AGFA VARIOSCOPE 60 MANUAL MANUAL
A printed manual for the Agfa Varioscop 60 from us will cost you much less than it would cost you in ink and paper to print it yourself.
AGFA VARIOSCOPE 60 MANUAL MANUALS
This started as a little reading project in time of Virus,I am glad to have the benefit of the 35 mm enlarger.Available stock for the Agfa Varioscop 60 All our manuals are printed to the highest quality and bound as a convenient sized book. It still works and could be used, with a second condenser being supplied to fit the 1c. I can only describe the interior as rather a special case of a small projector. In the case of this last type of head there is also an adapter plate to Focomat Ic which is of typical Leitz Quality and finish. unless one has a good voltage regulator as EEC voltage standards would have defeated the plan. The bulb is around 250 (volt and watts) but the brochure suggests that it should come from the factory, no doubt as it is matched to local voltage over a wide range. It is entirely mechanical, at mains voltage, with a projector type large mains bulb. I do have one vestige of Varioscope history in the shape of two Agfa Colourheads, The latest, which is illustrated below is of a modern design and does most of the things the last colour heads did. Drawing on corporate memory perhaps, it is also white! It was sold in the graphics market with a Agfa branded lens. The above rant should not leave you in any confusion with the Agfa enlarger of the last days of Agfa called the Agfa C66 Colormat which is a Durst 605 adapted with complex exposure electronics in the baseboard. A Variscope is a rare machine in UK but retains a following in Europe where a Heiland split grade conversion has been listed and may still be available. HOWEVER.The Agfa Variscop 60 has all of the above features and it is impossible avoid the conclusion that the larger machine was made in Italy and is a good solid enlarger. It was a long search to trace the history but I am delighted to have the condenser machine that I use in the Circle. I had never seen my enlarger before I bought it but a picture did appear in one of the books by the late Barry Thornton who was equally mystified by its origins. * Split arm joints that both tighten and grip on the arm pivots. * Unusual lens mounts- not seen elsewhere. * Swinging arm forged to resemble stock parallel bar with diamond patterns within,sharp square edges.
* A semi circular magnification scale, that works as a cam. * Many circular heat vents in the base of lamp house
* Square film holding cups of an unusual type not seen elsewhere Examination of my enlarger in detail reveals. The Automatique is a rather nice 35 mm machine based on the general layout of the Focomat 1c and finished in off white and blue. Automatique Colour enlarger (where does he find them?) made until the modern era by IF.F Industrial Photomechanical of Firenze (Florence, Italy) who made lighting and enlargers but have now left the enlarger field. The story about the manufacture was accepted and half forgotten until I started to use an I.F.F. These include more modern colour fittings. Some spare parts are available new from Kienzle in Germany. Few are seen on sale in the UK but I would regard it as a good investment if the lenses are spotless. Even new flanges seemed to pose problems. I found that the adaption of other lenses would not be the simple job that is often possible. The machine I saw needed new lenses as an alternative to costly cleaning. However, it had coated condensers! Some web references date this machine to the 1950's. Where this idea came from I do not know but is was offered as an excuse for the quality of a rather lower standard than the Focomat and perhaps fitted the post war mindset. I had a chance to examine an old example and was told that it was born of a project to help unemployed young people. This was a heavy machine, painted off white, with turret lenses and auto focus and, judging from the focal lengths chosen, the design brief owes more than a passing debt to the Leitz Focomat 11. It concerns an enlarger (as ever) known as the Agfa Varioscop 60. Today's Blog arrived in the time of lock down and is more of a request for research or further information than an attempt to impart words of wisdom.
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