Gast
Hello everyone,
Does anyone have any experience with the old (white) Meochrom colour mixing head for the Opemus 5? I’d like to use it for prints on multigrade paper. There are plenty of tables with filter settings available, but some of them go up to a value of ‘200’, whereas the scale on the Meochrom apparently only goes up to ‘150’.
Does it still work, even for gradients 4–5, or is this a rather poor alternative to slide-in filters?
Bernd
Gast
Hello!
I don’t have the Meochrom, but I do have the newer Color 3, which goes up to 200 – but even with that, grade 5 isn’t achievable with some papers, which is why I’ve kept my MG filters and put the grade 5 filter in front of the lens when needed...
Roman
Gast
If your enlarger has a filter drawer, you
could put extra filters in it!
As it’s positioned above the lens, the quality doesn’t need to be as precise as
that of the filters below the lens!
Niall
Gast
Niall,
once you replace the condenser head (which has a drawer) with the colour head, the drawer for the filter is no longer there (with Meoptas, it is built into the condenser head).
The only enlargers that have both a colour head and a drawer are the Kaiser VCPs (at least, I don’t know of any others).
Roman
Gast
Hello Roman,
I can’t let that stand: my Opemus-5 has the Meochrom fitted. And that means the condenser and filter drawer are retained. The light is provided by an integrating sphere mounted on the condenser.
Kaiser isn’t the only one :-)
Best regards,
Franz (who can’t log in from work)
Gast
Really? I assumed it was the Op. 5 based on my Op. 6, as they do look very similar... How wrong I was!
In any case, the Color 3 doesn’t fit the condenser on the Op. 6.
Gast
I'm afraid I have to disagree with you there, Roman. I have
the Axomat 4A and an Opemus 5, and both have the filter drawer!!
It's just above the condenser!!
When you remove the light compartment, the filter drawer stays attached to the condenser!
As I said, I have the Axomat 4A with the Meopta colour head!!
It’s very nice indeed!
And it takes good photographs!!
Niall
cfb_de
Hi Niall,
The Opemus-5 and -6 differ in design. That’s why the modern Color-3/-4 won’t fit on those older models. If you add a colour head to the Opemus-5 (that old Meochrom one), you’ll keep both the condenser and the filter drawer. It’s different with the Opemus-6.
In that case, you’ll lose both the condenser and the filter drawer and replace them with a colour head and polystyrene boxes to achieve indirect light.
I kept my old Opemus-5 (bought from Mirko ;-) and got a Meochrom colour head for it (many thanks to Manfred on eBay/phototec-boards). I just added some metal to it (making it a sort of ‘inverted tripod’ mount) to ensure stability. Now, I can use both the filter drawer and the colour head. The old Meochrom won’t reach grade 5 on its own. I need additional filtering and therefore a filter drawer (or my good old ‘get-rid-of-red-filter-method’ to place them under the lens).
Best regards,
Franz
Gast
....How much did you pay for the colour head!!
And do you use grade 5 often!!!
Niall
cfb_de
Gast
...I bought mine on eBay too!!
I got it with the Opemus 2 standard for 40 euros!!
I then got an Axomat 4A for 10 euros,
and fitted the colour head to it!
I almost bought one from Mirko, but I got it on eBay for less!!
Niall
