I've just been offered a Liesegang enlarger with negative masks for up to 9x12cm, two condensers and a 80mm lens. I use 4x5" and occasionally 5x7". Should I buy it? Does anyone have any information on these enlargers?

-- Ole Tjugen (oftjugen@online.no), May 02, 2002

Answers

Hi Ole,

sounds like you've been offered one of the 50's or 60's modell from Liesegang. The lower part is bulid like a table and made of wood, the upper part is a metal column. At least I used such an enlarger years ago and it worked fine. 4x5'' should be the max. format so you wouldn't be able to enlarge your 5x7''. You'll need a 150mm enlarging lens for 4x5'' too. Check out the condensors and the illumination of the neg's with 150mm lens (!) to get the right condensors for that size.

-- Thomas Vaehrmann (TVaehrmann@web.de), May 03, 2002.

Ole,

Liesegang has built several enlarger models, but as far as I know, has never built a 5x7 model. And since it is not easy to get parts for them, I would not recommend buying one that is not fully equipped with all what you need.

Regards,

-- Thilo Schmid (tschmid@2pix.de), May 03, 2002.

The Liesegang was called Rajha 5 and the maximum film size was 9x12 cm (4x5"). The lamp head was very hight and the bulb was easy to adjust for an even illumination as it was fixed to the end of a long rod inside the lamp house. The baseboard had some device to tilt the easel to adjust the perspective. Some rumors told that it was originally designed by the late Andreas Feininger in the erly therties. I used it a long time ago and it worked nicely.

-- Gudmundur Ingólfsson (imynd@simnet.is), May 03, 2002.