Gast
Hello everyone,
After a break of about 20 years, spurred on by my daughter’s interest, I wanted to give black-and-white photo processing another go. Somehow I’ve got a bit of a gap in my knowledge, and not just when it comes to multigrade paper. From what I’ve read so far, this isn’t a problem if you use the right filters. The ideal solution would be a gradation or colour mixing head. I still have an Opemus 5 in use and wanted to retrofit it with a colour mixing head, as this seems easier to me than assembling the filters by hand and placing them in the drawer. According to the description, the right one for this would be the Meochrom, but I haven’t come across it on eBay in the last few days. However, I am currently finding the newer Color 3 model there. Can any of you tell me whether this unit will fit the Opemus 5 without any issues? Unfortunately, I couldn’t find anything on the Meopta website; it only states that these fit all newer models, and mine probably no longer falls into that category.
A question about these glassless negative stages: are the negatives cut into individual pieces and fitted into a mask (similar to a slide frame), and then inserted individually into the negative stage for enlargement? Or is the mask fixed into the negative stage in place of the two glass plates, and the film strip fed through as usual?
Update on glassless negative stages: unfortunately, I can’t find the page again; it offered a glassless film stage where the film is pulled through (camel?) hair on the sides, which is supposed to prevent static build-up and even ‘suck the dust off’ the negative strip. Is that realistic? Would something like that also fit the Opemus 5?
Have a lovely rest of the weekend,
Thomas
cfb_de
Hi Thomas,
- You won’t be able to fit a Color 3 or Color 4 onto an Opemus-5 without a fair bit of effort. Guess why I was so chuffed when I came across a Meochrom on eBay...
- The glassless stage works exactly the same as the one with glass. Instead of glass plates, you just use perforated metal sheets. I bought the image stage from the Opemus-6, which fits perfectly.
- I’m not a fan of those little camel-hair brushes on an image stage. A single speck of dust in there means telegraph wires on every negative. But with a bit of effort, you can fit them into an Opemus stage yourself.
Best regards,
Franz
Gast
Hi Tomy,
As far as I know, the new colour mixing inserts don’t fit the Opemus 5. Also, it seems that not all multigrade gradients can be achieved easily with the old Meochrom. For the higher gradations (4 and above), this doesn’t appear to be possible.
As for the glassless inserts: I can recommend them, as they significantly reduce the hassle with dust. You simply slide them in instead of the glass inserts and you can use the film stage as usual. You don’t have to cut anything. I do find them problematic with 6x6, though – I can’t get a decent flat surface and have to leave the glass plate in, at least at the bottom.
I think a ‘camel hair stage’ for the Opemus is more of a joke or something you’d make yourself. I’m not really sure if it makes sense either. I once thought about attaching a fan to the negative stage to constantly blow the dust away. But so far, it’s just an idea.
cfb_de
Hello Bernd,
Besides, it’s not true that all multigrade processing can be done easily with the old Meochrom
that is simply
not true! I enlarged a few rather tricky negatives today and used the full range from 0 to 4.5. It works perfectly fine.
And even if the filter density isn’t sufficient for gradient 5 or 0: it’s no problem at all to use an additional insert filter.
Although that’s unnecessary for me, as my Meochrom already has interference filters; these don’t fade.
The whole discussion is academic anyway: if Thomas wants to upgrade his Opemus-5, he has no choice but to go with the Meochrom. Nothing else fits it, and the very old grey cages don’t have interference filters.
Best regards,
Franz
MirkoBoeddecker
We do have one of these colour heads in stock.
Unfortunately, due to the ridiculous legal situation, I can only offer it as non-functional and with the cable cut off.
In reality, of course, it works perfectly provided it’s supplied with 12 volts.
Condition: Very good.
Price: €50.
Mirko
PS Thomas: Have you downloaded our catalogue yet? All frequently asked questions are answered there. You might find it interesting.
http://www.fotoimpex.de/catalogus_novus_im..._compressus.pdf
Gast
Hello everyone,
Thank you very much for your helpful replies. Now I know what is (and isn’t) possible.
Hi Franz,
I’ve already had a look at your website – it’s really well done. I’d actually been thinking of sending you a private message, but then I saw the link to this web forum. Web forums aren’t really my thing, but this one works very well and the right people are replying ;-)
Hi Mirco,
I’ve obviously already been to your website and have had a look through the catalogue too. Someone asked here in the forum why you don’t have an online shop. The answer was that there are always questions left unanswered that need clarifying. And that’s the case for me too. Once I’ve got everything set up, I’ll give you a ring (not meant as a threat ;-)
Thanks for the Meochrom you offered with the cable cut off and no transformer: but to be honest, off the top of my head, the price of 50 EUR is a bit steep for me. It probably wouldn’t be easy to get a transformer in the right power class either. I don’t even know how many watts it needs; I just know that transformers with more than 120 watts are really expensive. I’ll keep an eye on the second-hand market for now; you can get the newer models there for far less (based on my recent experience). I might even buy an Opemus 6 with all the accessories for a song and sell my 5-series. But I’m sure you lot know the second-hand market better than I do.
