[Leica] Head Trip

["Gary Todoroff" <datamaster@humboldt1.com>]

About a month ago, I mentioned that I was going to get a new custom head for
my enlargers and would report on the results. It's been quite a trip. . .

My Leitz V35 was doing a great job for me until I needed to do about 200
16x20 color Cibachrome prints. Exposure times were creeping up into the four
and five minute range on parts of the image that had to be burned in. (Yes,
I tried all of your tests and kind suggestions on the LUG - guess I just
like dense slides . . .)

I was also doing medium and 4x5 format on an Omega D3 (actually a "Belfort
Instrument Company EN52 B-1 Printer, Photographic, Automatic Focus") with an
opal bulb head. Color pack differences were almost 45cc different from the
V35 on the same paper. The plastic color filters were cumbersome, too, on
the D3. I needed a more integrated approach.

Then an idea came (uh oh. . .). I still had my beautiful Leica 1c, last
version, with the tall column and Formica base board. I had been following
Glen Evan's web site http://photomall.com/glenview.htm  where he raves about
the 1c and builds custom color heads. I think that the Leica 1c is a great
enlarger, too, but with a clunky filter drawer for variable contrast and
color printing. Glen and I discussed an approach to customize one head that
would fit both my 1c and D3. We settled on a price, I advertised my V35 for
sale on the LUG, sold it almost immediately to fellow LUGger, Alan Huntley,
and waited for my new head to arrive.

The new head arrived - a disaster! Light output with all the diffusion
screens was less than the V35. Color adjustment was with a set of micrometer
dials that were impossible to read.  The machining was gorgeous, though, and
the adapters made a perfect fit on both my enlargers. But the head itself
was enough to make me kick myself around the block that I had already parted
with my V35.

However, Glenn and I patiently discussed what to do to make it work. He had
guaranteed satisfaction with the head, and was going to back it up. I
discovered various ways to increase light output and shared the results with
Glenn by e-mail and phone.  Then last week, he came across a "Unicolor
Mornick Model III, Super-Bright" head. He modified the unit to fit the 1cD3
adapter. It arrived today by UPS.

My experiments contributed toward a "light tube" approach that Glenn used on
the Mornick to mix and direct all of the light output down a special,
machined aluminum cylinder, which sits on top of the 1c condenser. The fit
is precise and very stable. The Mornick head is compact, with easy to read
color dials and virtually no light leaks.

And with a 300 watt Halogen bulb, this baby is bright! Color seems very
even, too, on both enlargers. The CAP40 processor has been warming up as I
write, so it's time to zero in a filter pack with my Bob Mitchell
Colorbrator and see how this baby will enlarge some Leica transparencies!

Hope to be back with a positive report.

Regards,
Gary Todoroff
Tree LUGger