Re: Autofocus Enlargers and focus calibration

[cmiller@berkshire.net (Curt Miller)]

Hi Eric (and LUG)-

Was responding via private email to Eric but it bounced back.  So here's for
the whole group.


>At 09:46 AM 9/28/97 -0400, you wrote:
>>Another little autofocus hint.  I ALWAYS use (quality AN) glass carriers -
>>even for 35mm work.  I work clean in my darkroom so dust is not a
>>problem...so neither is negative pop and associated focus issues.

The AN glass has nothing to do with autofocus - I use it in all my
enlargers.  While I own glassless I have never liked them, particularly
because of film curvature (even without popping).  A 35 year habit dies hard
I guess.

>
>The problem with non-Leica autofocus enlarger makers, they don't have
>Leica's 70+ years working with rangefinder cameras, which is the same basic
>principle as AF on enlargers. Thus, according to the Modern Photography
>review of the V35, autofocus doesn't work in enlargers, except for the Leicas.

Could be.

>
>When you say the Agfa was built better than the Focotars, in what way?
>Bigger? More precision? (Which I doubt). Optically?

Here I meant Focomat, sorry.  Yes, more precision in the area of the
negative stage.  The Agfa has a better designed and more heavily constructed
negative carrier and mount than the Focomat.  Be aware that I'm talking
about a limited-production high-end professional machine, not a consumer
product and was worth about $3,000 20 years ago.  Very few were sold in this
country.  My dad worked for Agfa and this is how we came to buy it.  The
optics are every bit the equal of the Focotars and were probably built by
Zeiss or Schneider (Agfa was not noted for superb glass, generally).  They
are matched to the machine and numbered as such.

I'd love a V35 BTW.  I just don't want or need autofocus enlargers for many
of the same reasons I don't want a G2 instead of my M5 and M6.  Autofocus is
probably why Leica quit making this machine.  They are expensive to make,
finicky and, in the end, don't save the end user much time even when they
are flawless!

Regards,

Curt


>
>=============
>Eric Welch
>St. Joseph, MO
>
> Give me ambiguity or give me something else.
>
>

Elizabeth Mei Wong
Birding with Women Outdoors at http://members.aol.com/womenout/index.htm
           or with Berkshire County's Hoffman Bird Club

Henry Curtis Miller, M.P.A.

Pittsfield, Massachusetts
In the Berkshires, next door to Tanglewood