Have a lovely day,
see you next time,
cu Thomas
MirkoBoeddecker
Hello Thomas,
Of course, we can’t compete with eBay.
But we do offer a guarantee and advice.
You’ll need to buy the transformer separately for all 100-watt Meopta colour projectors (whether old or new). So make sure to check whether it’s included in the auction.
You can find 12V/100W transformers in any DIY store for very little money as halogen lamp transformers in those ‘stretch-the-wire-and-hang-lots-of-little-halogen-spotlights-on-it’ systems. Or as an original Meopta part for €79.
Only the Color 4 ES has a built-in transformer. However, this isn’t really an advantage because, as the built-in transformer had to be lighter, it can only step down to 82 volts. The bulbs for this cost four times as much as the 12 V bulbs and, on top of that, are only 85 watts.
We can also knock a bit off the price, but you’ll need to give us a call for that.
Best regards,
Mirko
Gast
Hi Mirko,
That’s what happens when you make assumptions instead of checking. I assumed the transformer was at least 150, if not 250 watts. It really pays to read the specs! I’ve now checked myself and it’s only 100 watts, which isn’t really a big (financial) problem.
In about 10–14 days, the Duka will be ready for me to install the equipment. I’ll give you a call by then at the latest; there’s still a whole lot of other stuff to sort out.
Regarding the Meochrom, I’d like to thank you in advance for your willingness to negotiate and will then refer to you. Just in case we don’t speak on the phone directly.
Until then...
See you, Thomas
PS: I’ve just realised that I misspelled your name earlier; please accept my apologies.
Gast
Hi Tomy,
I felt exactly the same way about two and a half years ago, although my break was ‘only’ eight or nine years long...
I’ve been using the Opemus 5 glassless KB stage for as long as I can remember; when stopping down to f/5.6, the flatness is adequate. For 6x6, I use the standard stage with normal glass; dust or Newton rings haven’t been a problem so far.
Don’t worry about the filters; I don’t want to spoil the deal for you, but in my opinion a filter set works quite well – for 90% of my prints I only use gradients between 1.5 and 2.5.
A quick word of warning: the multigrade paper (I use the Macospeed from our forum hosts) is sensitive to the ‘traditional’ yellow-green Duka light; that did throw me off a bit at first. Get yourself a red Duka lamp.
By the way: look forward to it – compared to ‘the old days’, working (…) with Multigrade is pure pleasure.
Regards
Axel
MirkoBoeddecker
Hi Axel,
any multigrade paper will appear hazy under yellow-green light.
Some more so than others, depending on sensitisation or desensitisation.
BECAUSE: green affects the soft emulsion and blue the hard emulsion.
That’s why you block the soft emulsion with magenta and the hard emulsion with orange.
Conventional fixed-grade paper (e.g. BN111 etc.) was only sensitive to blue and could therefore be processed with almost all other colours situated higher up the colour spectrum.
I’m just harping on about this in such detail because, unfortunately, people keep getting it wrong and not everyone gets the hang of it like you do. All too often, the result is frustration and, later on, giving up on the attempt to get started, or an unnecessary waste of materials and a switch to other papers.
Mirko
Gast
Hi Axel,
I really want to give those frameless stages a go. I still have very unpleasant memories of those two glass plates. Somehow they always looked as if they weren’t clear (there was always a fog in them). In the end, the photos were all fine—for what I needed back then. I’ve just been looking through a few old photos with my daughter again, grrrr.
> By the way: look forward to it – compared to ‘the old days’, working (???) with Multigrade is pure pleasure.
I imagine the Multigrade paper is lovely too, especially how easy it is to achieve the perfect image. For filtering, I just wanted that Meochrom I mentioned, because I imagine it’s easier to handle. Of course, the Opemus 5 has a filter drawer, but picking out filters, loading the drawer, fumbling the filters out again (with my thick fingers) and putting them away again – the Meochrom seemed the more convenient solution to me. Well, I’m not quite there yet. On the other hand, these filters are _very_ cheap to buy.
> Get yourself a red Duka lamp.
Because I get on well with it, I’ve always used one. At first I was worried about creating sources of error with light that was too bright. Now I don’t need to change anything.
See you, Thomas
