Mark
Hi,
I recently bought a Meopta Opemus 6a with a Color 3 colour-mixing head,
which is supposedly capable of enlarging up to 6x6. Not a chance!!
The negative stage is far too small. Now I’ve heard that you lot here
have some tips on how I can properly enlarge the stage so that I can also enlarge 6x6
with a black border...
Regards,
Mark
Gast
Mark,
I don’t understand that.
Every Opemus stage – whether plastic or metal – can magnify up to 6x6 if you swap the 100mm insert masks for 6x6 insert masks or glass.
If that doesn’t work, then it’s most likely not an Opemus but an Axomat.
You can find the insert masks in the Meopta section of our catalogue.
Best regards,
Mirko
www.fotoimpex.de
Mark
Hi Mirko,
I definitely have an Opemus :)
And the 6x6 insert masks (in their original Meopta packaging) measure approx. 5.4x5.4 cm, so they aren’t suitable for 6x6 format, nor even for 6x4.5 :(
Best regards
Mark
Gast
Oh, I see now.
No, unfortunately that won’t work. A black border isn’t possible with glass-free inserts.
The negative would keep slipping out at the sides and, on top of that, wouldn’t lie flat enough.
The glass inserts won’t help either, as the hole isn’t big enough and, because of the intermediate masks, it’s virtually impossible to file it out.
The solution: buy a new 6-frame plastic stage and file it down. The glass plates are 7.5 x 7.5 cm and the plastic is easy to work with.
However, you may need to re-expose the corners slightly to get them really black (depending on the lens and the condenser illumination).
Regards,
Mirko
Gast
Hi Mark!
By the way, it’s not just Meopta’s eyecups that are ‘too small’ – I’ve had the same experience with a Durst; 55mm x 55mm seems to be the ‘industry standard’ for the opening (apparently there’s a DIN standard for it).
Gast
Hi, I had the same problem with my Omega D5Xl. It wasn’t quite as serious as with the Opemus, but it was very easy to fix. The negative stages are similar to those on Besler machines, so you can file them down with a good-quality file. It took me half a day to do it, but the result is top-notch: full-frame without a glass stage! I also chamfered the edges nicely to avoid vignetting. The negatives should be nice and flat, though, otherwise loading them can be a bit of a faff. You can file down the metal trays on the Opemus as well, but it’ll probably take even longer.
Good luck
Micha
uworischki
It’s the same with Kaiser stages – 55 mm for the glass stages... only a nail file did the trick. But as I don’t like retouching, I’ve switched to non-glass inserts and do without the black border.
Uwe
cfb_de
Hi Mark,
Generally speaking, no ‘6x6’ enlarger has a negative stage cut out to 60mm x 60mm. That wouldn’t make much sense either, as the film would fall out and, besides, the negative isn’t actually 6x6. It’s usually 56mm x 56mm, sometimes with the typical “Hasselblad quirk”. Or even smaller. My Kiev-60 is 56x56, my Yashica is 55x55.
To get back to your problem: the solution is simple: insert a sheet of AN glass at the top and file the mask at the bottom down to 57.5mm x 57.5mm. That’s enough for a black border and, at the same time, just enough to stop the film from falling out. What’s more, the film lies a bit flatter thanks to at least one sheet of glass.
Best regards,
Franz
