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Enlargers in use today


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Guest Mr. B

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Doesn't anyone use an enlarger anymore? I log onto the film forum and I see thread after thread by people asking about scanners, and what is the best way to get their negatives onto their computers.

Just wondering.

Regards

Mr. B

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Sold my Focomat last year after 6 years of no use. In the future, if I want top notch prints made, I'll send off to a professional service. Sigh....I grew up with enlargers, darkrooms & all the chemicals, but the world is changing, and I think digital is winning by a wide margin.

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I always use my darkroom for B&W printing. The scanners are mainly for colour film.

I bought my Saunders LPL 4500-II in 1995....still works perfectly.....I've owned five scanners since then.

My B&W FB prints from my darkroom are still much nicer, finer grain, and richer looking than anything from a scanner.

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As I retire soon - I'll be able to re-do my darkroom and have some fun :)

I've not used it for about 4 years now but I intend to do a lot more wet printing.

Mostly from 5x4 I guess, but as I've also got a Durst 6x7 to 35mm enlarger as well I'll end up printing some smaller negs.

 

Regards

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I still have my wet darkroom in my cellar. It currently houses my

 

Focomat V35

LPL Saunders 7451

and the rest of my darkroom kit, including a Nova 20 x16 Trimate processor.

 

Upstairs, I also have a Focomat IIc, which is waiting for its lenses to be returned from cleaning and recoating at Malcolm Taylor's. I have not used my darkroom for a short while, will be down there again soon. I have plenty of negatives, which need to be turned into large fibre prints.

 

Charlie

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Alas, I stopped professional printing everything from 5x4 inch down about 1990. Following this I did a little black and white enlarging and printing at home in a temporary set up with a Durst M301 and Schneider-Kreuznach Componon f4 50mm.

 

With too little space, it was too much of a faff and never ideal. Since then I have had my black and white films professionally developed, and since the advent of digital I scan in the negs with my own system, printing with an Epson A3 printer.

 

I advertised the enlarger and lens on eBay with reserve and got not one offer. It languishes, boxed, in the loft :-(

 

Sign o'the times, I guess.

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Doesn't anyone use an enlarger anymore? I log onto the film forum and I see thread after thread by people asking about scanners, and what is the best way to get their negatives onto their computers.

Just wondering.

Regards

Mr. B

 

I have a LPL 7700 enlarger with B+W head.

Sold my Nikon coolscan V.

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I thought about selling my Nikon 9000ED scanner since I hardly use it. I print a little 35mm, a fair bit of 120 and a good amount of 4x5 with my Saunders LPL 4550XLG and VCCE head. I just got done shooting about 100 sheets of 4x5 and 20 rolls of 120 in the Northern California Redwoods.

 

After shooting digital full time for 19+ years, dumping it in favor of film and real darkroom prints just feels like *such* a good career and creative move, I just can't get over how fantastic it is...:-)

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I think digital is winning by a wide margin.

 

what does this mean? Is there a race I didn't know about? Of course digital capture is more and more pervasive - but even there the biggest growth in the future is gonna be in the form of smartphone use. Even in the medium term the DSLR and digitalRF market will be engulfed by that trend.

So using film to capture, and then a scanner to post-process and use the resulting images hardly seems to me to be 'losing' - even if the all-analog workflow is the ideal (for some).

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My local camera repair shop has three working enlargers sitting out with a sign that says, "free", on them. It's been two months and nobody has taken them.

 

I have an old Omega, but I'm still trying to find space to set up a darkroom.

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I still have my Omega B22XL, and was recently given a Focomat 1a; but also have to convince my wife let me take over a room to set up again. Our last house I had built with a made-to-order darkroom that was great, but as family grew other needs took precedence. Now in retirement it's time to get back to some hobbies.

Edited by TomB_tx
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My local camera repair shop has three working enlargers sitting out with a sign that says, "free", on them.

 

That's sad; they should be donated to a local school, camera club or some person or place that could benefit. Somebody should devote a minimal bit of effort. I made sure all my darkroom gear was in good hands when I closed things down...by sale, donation and gift.

 

Jeff

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