Enlarger condenser cleaning

Ben johns

Ben johns

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My Meopta Optemus student's condenser has dust on the inside, not surface dust, that shows up on prints. Is it something that I would be able to do myself? It doesnt look like its made to be taken apart so I dont want to just give it a go
 
I might have fixed it, I cleaned the outside of the condenser again and although there is still dust on the inside it doesn’t seem to show up when you focus on a negative, you have to focus on the condensers dust to see it. Fingers crossed!
 
To be seen on prints dust must be in the plane of focus of the lens.
A lens is focussed on the grain of a negative, so only dust in close proximity to it will be seen in the print. This can include either surface of the negative, the negative holder glasses and possibly the bottom surface of the condenser. Some enlargers use the bottom surface of the condenser as the top negative holder glass.

The light is focussed by the condenser, with the point of focus at the centre of the lens. while dust is always best removed from an optical system, unless it is focussed by the lens is almost never any sort of problem and can not be seen on a print.

In most cases Dust in a darkroom is only a problem if it is stirred up. If you spring clean a darkroom or enlarger, wait a few hours for the dust to settle before doing any work in it.

Never use a fan in a darkroom unless it is used for extraction. any vents for incoming air should be filtered.
Apart from damp dusting surfaces and washing the wet benches sinks and the floor. I only did a full spring clean once a year in my professional darkrooms, at that time every thing was stripped and thoroughly cleaned.
Print spotting was kept to a minimum, by ensuring negatives and carriers were scrupulously clean
 
Terrywoodenpic said:
To be seen on prints dust must be in the plane of focus of the lens.
A lens is focussed on the grain of a negative, so only dust in close proximity to it will be seen in the print. This can include either surface of the negative, the negative holder glasses and possibly the bottom surface of the condenser. Some enlargers use the bottom surface of the condenser as the top negative holder glass.

The light is focussed by the condenser, with the point of focus at the centre of the lens. while dust is always best removed from an optical system, unless it is focussed by the lens is almost never any sort of problem and can not be seen on a print.

In most cases Dust in a darkroom is only a problem if it is stirred up. If you spring clean a darkroom or enlarger, wait a few hours for the dust to settle before doing any work in it.

Never use a fan in a darkroom unless it is used for extraction. any vents for incoming air should be filtered.
Apart from damp dusting surfaces and washing the wet benches sinks and the floor. I only did a full spring clean once a year in my professional darkrooms, at that time every thing was stripped and thoroughly cleaned.
Print spotting was kept to a minimum, by ensuring negatives and carriers were scrupulously clean
Click to expand...
Thank you :) seems to confirm what I saw last night. The enlarger I just got looks (and was listed as unused) so has probably built up a lot of dust over the years
 
Ben johns said:
Thank you :) seems to confirm what I saw last night. The enlarger I just got looks (and was listed as unused) so has probably built up a lot of dust over the years
Click to expand...
If you are leaving it set up. Give it a thorough clean inside and out.. make a non static dust cover for it to keep it clean. A shower curtain can be good.
 
Terrywoodenpic said:
If you are leaving it set up. Give it a thorough clean inside and out.. make a non static dust cover for it to keep it clean. A shower curtain can be good.
Click to expand...
Yea I intend to get one soon. Going to place an order with ilford in a few days for new contrast filters so I’ll probably get one from then.
 
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