Alingment, lenses and other...

[haris]

Thanks Les. I have read your column in Practical Photoraphy, in times when read that magazine. I liked your nature b/w photographs(sand dune and if I can remember well of one canyon)

I must stay with non laser option. Money reason. But, next thing is interesting. If alingment is that much important, what happens when I raise one side of paper easel(or rotate enlarger head) in order to correct converging verticals in architecture photos. In that case alingment is way too much destroyed...

[Ed Sukach]

</span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (haris @ Apr 19 2003, 03:21 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'>T If alingment is that much important, what happens when I raise one side of paper easel(or rotate enlarger head) in order to correct converging verticals in architecture photos. In that case alingment is way too much destroyed...</td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'>
True. the "alignment" will be "incorrect". Smaller apertures may (readrobably) be necessary to produce ACCEPTABLE "sharpness". This is a trade-off: Is pespective control more important than absolute sharpness?.

I&#39;ve done "the brick trick" - tilting the easel by placing a brick under one corner or side of the easel - many times... most notably for a friend who returned from Africa with 11 rolls of 35mm, where she had photographed a *lot* of flat art - paintings and drawings - without paying attention to perspective. Everything was shot off-axis. There was onlly one way to go - bricks and small enlarging lens apertures.

It worked - as well as could be expscted - and FAR better than she had hoped.

[Robert]

I got to ask how easily do your enlargers go out of alignment? You really don&#39;t want to know how I got my 4x5 into the basement-)))

[haris]

Robert, when you mentioned it, now you have to tell us whole story

[Ole]

Could it possibly be something similar to how I got my Durst 138s up the steep, narrow stairs to the 1st floor?

[Robert]

When I got it home no one was around. Funny how nobody is ever around when some thing heavy needs to be moved-))) Well you know I wanted to try it out. The head was off so all I had to move was the rest of the thing. Maybe 140 lbs. I hauled it into the house. The big problem wasn&#39;t the weight but it was impossible to grab hold of the thing. Well I hauled it to the door. Too big to fit the door. Standing there grumbling I figured out that if I turned it on to it&#39;s side then I could put first one side in then turn it so the back got in. Once I had it inside I was smart enough to put it on some carpet and slide it across the floor.

Got it to the basement door. Oops what do I do now? Slide it&#33;. So I grabbed hold of the back and slid it down the first four steps to the landing. That went pretty well. Only four steps. Problem was it was now pointing the wrong way. Get it turned around. The rest of the way down is more like 12 steps. I stopped. Went for a walk. Figured some body would be around to help. You know nobody showed up. I was getting itchy to try it out. So I started to slide it down the rest of the way. Every so often I would rest it on the lower step. Finally got it to the bottom. Can&#39;t drag it across the basement floor so I had to man handle it over to the bench. No problem all I need to do now is lift it up to the top of the bench. Hey that&#39;s only 39" off the floor. I go for a second walk-)) Come back and knew if I didn&#39;t just do it I&#39;d have to wait until the next morning. So I basically just heaved it up there. Best part the bench didn&#39;t even move.

Got out the manual and turned to the section on alignments. Figured I would need to learn how to rebuild the thing. I couldn&#39;t find anything wrong with it. Maybe it was out of alignment when I started and all the abuse aligned it-))

[Donald Miller]

Robert, Maybe you ought to wait until your blood pressure stabilizes before you decide the enlarger is aligned...It could be that your vision has been affected.

[Robert]

Blood pressure was okay. Breathing was heavy. Sweat in my eyes. Body was a little sore. I&#39;ve checked it a few times using the alignment method out of the repair section. The seller was nice enough to include a photo copy of that. The thing is built solid. Which I guess explains why it almost out weighs me. I fully expected it to need some tweaking.

[dentan]

I used a piece of paper with 5 mm squares in the neg holder, put the enlarger head in its top position, measured the sides of the "neg" on the baseboard and adjusted the fixing of the enlarger pole until the opposite sides were equal.

BTW, talking about old enlargers. I use a Meopta Axomat II with a Belar 4,5/50 (4 aperture blades). It is sharp enough for me (I seldom do larger than 24 x 30 cm).

[dr bob]

</span><table border='0' align='center' width='95%' cellpadding='3' cellspacing='1'><tr><td>QUOTE (haris @ Apr 18 2003, 03:09 AM)</td></tr><tr><td id='QUOTE'>Hi, I am new on this forum, and have some questions about my enlarger. I have old Meopta Opemus5(6x6) enlarger. I have both b/w and colur herad for it. Enlarger do have condensors, but non changeable. So, it make 35mm enlargments like cropping off negative 6x6 size... I have Anaret 50mm f4.5 and Anaret 80mm f4.5 lenses. Now, I am not happy with 50mm lens. Yes it is cheap toy, with only four aperture blades. I am thinking to replace both lenses with respective Rodenstock Rodagon or Schneider Componon-S. My questions are: How to chect alingment of my enlarger(without test negative), recommendations for other enlarger(up to 6x7cm) and if anyone has good experience with Opemus5 enlarger any advice will be werry welcome.

Thanks, Haris</td></tr></table><span class='postcolor'>
First, I am not familiar with this enlarger so I cannot be specific, but I have aligned several Omega and Beseler enlargers and I think the method which is cheapest and gives the best overall alignment is the double mirror method.

Get two mirrors of plate glass if possible. Hardware stores usually sell these as tiles. I got mine as scrap from the local glazer. Make sure there is sufficient overhang to insure good contact with the enlarger parts. Remove an approximately circular portion from the "silvered" surface about 1/4 inch dia. It is a good idea to stick one of those hole reinforcement "doughnuts" (used on punched paper) around the opening on the mirror side.

You may have to remove your light source for the following. Place the unmodified mirror on your base plate, or beter still, your easel. Place the other on the negative stage, mirror side down and centered as well as possible (no biggy). Peer down throught the hole and you will see a number of receeding reflections of the "doughnut". Make your appropriate adjustments untill all the images align and you see concentric "doughnuts" to infinity.

If you have trouble eyeballing the setup, you might wish to use a third mirror to get an easier perspective on things.

Truly, dr bob.