Intro to Black & White - Enlarger Types

Interested in making your own prints from your black and white negatives? One of the first acquisitions you need to make is an enlarger. But what to buy? There are many types of enlargers on the market.

It’s not all that daunting; there are only two main types of enlargers to choose from. Apart from this the only other requirement is your negative size. Are you using 35mm to 4 x 5″ film or only 35mm? Answer this question and you know what functionality you require of an enlarger.

Differences between enlarger types:

Many negatives can be enlarged equally well on a condenser or diffusion enlarger. There are however, different characteristics to each enlarger type.

A) Condenser Enlarger

1. Gives maximum tone separation, especially in the highlights.
2. Tends to accentuate scratches, blemishes and grain. This can be a problem and you need to have a very clean negative processing system.
3. Very suitable for work at a high degree of enlargement; this is because of its high optical efficiency.
4. Suffers from the inconvenience of re-adjustment of the lamp position whenever the degree of enlargement is altered appreciably. These enlargers also require you to change condensers when changing negative formats.
5. The image contrast is higher than a diffuser enlarger. This needs to be taken into account. However, this characteristic maybe something that is suitable or not to your photography.

B) Diffuser Enlarger

1. Gives less tonal separation than condenser enlarger.
2. Subdues scratches, blemishes and grain.
3. This enlarger is not suitable for high degree enlargement, unless a high power cold-cathode or mercury-vapour light source is used. This is because of the low optical efficiency of the diffuse negative illuminating system. Changing light sources can be a very expensive exercise if you want to make large prints.
4. The image contrast is lower than a condenser enlarger.

After evaluating your printing needs, this will point you in the right direction for the enlarger type you require. The rest is easy, go look for an enlarger and buy. Fortunately enlargers in the second hand market are plentiful and very, very cheap.

Roo du Jardin is a photographer who runs an informational website about Online Photography Courses. Read some more tips, techniques and resources at Online Photography Courses blog.