Micha2
Hi,
Does anyone know what lens mount the Magnifax cameras have, or whether there are any differences between older models and newer ones?
I’d like to know whether I could continue using my M39 lenses if I were to buy one.
Bye, Micha
fotohuisrovo
Meopta offers two lens thread sizes: M23.5 and M39.
Current Magnifax enlargers use the M39 thread.
All new enlargers now feature an M39 enlarger board. (Kaiser, Durst, Dunco)
Best regards,
Robert
Gast
If I were you, I wouldn’t buy a Magnifax. There are loads of enlargers on 3,2,1... meins that are just as cheap but miles better.
The negative stages alone are a nightmare. And if your focus knob is still working smoothly after a year, you’re lucky. I really don’t understand why anyone would still want to buy these things. Admittedly, not everything from the Eastern Bloc was bad, but the enlargers were absolutely rubbish.
Best regards, Thomas2
Gast
I can only agree: Meopta negative-stage models are rubbish; overall, Meopta enlargers aren’t exactly top-notch. BUT: you have to recognise that, before the days of Dreizweieinsmeins, Meopta offered the best value for money.
Gast
If an absolute master printer like Barry Thornton swears by Magnifaxe, they can’t be that bad...
Roman (a satisfied Opemus user – also with the negative stage; Kaiser’s are much worse)
Gast
I’ve got an Opemus too. The thing is, of course: a master printer makes up for what his equipment can’t do with his own skill. It’s much like many photographers back in the GDR: what they could do! You couldn’t spot a single flaw in the Orwo films. But for the rest of us – unfortunately not master printers – we’re happy if at least the equipment is any good... ;-) Seriously though: Roman, doesn’t the wobble from the stage annoy you? Compare it with Durst! The (new) price... sure. But these days you can get Durst enlargers thrown in for free, so you can afford to be more demanding...
Cheers,
unadodox
Gast
Hello, I really must speak up in defence of the Opemus and Magnifax enlargers: these are rock-solid machines that have absolutely nothing to fear from comparison with Western manufacturers such as Dunco, Durst and Kaiser; After a few bitter disappointments with the ‘wobbly’ machines from Durst and Kaiser, which simply use too much cheap plastic, I’ve now settled on 6x6 and 6x7 enlargers from Meopta, which, amongst other things, have excellent viewing stages; the only thing that really bothers me is the lack of right-angle precision in the mask strips. What some of the competition has to offer here (apart from the professional equipment, of course) defies description. But as always, opinions differ on this!
Best regards! ;)
Gast
Hmm... well, with the Durst, you always get that satisfying click when the negative stage locks into place. My Opemus, on the other hand... wobble, wobble... just don’t touch it, or everything will slip out of place again.
Gast
Hello!
Well, on my Op. 6 with a metal slide and frameless glass, nothing wobbles at all...
My brother has a Kaiser with a completely bizarre slide: glass at the bottom, frameless at the top (so exactly the other way round) – I wonder who came up with that?
Roman
Gast
I’ve got an Opemus metal-frame glassless display too. Maybe I’ve just had a bit of bad luck with mine.
Cheers!
P.S.: I think Kaiser is pretty awful too ;-)
Urnes
Well, I have to say that I bought my Magnifax 3a about 12 years ago in Prague from a photography shop that had been taken over by Porst, and even though it certainly had 20 years of daily lab work under its belt, I wouldn’t have swapped it for a consumer-grade medium-format camera for anything in the world. I’ve often been annoyed that it has a slight right-left tilt, so you just have to be a bit careful not to shift the frame. At least the thing doesn’t wobble.
A top tip for the low-cost market, if you can do without a filter drawer like a Liesegang Rajah IV or, better still, a V with a medium-format condenser. Nothing in the world could knock that one off balance now... ;)
Gast
"My brother has a Kaiser with a completely bizarre viewing stage: glass at the bottom, no glass at the top (so exactly the opposite)"
--- it doesn't have to be like that. You can also work with a fully glazed viewing stage. The combination described is certainly extravagant, but not practical. It's not the viewing stage but the owner of this combination who is "bizarre".
Have a look at Kaiser; they have lenses with and without Newton elements, with glass at the top or bottom, or without any glass at all.
The only thing I hold against my 6x9 Kaiser is the format: you can upgrade to 6x9, buy a correspondingly expensive condenser, and end up with only 6x8, because a standard in the photography world claims that the designation 6x9 is actually 6x8 in the case of underexposure in the metric world.
And so I shall part ways with the Kaiser, which has worked perfectly well for medium format up to now.
Wishing you happy Dukaworking
Thomas[COLOR=red][COLOR=blue]
Gast
Well, I’ll have to take a closer look next time I visit (my brother doesn’t exactly live round the corner...), but if I remember correctly, it looked as though there was nothing to swap out, and the glass at the bottom and the glassless section at the top seemed to be permanently fitted... It’s some older Kaiser model; I’m not really familiar with their model names.
