Need help with enlarging lens issue.

danwilly

danwilly

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After about ten years I got my enlarging and darkroom equipment out of storage. Alas, the enlarger did not survive the damp conditions. After scouring photo shops around the state I scored a Chromega C760 enlarger. It didn't come with any lenses and I had my lenses from my old setup, a 50 and a 75mm. On my old enlarger I was able to make prints up to 11 by 14 but with this new enlarger the same lenses made a much smaller footprint. I put in the 75 mm but even with that, I have to run the head way up to get an 8by10 footprint. It is also a crappy lens. So I ordered a 135 mm lens off ebay. It is an excellent lens but its footprint was somewhere between my 50 and 75, not enough to make an 8 by 10. I am stumped. There must be something unique to this enlarger that makes it difficult to get a good match. I feel like a beginner here. What do I need to make this all work.
 
What size negatives are we talking about?

Also the longer the lens, the narrower the angle of view, the further up you will have to set the enlarger head for a given size print from a given size negative.
 
To make large prints without raising the head too high you need a shorter focal length lens, not longer.
Try using the 50mm lens. If that is unsatisfactory there are 40mm focal length enlarging lenses available.

Chris
 
For 35mm negatives you'll need a 50mm enlarging lens. You can do it too with a 75mm, but it is inconvenient because you have to raise the head of the enlarger higher up.

When enlarging 35mm negatives a special 35mm enlarger is the most convenient. In Europe you can get now Leitz Focomat 1c or Valoy II enlargers for next to nothing; I don't know how the situation is in the US.

Erik.
 
If you want to make an 11-inch-tall print from a 35mm negative, that's roughly 11x magnification. Again roughly, to get that much magnification with a 50mm lens (your best choice) you'll need to have the lens about 22 inches above the paper. As Mos says above, 75mm or 135mm lenses are going the wrong direction... they'll make a smaller image at a given enlarger-head height.

If you had the XL version (XL = eXtra Long column) of the C760 you'd almost certainly be in good shape, but if you can't get the head up the column far enough to make an 11x14, it probably means you have the earlier non-XL version. Things you could do to solve the problem:
  • Shop around and see if you can find an XL column and swap it in
  • Use a wider-angle enlarger lens; there were some 40mm enlarger lenses made. Most of them were kind of crappy, but not all.
  • Reverse the column on the baseboard and project onto the floor or a lower surface when you want to make larger prints.
#s 2 and 3 are janky solutions, which is why Omega discontinued the non-XL version in the early 1980s.
 
Rodenstock made (make???) good 28mm and 40mm enlarging lenses.

eBay search “Rodenstock Rodagon 28mm f4” or 40mm f4.

There is also the 40mm Focotar made for the Leica Focomat v35. It is a nice lens, but I prefer the 50mm Focotar-2 and Focotar ‘large front element’ Leica enlarging lenses.

I should add that the Apo-Rodagon-WA lenses have a wide projection field - they were advertised as making same size prints at closer working distances, but they also make bigger prints at the same working height.

Marty
 
EL Nikkor 40/4 is a good lens. Not sure how it compares to other 40s or 50s but mine worked as well as the 50/2.8. I don't think they are particularly rare or expensive.
 
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