Updating from Vivitar E-34 enlarger or not?

About five years ago good customer of our company gave me like new Vivitar E-34 Enlarger. http://www.jollinger.com/photo/enlargers/vivitar.html It is my first enlarger.
It is focusable on grain by the focusing loupe. It has safelight under the lens and drawer for filters. I have latest Nikkor 50 2.8 lens. It is condenser type enlarger and it allows me to print from scratched by bulk loading and reusable canisters film. I'm using it for 35mm film and its board hold essel with maximum size paper I could develop (11x14). If lens on camera is sharp, prints are sharp enough, but not razor sharp.
I have spare bulb for it and regular energy saving lamp from Home Depot seems to be working as well.

Scan of the 8x10 print, camera lens aperture was f1.5.

Scan of 5x7 print and lens on camera was with f5.6 of f8.

I also have Omega D5 XL (with condenser head) from FrankS, it is for larger negatives (I only have and shot few) and I'm not using it often due to its huge size and slightly less convenient 35mm negatives handling .

My question is. Will I get better 8x10 and 5x7 bw prints from 35mm negatives if I will update to more advanced enlarger? One of the local camera stores has good selection of used and more advanced enlargers. Also some Leica enlargers started to show up under less ridiculous price, I know what George Zimbel is using two old Leica enlargers and I have seen his prints...

The D5 XL is a super enlarger, why not just use it? I have a D6 and use it for everything from 135 to 4x5. I have a three lens turret with 50, 90, and 135 mm lenses. I don't find it inconvenient to run a roll of 35 mm or 120 film through in a session.

Negative holder is too big for 135 on D5, it is like frying pan, not as small, easy and fast as on Vivitar. The D5 baseboard doesn't fit on the countertop, I have to wall mount it to be able to print with enlarger facing me instead of keeping it turned on side. But D5 wall mount as anything for this enlarger costs more of the price of smaller, advanced enlarger I could get from local camera store. Even set of color filters is same cost as locally offred used enlargers. For now I have to use under lens filters with D5 and it is no convenience at all.

If the E 34 is in alignment and you are careful not to it jar while printing I don't think you will see any difference from the D5. The D5 may be better condensers, but at 8X10 I doubt you see a difference. I have a D3 and Metpoa (sp?) 35 to 6X6 enlarger and I use both during the same printing sessions. I use the D3 for 4X5 and 6X9 the little Meptoa for 6X6 and 35mm, I alternate between the two while washing and drying test strips and working prints. The one big advantage of a larger pro level enlarger is the ability to keep it in alignment. I don't recall if the E 34 has much if any adjustments like a D5.

I am partial to such small, mass market enlargers, like yours or the Bogen T-35. They look like nothing special but are actually made quite well. My current enlarger is the Meopta 5 Axomat 35mm and it is great. Small enlargers such as this allow easy maneuverability and quick work. The ONLY thing that I regret not having is a tilting negative carrier for those occasional tall building pictures. - David Lyga

I still have my first 'good' enlarger I got in 1975. Comparing that to a D series Omega this is what one might find with the 4x5 Omega:

1) Easier to do the lens-stage alignment
2) Larger selection of lensboards and adapters
3) Brighter and more even illumination
4) Bigger baseboard
5) More stable column
6) More 'wiggle' room to center the lens on the negative. Doing an 11x14 with that Nikkor lens, you need to be perfectly centered, otherwise one corner is going to be out of the sharp circle.
7) Adaptable to a number of different light heads

I recently bought an old Leitz iic and cleaned it up to good working order...it's incredibly functional and a real pleasure to use. It's real strength is in it's ease and speed of operation. I don't think it will necessarily improve print quality except through it's rigidity.

Some points in it's favor are:

-always stays in alignment
-autofocus capability with most 50mm lenses when using the Leitz easel
-the easel is attached to the baseboard with a dovetail making it supremely maneuverable and positionable

All this means that composition and focus is incredibly fast. The downside is that there isn't any provision for contrast filters. I'm currently placing them under the lid on top of the condenser which works fine but may be a problem during split grade printing. The iic colour model has a filter drawer but will be more expensive.
The most important thing is to make sure the condenser is in good shape.

That being said, I'm a bigger fan of diffusion enlargers!

But then: the Focomat IIc was one of the best enlargers ever build and budget wise quite a bit more expensive the the Vivitar one. And if I am not mistaken, Kienzle still builds the IIc if you want a new one.

To get that last bit of sharpness out of your prints will probably take quite a bit of effort and a lot of fine tuning i am afraid. What you could do as a start is to make two prints of the same negative, one with the D5 and the other with the Vivitar and see how they compare. Make one your normal size and enlarge (part of) the negative as big as it gets on the most limited enlarger, and match the other one as good as it gets. When you don't have a negative carrier for the D5 for 35mm, you can make one yourself using mat board. It will be less precize then an original board, but will do when you want a first good impression if the D5 is really better.

Matt Fattori said:

I recently bought an old Leitz iic and cleaned it up to good working order...it's incredibly functional and a real pleasure to use. It's real strength is in it's ease and speed of operation. I don't think it will necessarily improve print quality except through it's rigidity.

That being said, I'm a bigger fan of diffusion enlargers!

Click to expand...

I use only diffusion enlargers N hate condenser enlargers. The only one I own is the Valloy II which is great. Not expensive-try to find a recent one! Unless that is if you can find a VCCE LPL enlarger!

If you want to upgrade to a reasonably sized enlarger primarily for 35mm but want to be able to do MF as well - the Beseler 67c is really common, and a good trade-off between compact size and sturdiness. Lens boards and film holders are widely available new and used (same parts fit the Printmaker 35, so lots out there). I used one the last few years, even did some 20x24 with it and loads of 16x20. To go big, I removed the baseboard, mounted it to a plywood cube on a sturdy table, rigged up a ceiling mount to keep the column top sturdy, and made a DIY besalign lens board (the 67 lens boards are smaller that the 4x4's for larger Beselers). Got very crisp prints that way, sharp corners, etc.

They came with condenser heads and there's also a color diffusion head that's often on ebay for fifty bucks.

You may well end up with three pages of suggestions (including the "get a giant LPL for three grand" guys, sheesh) but the 67 is a good bet because they're all over the place, sturdy, and cheap, plentiful accessories. The 23c is also a good enlarger for its class, but a fair amount bigger than the 67.

My Beseler 67C, with colour head, on a microwave cart in my bathroom/darkroom:

It currently is in storage, because I'm using an Omega D6 as my main enlarger, but I'd be happy to go back to it.

Note the extended column. I'm not sure, but there may have been versions with a shorter column. There definitely is/was a version with a double column, like the 23C.

If you get a VCCE enlarger you'll never go back

Luis-F-S said:

I use only diffusion enlargers N hate condenser enlargers. The only one I own is the Valloy II which is great. Not expensive-try to find a recent one! Unless that is if you can find a VCCE LPL enlarger!

Click to expand...

Found a Dichro LPL 4500! I paid $600 CAD for it (including 3 negative carriers and around $300 worth of chemicals). It's a great enlarger and I'd pay considerably more for it these days. It's not all that big either.

I also got the iic for a song...$150 I think. Both were found on Craigslist...there are plenty of deals out there if you're patient(or lucky). Not that there's anything wrong with Besellers/Omegas, etc... they're just less elegant machines.