[Leica] Head Trip

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

After about 15 16x20 Cibachrome prints with the new Mornick dichro head on
my 1c enlarger, I am a happy printer.

I got off to one false start tho. After doing exposure tests, I discovered
my old Leitz electrical power conditioner unit and thought it would give me
some consistency. What I did not realize was that it cut normal house
current down considerably. My first exposures were ridiculously long. Then I
read the fine print on the power conditioner - 100 volts output.

Enough of that anemic power. I plugged back directly into the wall plug -
118 volts the last time I measured it - and saw the light!

The output is not a lot more than the V35 was (probably 1/2 to 1 stop
brighter; I am more and more impressed with how much light that little 75w
bulb put out in the V35), but enough brighter to get some fairly dense
transparencies back into the 50 second range at f5.6. The Focotar 50mm does
a beautiful job at that f-stop. I have even opened it wide to 4.5 on some
really dense shadows and do not see any sharpness degradation.

I found that my old V35 slide carrier makes an excellent carrier for the 1c.
It took about 20 minutes of careful filing to make two rectangular notches
in the back of the carrier, so that it fits around the 1c head hinges. It
clears the condenser ring and anti-Newton glass just fine, with a positive
and square fit. The carrier certainly has lost its Leitz collectible status,
but does the job beautifully on the 1c.

I will probably be testing the Mornic head with its adapter on my Omega D3
in a few days. If that works out, then all this will have been worth while.

Then, when I get back to B&W, I'll start the whole process of equating color
settings to variable contrast - never a dull moment.

Regards,
Gary Todoroff
Tree LUGger