can i use a colour enlarger to print from b/w negs?

positivenote

hi guys,
im after getting an enlarger to print b/w prints but its a coulor enlarger with the 3 colour dials on it. can i use this to print black and white photo's? i've only ever used a b/w enlarger myself without the dials on it. if i can what settings should i set each of the dials to?
thanks

DaireQuinlan

I would say probably, yes. I looked into this briefly a while ago when I was looking for an enlarger. You can, IIRC, zero out the filtration on the colour head, but I don't know if the colour enlargers have a seperate filter drawer where you can put your contrast filters if you're printing multigrade paper. Alternatively I think there's some table somewhere that equates different colour wheel settings to the different grades of contrast filter. Everything else ought to be the same.

thefizz

DaireQuinlan wrote: »

I think there's some table somewhere that equates different colour wheel settings to the different grades of contrast filter. Everything else ought to be the same.

That is correct, do a web search for using colour filtration to print b&w or check the leaflet which comes with your paper as it usually has this info for various enlargers.

Peter

A.Partridge

Yes you can use it to print from b&w negs.

In fact, printing with a colour head enlarger is probably the most common method of producing traditional black and white prints.

Now, every printing paper usually has a data sheet in the packet which contains the filter values which you can use (depending on your enlarger make) to achieve different grades of image contrast.

So the values you dial in depend on whether you are using Durst, Kodak or some other enlarger head type.

What's the name of the enlarger?

CabanSail

Yes.

You can get information from the Paper company as to what settings you use for the grade of contrast. I have seen these stuck up in our darkroom at various times.