Defusing light from enlarger bulb.

[Derrel]

Leica/Leitz had autofocus enlargers too.

Yes...I used several in a university fine art department darkroom. The Leitz Focomat IIc is what we had at WOSU. We had several of them, and YES, they were automatically focusing enlargers...worked perfectly on all sizes of prints, from tiny to extreme. They were set up with one,specific lens, and as I recall, a cam system that focused as the enlarger head was raised and lowered. I think the Leitz company developed these in the 1940's; possibly earlier, or later. I dunno...anybody interested could Google for info on the LEITZ Focomat autofocus enlarger models.

 

[Grandpa Ron]

Well I could not find Flashed Opal Glass but two layer of a white plastic garbage bag over a piece of frosted glass worked just fine.

The auto focus magnification range is 1.3 to 2.3 time the negative size. This would give a 8" x 10" photo with a 4x5 negative or a 5"x 7" photo for a 6 x 9 ratio 120 format. Unfortunately, the 35 mm becoming popular at the time would only make about a 3 1/4" by 2 1/8" print.

I will consider the project complete when I get a print from my vintage 4x5 camera negatives. There are of course a lot simpler ways to take pictures, but the fun is in the doing.

Thanks for all the info and interest.

 

[compur]

It shows up on eBay occasionally:

That's where I sold the sheets I had.

Recently I needed some and I pulled off the diffusion panel from an old broken light box which worked pretty well.