MirkoBoeddecker
I wanted to ask what you mean by the annoying ‘wobble’ in the image stage.
Actually, nothing is wobbling that isn’t supposed to.
So if you mean that the rear hinge has 2 mm of play at the top: that is intentional and has to be that way.
This allows for tolerances in the mounting dimensions when using different masks, glass plates etc. and different film thicknesses to be compensated for.
If it were a fixed hinge, it wouldn’t be possible to ensure that the negative lies completely flat between the glass plates or film mask frames.
It would most likely be the case that the film is pressed too hard or too lightly towards the hinge, or if there is a latch at the front, the whole stage would bend and the film would only be pressed against the sides.
Furthermore, excessive contact pressure causes Newton rings.
Incidentally, on the Meo, this can be ‘adjusted’ very effectively by ‘bending’ the upper pressure springs to alter their tension.
In my opinion, a film stage that has no play in the hinge and ‘holds’ the film outside the unit, without having a sophisticated spring pressure mechanism integrated into the film stage, is a design flaw.
Regards,
Mirko
Of course, a professional Durst is better than an amateur Meopta.
But if you compare machines in the same price range, the Meopta is better in my opinion.
A Magnifax is, let’s say, East German professional class.
Not as good as West German professional class, but better than amateur league ;-)
Gast
The point is, second-hand Profi-Durst machines are cheap these days (at least much cheaper than they used to be). So why bother buying a Meopta?
The negative stage on the Meopta (in my experience, though others obviously have different experiences) moves in every conceivable direction. You always have to move the base plate (a lot) and so on.
Mirko, your ‘enlarger’ is protected by a device! How can you be impartial in this case? Still, of course we can discuss it, obviously...
Regards
Gast
I’m just rereading my post: the last bit about the flat share with Mirko & Meopta was meant to be tongue-in-cheek; the way it’s written now, it sounds a bit ‘mean’ without meaning to. No hard feelings, though...
Best wishes,
from
unadodox
Gast
Hello, just a quick note based on my own experience: ‘professional-grade equipment’, some of which is now being sold off at rock-bottom prices, is often so thoroughly worn out from decades of constant use in day-to-day operations that any random new piece of kit – or even lightly used amateur equipment – would be considered a high-end precision instrument by comparison. You could also sum it up like this: the cheapest is often the most expensive...
Of course, there are exceptions to the rule!
Best regards! ;) B)
MirkoBoeddecker
Unconventional,
I haven’t got that wrong.
Still, a brief explanation:
I can sell any enlarger still being made in the world.
We’re in touch with all the manufacturers and do, after all, sell equipment from other brands as well.
But you’re spot on: I simply like the Meos.
Perhaps because I started working on one myself, or because it was simply the best-known device here in the East and so, for a long time, we were only ever exposed to Meopta.
The reason we deal almost exclusively in Meos is not down to my personal preferences, but to the fact that there is no longer any demand for other devices.
Those buying a new machine today are either institutions or people who don’t want to put themselves through the hassle of eBay and still value advice and service.
Institutions are best served by a solid and affordable machine. In other words, Meos.
The other group usually doesn’t have such incredibly high professional standards, or is put off by Durst’s new prices. Here too, Meopta is right on target.
Solid, affordable, complete system.
Of course, we’d rather sell a Durst for €1,200 than a Meo for €300 – it’s obvious where we’d make more money, but we’d probably have to find the customers for that ourselves.
In that respect, we still offer East German equipment more than 15 years after reunification, with a clear conscience and out of conviction.
In any case, I posted the above to avoid any misunderstandings – not necessarily to take up the cudgels for Meopta.
I’ll do that here now ;) B)
Best regards,
Mirko
Gast
Well, I started out with a Dunco 66II and a Meopta. Neither of them was in great condition, but they’d been used regularly by a photography club. The Meopta isn’t made of cheap plastic, but the negative doesn’t feed in smoothly, focusing is more of a faff, and because of all the metal-on-metal sliding guides, the machine simply performs worse after a bit of downtime. Both can enlarge images. Still, in a direct comparison, I find the Dunco miles better. I think Durst and Kaiser are poorly processed and overpriced.
Gast
I own a Magnifax; before that I had an Opemus 5, then a 6 and a 7. I’ve practically grown up with them, so to speak. One friend has Durst equipment, another has Kaiser gear. It’s all just cheap plastic! I’m sure Bildbühne has different manufacturing tolerances, but for me, even after years, everything fits perfectly and it works just as well as it did on day one. No slipping or anything like that. They are rock-solid, robust machines!!! that I can swear by. It’s just that when you buy them second-hand, and they’re usually offered from granny’s attic without a warranty, they can become misaligned due to improper handling and storage, etc. … just like any other machine, for that matter.
Haiko
