[LargeFormat] "Best" 4x5 enlarger?

[Clive Warren]

At 11:15 07/11/2003 -0800, Richard Knoppow wrote:
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "tOM Trottier"
>
> > My camera club is considering buying an LF enlarger, and
>is considering an
> > Omega D2 or D2V.
> >
> > What do people recommend?
snip
>   Omega is still in business and parts are available unlike
>Durst which does not support its older models. The big
>Dursts are definitely Rolls-Royce quality but you may have
>serious problems if anything is missing or broken.
snip

Although I should be hitting the hay, have to respond to this one!

I have a number of 138S enlargers - don't ask - and they are indeed built 
to the highest quality. I have no hesitation in recommending them as 
probably the best chassis around and very little that can go wrong. My 
favorite is one with a Chromega Dichroic E head. DeVere enlargers are also 
very good but do seem to suffer a little more when worn compared to the Dursts.

As for heads, I like the Chromega heads very much but there is little to 
beat an Ilford multigrade head if you are black & white fan.

In the last couple of years many pro labs have been making the move to 
digital and there are still some great deals to be had out there if you 
look around.

Cheers,
            Clive