What considerations should be made when choosing an enlarger lens?
A. Sharpness is the most important issue. Your enlarger lens should be as sharp as your camera lens. I have been very pleased with Schneider Componon-S lenses. With some lenses your lens should be longer than your normal lens for the given format, otherwise the image will be soft around the edges. If you can find a lens that is shorter than your normal lens and is not soft around the edges , you will not have to raise the enlarger head nearly as high when making 16″x20″ or larger prints. Lenses that have very wide aperture settings offer the advantage of making it easier to print very dense negatives as well as make focusing easier with 16″x20″ or larger prints. Q1. How much must I spend on an enlarger? A. Omega and Beseler, two of the most reputable enlarger manufacturers both make very basic enlargers for about $150. These may not be adequate for all of your darkroom needs, because they sometimes have columns that are not rigid enough to make 16×20 or larger prints. They make very ni
