Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2000/05/04
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Howdy folks! I wonder if anyone has suggestions for a good affordable enlarger. I have an old Beseler 23C that I bought for $200 at a camera show and I'm not very happy with it. I just cannot seem to get corner-to-corner sharpness, very disappointing after building a new darkroom and shooting all these wonderful Leica (on topic!) negatives. In the center the prints are perfectly sharp but at the edges the grain turns to mush. I am using Componon-S enlarging lenses stopped down to F/8 or F/11. What I'm looking for is: 35mm to 6x7 formats black and white only (variable contrast) very even illumination excellent sharpness corner-to-corner and edge-to-edge fine focus control reasonable cost Alternatively, can someone tell me how to really get my enlarger aligned (assuming that's the problem). I followed Beseler's instructions, putting a sheet of glass in the negative stage and using a torpedo level) but either it's not accurate enough or I did it wrong, or maybe there's something else wrong. Is the problem due to curvature of the negative in the carrier? Do I have to use a glass carrier? I'm slightly tempted to bag medium format and get a Leitz enlarger! Well, any advice would be most sincerely appreciated... Carpe Granulum Walter