Hi, I'm about to buy my first enlarger and I feel a little lost. I want to print 35mm black and white negatives. What should I be looking for? What brands are considered to be preferable?

I really am a beginner at all this! Thanks! Julie

-- Julie Landreville (julandreville@hotmail.com), February 10, 2001

Answers

I like Saunders/LPP enlargers. They are nice to work with and have useful accessories. You really can't go wrong with the major brands, though: Omega, Beseler, Durst, and Saunders. There are other brands, but not as commonly found. I like sticking with the major brands because these companies tend to support their products for a long time.

Recently, I bought 2 different Saunders models. I needed a missing and a cosmetically damaged part on each, and they sent them to me no questiones asked. One was a column for a 4x5. I didn't even have to return the marred one. That's good customer service.

I recommend getting an enlarger that at least handles 6x7 negatives, in case you ever move up to medium format. Enlargers for 6x7 are quite a bit more stable (less prone to vibration) than some that only handle 35mm, which helps regardless of the size negative.

-- Charlie Strack (charlie_strack@sti.com), February 10, 2001.

I agree with Charlie. Any of the main line brands are fine. I also agree that you should buy an enlarger that handles at least one format size larger than you think you need. You may very well need it.

Also think about buying a color enlarger. You can use the color head to dail in contrast changes with VC paper, and you can move to color very easily.

Think about buying used. A used enlarger is a fraction of the price of a new one. You can buy an entire darkroom setup used for less than the cost of a most new enlargers.

Put your money into the lens. Just like with cameras, the lens makes the image, and a bad lens will make it very difficult, if not impossible to make good prints. For the money, the later El Nikor 6 element lenses (the 50mm f2.8 or 80mm f5.6) are very good. Schneider and Rodenstock have made some low end lenses that are not that great. Their top end lenses are the best, but pricey.

-- Terry Carraway (TCarraway@compuserve.com), February 11, 2001.

If you are getting ready to buy an enlarger, especially a used one, you should be aware of the three main types of light sources: there are two general categories, condenser and diffussion light sources, and within the diffusion light sources you have cold light and diachroic. In a few words, condenser produce more contrasty prints that some consider chalky, but others, including many press photographers, have used for decades. Recently, diffused light sources have become much more popular. Both cold lights and diachroic sources produce very similar results, the main difference being that cold light pruduces is faster, meaning that for big enlargements you don't have to have very long exposures (for example in the hundreds of seconds). For me, since I don't make very big enlargements very often, this was never a very big issue.

Within diachroic you have one type which is called a color head, and which allows you to both do color and work and variable contrast papers, and a second type which is called a variable contrast head, and which allows you only to do black and white variable contrast. This is just a very short introduction. Try to get your hand on some books, and things will become very easy to understand. It isn't that complicated. If you are interested in variable contrast, The Variable Contrast Printing Manual by Anchell has some pretty good information about enlargers.

As for getting an enlarger that can take more than just 35 mm, I second that idea. It is more stable and allows room for growth. Good luck.

-- Raja A. Adal (d60w0635@ip.media.kyoto-u.ac.jp), February 12, 2001.

All of the posters are offering excellent advice. One more thing to think about. Do you have or are you heading toward a darkroom you can leave set up? If so, I would even urge you to consider a 4x5 enlarger. The old Beseler 45MX and Omega D2s are extraordinarily stable, and just never seem to break...but if they do, you can still get parts. They are such industry standards that almost any accessory you can buy will fit either one of them. If you can't leave the darkroom set up,they would probably be too large and heavy for you, and I would go for a medium format enlarger. Buy the best lens(es) you can afford...used is just fine, long as you make sure nothing is wrong with it. Properly cared for, they never wear out.

-- John Sarsgard (sarsgard@yahoo.com), February 12, 2001.

Hi Julie, After reading all the great advice above I would personally recommend the following USED equipment. Beseler 23CII enlarger, near mint 80mm lens (Nikkor, Schneider, Rodanstock). Good-luck.

-- Terry Pittman (tp16mm@aol.com), February 15, 2001.