Circuit board for Meopta Opemus IIa

Morte · 2013-02-24T16:00:05+00:00

Hallo an alle Meopta-Kenner, ich habe die Möglichkeit, für günstiges Geld einen gut erhaltenen Meopta Opemus IIa-Vergrößerer zu kaufen. Eingebaut ist ein Me...

Morte

Hello to all Meopta enthusiasts, I have the opportunity to buy a well-preserved Meopta Opemus IIa enlarger at a reasonable price. It is fitted with a Meopta Belar 4.5/75 lens. I like the robust look of the camera, but I realise it is quite old. As I’ve been working with a Krokus 67 Colour, which is already reaching its limits with 35mm film, this would be a way for me to work my way up to medium format with the Opemus. Also, the Krokus lets in quite a bit of stray light through the ventilation slots, whereas the Opemus has that blue cover. The Belar is certainly not a permanent solution, but at least it’s a start. However: As far as I know, the Opemus IIa uses a circuit board with a smaller diameter than the standard 39 mm used today, doesn’t it? So if I want to use my 39 mm lenses, I’ll need a different circuit board with a larger thread. Am I correct so far? A question for Mirko: I couldn’t find a circuit board like that on the FOTOIMPEX website. Do you still have any? I’m just weighing up whether to buy the unit. If there are no more circuit boards available, I could of course just put two enlargers in the darkroom. But that’s not an ideal solution. I’d appreciate any comments! Regards, Morte

piu58

> Am I on the right track so far? Yes. > If the circuit boards are no longer available You can make one yourself. You can file down the old circuit board and glue a thread from another manufacturer’s board onto it. It’s not rocket science.

MirkoBoeddecker

You can file down the old Plantine

...but only if it isn’t the conical, hammer-finish version. If it isn’t that one, this one will do as well: http://www.fotoimpex...5aaxo-2-4a.html *EDIT: I’ve just noticed that the text here doesn’t match the product and suspect a serious ‘mess-up in the database’ on the part of the ladies in the purchasing department. We first need to sort out which circuit boards we still have. EDIT II: That’s now sorted. The texts match up again.

bernhardmangelsgmxde

I think I’ve fitted the 23.5 mm (or whatever the size is) from the Axomat 2-4 / Opemus 3-5 (are they the same?) to the Opemus IIa for the 50 mm lens. It sort of fits, but not properly. The outer diameter is a bit smaller than the original Opemus IIa circuit board. For the 80mm, it could become problematic at lower (or very low?) enlargements that the circuit board for newer Meopta devices is flatter than that of the Opemus IIa. By the way: I don’t know if I’m the only one with this issue, but I’ve also had two Opemus IIa units that were somehow ‘warped’... on one, the lamp housing was visibly crooked and the slot for the negative stage was consequently warped too; on the other, everything looks straight, but when I enlarged the edges on some enlargements, I noticed that the projection was trapezoidal rather than rectangular... so the head is probably sagging. I’d keep a critical eye on that if I were buying one. The simpler solution might be an Opemus 6, which comes with a 39mm plate as standard. If the prices are still the same as when I bought mine, then it’s probably not much more expensive than an Opemus IIa and a separately purchased M39 plate. Of course, the 6 doesn’t have the charm of the IIa...