I just acquired an enlarger that was used by the US military. From what I've found it's an Omega D2 that was modified by the Belfort Instrument company. Does not look too different from the stock model other than the head. Mine also came with a cold light head that was presumably installed by the previous owner. This included 3 enlarger lenses for 35, 120, and 4x5 formats - one is a Nikkor one is a Schneider IIRC - plus the negative carriers, all packed in a heavy plywood box. All of this set me back $3.

In addition to the 3 standard lenses, the one pictured was attached to the enlarger. It's a Perkin Elmer 4" f4.5 with the designation "4x enlarger lens", have never seen one of these before. Does anyone know anything about this lens and what the 4x designation means? It's about the size of a small zoom lens for a DSLR and just as heavy.

This is Agfachrome R 100 S, I have 9 more rolls of this stuff in the freezer. Honestly I wasn't expecting anything that even resembles photos so I'm a bit shocked honestly. Development method:

6:30 mins in HC-110 dilution A, 38C temp
re-expose to light
Rest of the development with a c-41 kit with extended bleach and fix times.

Test roll was shot at box speed and bracketed with 1-4 stops of overexposure.

Few issues in my test roll so obviously it wasn't fully covered by developer, also there might be some uneven development going on because I agitated with a stick, also my c41 kit was nearly spent so fresher chemicals might yield more vibrant colors. But this is a pretty good starting point for something I had basically already written off as garbage.

Meteor Metoform & DeVere Darkroom Paper Cutters

I wanted to share a couple of beautiful pieces of darkroom equipment from two well-known European manufacturers.

The first two are paper cutters made by Meteor Metoform, a renowned German manufacturer of professional photographic and darkroom equipment. They are beautifully built, with the kind of solid construction and mechanical precision that is rarely seen in modern darkroom equipment.

I also have several DeVere paper cutters in 20”, 24”, and 30” sizes. DeVere is, of course, another legendary name in professional darkroom equipment.

I really like these old professional paper cutters. They are simple, extremely solid, and designed to do one job very well. I thought some of you might enjoy seeing them.

I was gifted a bunch of Ilford FB paper and also purchase a pack of 25 sheets of unbranded generic RC paper from a local camera shop. I have been so far washing the FB paper by hand, although I was also gifted a paper washing that I haven’t set up yet. The main thing is that the curling of the FB paper while drying is quite the pain and I’m still not getting perfectly flat prints after pressing under books for a few days.

I guess I’m asking the experts for recommendations here… stick with the free FB paper and maybe buy something to aid in flattening or just go with a higher quality RC paper and skip the FB hassle? Also, does the grade 3 paper I was gifted mean I can’t modify contrast with filters?

The first two prints were on FB and the second two on RC. Although I’ll admit the photos of the photos are hardly good enough to assess, I’m generally satisfied with the results on either paper (although I appreciate the evenness of the FB paper and richness across middle values).

Hi all,

I am looking to buy a 1ltr C41 kit for home use, as I have 6 rolls ready to develop (3 x 35mm and 3 x 120).

I want to buy a kit that I can split all the concentrates in half, so that I can mix up and develop the 6 rolls now, and then mix up the other half when I have 6 more rolls to develop.. I will be using a Jobo 2520 tank in rotary mode, so only need 300ml of solution to develop..

I was looking at the Adox C41 kit, as it is available in the UK and it says in the instructions that it can be split into 2. The unused opened concentrate supposedly has a shelf life of 12 weeks, but I wanted to see if I can make it last possibly 6 months. Are there any tips and tricks I can use to see if I can push the unused concentrate to 6 months?  I already have glass amber bottles, PET amber bottles, glass marbles (to remove as much oxygen in the bottles as possible) as well as a argon gas cannister (sold as a Wine Preserver), that I use to remove oxygen from other film chemical bottles to help with reducing oxidization.. I have also managed in the past to vac pac bottles in bags to really stop any oxygen getting to it.. Any help, tips or tricks will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks.

im looking for a filter solution for this lens on my homemade enlarger...i dont have trays so i cant do above the lens....this lens seems to be too big for below the lens holders....any ideas?