Archived posting to the Leica Users Group, 2004/05/15
[Author Prev] [Author Next] [Thread Prev] [Thread Next] [Author Index] [Topic Index] [Home] [Search]Not long ago I was able to sell my Omega D-2 4x5 enlarger, with Aristo cold light and an Omega dichroic head (adapted to filter through 6" condensers). In a nostalgic farewell, I sold three beautiful Rodenstock Rodagon lenses as well. My Epson Perfection 3200 flatbed scanner replaces this outfit and does an exceptional job with my 4x5 negatives for blow-ups to 13"x19" on the Epson 2000P printer. (And watercolor paper or archival matte behind glass adequately replaces my gorgeous Agfa Portriga fiber papers). Fortunately, I was not able to quickly sell my Omega C760 enlarger (for formats up to 6x7). I say it is fortunate I did not sell it because I found such a wonderful "digital" use for it that I would now never part with it! I use the C760 now to digitally "scan" 35mm slides and negatives and get beautiful results that rival the quality of the output of my Canoscan 4000 but with far greater speed! I remove the dichroic head from the enlarger and place it upside down on the baseboard. In place of the head, I mount my Nikon D100 with Nikkor 60mm f2.8 1:1 Micro lens. (Omega sells a camera mount to allow the conversion of the enlarger into a copy stand.) For slides, I set the dichroic head for white, the D100 for tungsten light, and the lens for 1:1 and very quickly convert slides into high resolution, sharp and well color-balanced digital images. For negatives, I get the same exceptional results after setting the filtration of the dichroic head to compensate for the orange mask of the negatives. Of course the digital files for the negatives are in color inverted form, but that is quickly corrected in Photoshop with one menu click. (Just one other note about Photoshop: I find that if I set the D100 to sharp, I should not use any sharpening in Photoshop or else the film grain becomes too apparent in large blow-ups.)(Just one other note about the D100: I set it to monitor highlight overexposure -- this works wonders for contrast control.) So yes, in some sense I still use a darkroom but my transition to digital is now complete. The work I do with the C760 is no longer in the dark. I enjoy the speed and quality of the new process; but of my old routine, I miss the comfort of its womb-like atmosphere, the sound of my metronome against the backdrop of soft classical music, the sight of tray-bound images slowly emerging to life in the warm orange glow of the darkroom... Tom __________________________________ Do you Yahoo!? SBC Yahoo! - Internet access at a great low price. http://promo.yahoo.com/sbc/