Recently I wrote about my experiences with my Focomat 2C. As mentioned before I’ve been using both the Focomat 1C and 2C exclusively for the past year, and doing all my 35mm work with the IC and it wonderful 50mm Focotar 2 f4.5 lens. Much of what I said in the previous posting about my last generation grey 2C could be said for my 1C of the same vintage so I won’t repeat it here, except to say, like the 2C the 1C’s build quality is incredible and with its autofocus it’s simply a dream to use. Instead I will discuss a couple of issues that have come up and what I’m thinking of doing about them.
The first issue has to do with its glassless negative carrier. Simply put, I like the 2C carrier better. It uses both anti-newton and clear glass plates to hold the negative completely flat and is a breeze to use. The 1C metal carrier is a beautifully made thin metal plate with a rectangular opening that the negative strip is placed on top of. The negative is held in place by the bottom face of the glass condenser that becomes a pressure plate like that of the glass top piece in the Focomat V35’s negative carrier. Note: I am currently using the Leitz accessory anti-newton ring glass attachment that fits over the bottom face of the of condenser glass.
I have a problem when I print a negative at the end of a filmstrip. Trying to get it to line up properly on the negative carrier prior to lowering the anti-newton ring pressure plate has turned out to be a major pain in the rear. One solution is to use a tiny piece of tape to hold the edge in place. A friend who has the same enlarger says that filing out the rectangular opening solves the problem.
I’ve decided to try a more complicated approach which also has to do with my second issue … the appearance of pesky newton rings. When I first tried the enlarger I was making prints without the use of the accessory anti-newton ring glass. No problem, the prints came out great. However, over the summer I noticed the little buggers and had to install the anti-newton glass. Perhaps it was the increase in humidity in my darkroom. Even though I run a dehumidifier near the darkroom I noticed the humidity going up while working with the door closed. In comparing two prints made with and without the anti-newton accessory glass I could see a difference in tonality and preferred the print made without the anti-newton glass.
I’ve decided to improve my negative carrier’s ease of use and provide even better negative flatness by having a small piece of high quality 1mm thick clear glass cut that will either be glued into the rectangular opening, flush with the top. If that doesn’t work, a longer piece can be glued to fit over the entire length of the carrier. Doing this will probably require a tiny adjustment in the autofocus, buy that’s no big deal at all. My hope is this might allow me to do away with the anti-newton glass.
I think the modified carrier will be a big improvement even if it doesn’t cure my newton ring problem. In this case my hope would be that any issues I might have with using the anti-newton ring glass would be resolved as I use the enlarger more.
One final item. I am looking into the possibility of purchasing color heads from Kienzle for both enlargers if I am able to convince myself I could use them with my Zone VI digital compensating enlarging timers with their sensors. Somehow I would have to be able to secure the color heads while placing the sensor inside the enlarger in the filtered light path as I had done with my Devere. Stay tuned!
I am convinced that having both the 2C and 1C, especially with color heads and fully functioning Zone VI compensating timers would be the ULTIMATE. But even without these adaptations, these babies rule!
Stay well,
Michael