Within a few days I will look at a second hand M601 enlarger offered for sale. It is my intention to do mainly 35 mm work, and that was what the seller used it for.
However I have some old 6x6 negatives and it would be nice if I can print these sometime in the future (when i find an inexpensive 80mm enlarger lens).
The seller doesn't know much about what he is selling, and he is not the first owner -so some things nessesary for my purposes may be missing.
I have searched the internet for information on the M601, and this is what I understand (Please correct me if I am wrong).

1. Ideally there should be 3 condenserlenses w. this enlarger 2 sivocon80 and 1 sivocon50 -but if only the 2 sivocon80 condenser lenses are present it is OK since they can be used for both 6x6 and 35mm.

2. You should ideally use a flat lensboard for 6x6 work and a recessed board for 35mm -BUT it is ok to use the recessed board for both formats.

I am confused about the negative carrier.

Some people talk about ajustable blade mask, some about masks designatede for 35 mm, some about glassless and others about anti newton glass. I am not likely to easily find parts for this old enlarger, so I would like to know what kind of negative carrier(s) the enlarger should include in order to enable 6x6 work?

Thanks in advance for any info you can share.

Cheers.

-- Niels H. S. Nielsen (nhsn@ruc.dk), May 08, 2002

Answers

I do own an M605 that, as you describe it, seems to be similar to the M601.

If the negative carrier is a Durst Sirioneg (like mine), it's a universal glass carrier. It supports both 35mm and 6x6 by adjusting a set of four sliding blades. It has two glasses, the top one could be replaced with an anti-newton version that was sold separately.

You could also buy sets of fixed metal masks (2)that replaced both glasses to obtain a non-adjustable-glassless carrier.

There was a third option (at least for 6x6 work)that replaced the top glass with an antinewton version and the bottom glass with a fixed metal mask.

Either approach will work fine, just make sure you receive a complete kit. Be careful with the glasses, even very small dents will show clearly in your prints.

-- Marcelo Pandolfo (mpandolf@chilepac.net), May 16, 2002.

My M601 neg carrier conforms to Marcelo's description. I don't have the metal inserts so I made matt board versions for 35mm and 645 negs as the glass inserts were driving me nuts (dust).

If you only get the Sivocon 80's I think you'll need a 80mm lens to ensure even light output. I can test this tonight (9:30am at the moment in this part of the world) if you'd like a definitive answer. This will limit the print size you can make, however, if the seller has been using it as 35mm you'd think the Sivocon 50 will be in it and maybe the 2nd '80 might be missing. I only have one lense board and it's recessed. I think I've listed it's name here somewhere, but that works for both 50 and 80mm lenses.

-- Nigel Smith (nlandgl@unite.com.au), May 16, 2002.