New lens for Rolleimat Universal.

[kanirasta]

Hi, I've been lurking here for a while, but this is my first actual post.

I'm looking into buying a Rolleimat Universal enlarger for doing medium format (6x6 and 6x4.5). It comes with two lenses but they are not in great shape (fungus).

The question is, does the Rolleimat accepts replacement lenses? And if yes, of which type should they be?

Darkroom equipment is not easy to come by in my country (Uruguay), specially for medium format. so I'd like to get that enlarger and use it as is until I have the opportunity to change the lens for something better.

Thanks in advance for any comments!

 

[ic-racer]

If the lenses are essentially free, then you can take them apart and try to clean the surfaces, they may be usable. If they don't clean off easily, then they have permanent damage from the fungus; so don't scape them or anything drastic.

Likely the enlarger accepts 39mm screw in lenses. When you get the enlarger unscrew the lens and measure the diameter of the threads. If its close to 39mm then that is the most common size.

Then look for a 75mm or 80mm lens with a 39mm mount.

 

[kanirasta]

Thanks a lot for the info, that's exactly what I needed, I don't know anything about enlargers so I didn't know if they had standard threads.
I'll look into the thread diameter. The lenses are encased in plastic I think, they don't seem too easy to disassemble, but I'll try it first anyway. My main concern is having the possibility of getting better lenses in the future.

Thanks again!

 

[ic-racer]

The Rolleimat Universal is not very common in the USA, but from what I have seen it looks like a good enlarger. There was a microfocus electronic control for it and it also was the only condenser enlarger I know of that had an optional CMY color module light source.