....

 

[R.Gould]

Didn't know they made them much past the early 1970's without filter drawers, really though enlargers are cheap enough now, that it would be easier to pick up a colour enlarger. The hardest part might be to find a replacement for the proprietary bulbs that some enlargers used, where the bulb hasn't been made since 1986....

Paul,
The opemus 3 came out in 1969, and was made until 1975, when the 4 was prouduced, it was the last opemus without a filter draw, with the 4 also came the MG and colour head as they expanded the range, they were all so well made that they last forever.
Richard

 

[wogster]

Paul,
The opemus 3 came out in 1969, and was made until 1975, when the 4 was prouduced, it was the last opemus without a filter draw, with the 4 also came the MG and colour head as they expanded the range, they were all so well made that they last forever.
Richard

Didn't know the history, makes sense though, before the 70's almost nobody did colour at home, and MG B&W paper wasn't around yet, so filter drawers were not really needed. An enlarger is so mechanically simple that they should last pretty much forever, the colour ones with built in filters, maybe not, I don't know how the filters actually work on those. About the only reason to replace one is if the manufacturer used a proprietary bulb that is no longer available, and altering it to use a different bulb isn't possible.

 

[kevs]

Hi morrisphotos123,

I used to print with an Opemus II and I did print colour and Multigrade with it. I used to place the filters atop the condenser. The head bayonets off easily. Make sure you use a UV filter on the top and be careful they don't melt under the heat of the bulb. So it is possible, it just takes a little lateral thinking to achieve it.

Have fun,
kevs

 

[feromarcin]

The home processing of color photography in Czechoslovakia was possible since 50ties. For older Opemus enlargers (as Opemus 6x6, Opemus II, Opemus III) was produced special adapter, called Meocolor. Meocolor was inserted between bulb and condensor. At the top of adapter was inserted IR filter, color filters were inserted into the slot. Subtractive filters were from glass and coloured gelatine in sets with 12 pcs for cyan, magenta and yellow color. With this filters you could change every color with 5% increments. The filters was made by Agfa, ORWO and by Meopta (Subtracolor correction filters). The first color head produced by Meopta was Meochrom and was produced for Opemus 5 enlarger. Color III and Color IV was newer color heads for enlargers Opemus 6,7 and Magnifax 4. Glass - gelatine filters weren´t very well, because their colour wasn´t stable and they faded with years. It wasn´t recomended to buy older used filter for this reason.
The second method was additive color mixing, when you can use only three filter - yellow, red and green and you expose paper three times. This was very cheap, you could insert filter between lens and paper, but now is this method obsolete.