Saunders 670 DXL Dichroic Colour Enlarger

[dfoo]

One of these has come up for sale locally. I already have two enlargers, a durst M601 and a Durst L1000. Both of these are condenser enlargers... How is this enlarger in general? Is it nice and sturdy? I have no interest in printing color, but I'm wondering how beneficial the diffusion head would be compared with the condensers? Also, how easy is it to select the paper grades with the color head? Is it tricky to compensate for the exposure?

 

[Mike Wilde]

Any enlarger is a sturdy as you mount it. My Omega D5XL has a heavy frame, but it it sturdier since I braced the top to the wall behind it.

I have condenser printed in the past, and now do more diffusion. Your neg development style may want to shift a bit, since the diffuser may produce a softer print on the same grade of paper. Either accept that you print with a harder filtration, or develop new films a bit longer to compensate.

I find diffusion is better at masking little nicks and dust spots on old negs, and new ones not processed carfully enough.

The dichroic is handy for intermediate grades. I set up testing with all VC papers I use, since a lot of them land on me for free, expired by I don't know how much. I use a step wedge, and step through increments of 20 units from all yellow to none then none to all magenta, to see how the paper responds. Noseoil was the author here, a few years back that described this method best. Anschell in the VC printing manual book also desribes the technique.