Enlargers were built to print for decades, and plenty still do. Here's which used ones to buy and what should come with them.

Start from the biggest negative you shoot, then pick a common model so carriers and parts are easy to find. A medium-format machine, like a Beseler 23C or an Omega D-series, prints 35mm too once it has the 35mm carrier, a 50mm lens and the right condenser or mixing box. Parts dealers such as KHB Photografix still list carriers, lens boards, bellows and lamps for Beseler, Omega and LPL. Our guide to choosing your first enlarger goes through it step by step.

Omega's own manual puts the difference at about one paper grade. A negative that prints on grade 2 with a condenser needs grade 3 with diffusion, and sharpness is the same because it comes from the lens. Condensers show dust, scratches and grain more, and diffusion heads hide them. If your negatives are dusty or grainy, diffusion is kinder. If you like a punchier print, a condenser gets there with less filtration.

Yes. Variable-contrast paper responds to the balance of blue and green light, so dialing magenta raises contrast and dialing yellow lowers it. Beseler and Omega both printed tables of starting settings for Ilford and Kodak papers in their colorhead manuals, and Omega calls its table a point of departure to test. You don't need a separate filter set. LPL's VCCE heads go a step further. You dial the grade, and the exposure stays the same.

A carrier for each negative size you shoot, made for that model. The condensers or mixing box for those sizes. A lens board that fits your lens, and a lens if the listing includes one, since many don't. A working lamp. For color and VC heads, the power supply box, because many halogen heads, like Omega's D2 color head and LPL's, run from a separate supply. Ask the seller to list the carrier sizes and to photograph the head open.

Roughly the diagonal of the negative, or the corners fall off. That works out to a 50mm for 35mm, 75 or 80mm for 6x6, 80 to 90mm for 6x7, 100 to 105mm for 6x9 and 135 or 150mm for 4x5. A longer lens covers smaller negatives too, but it won't enlarge them as much on the same column. The common thread is 39mm, the board LPL ships as standard, and some long or short lenses need a cone or a recessed board.

Pick up if you can. LPL's 7452L 4x5 weighs about 31 kg and new ones shipped in three cartons, and even a medium-format LPL 7700 is about 16 kg. Makers shipped them in pieces, LPL in three cartons and Omega with the glass condensers packed on their own. If it has to ship, ask the seller to remove the lens, carriers and condensers, lock the carriage and box the head on its own.

Opal bulbs for condenser heads are easy. A specialist dealer still lists the PH211 (75 watts), PH212 (150 watts), PH140 and PH111A. Color and VC heads use low-voltage halogen lamps made for that head, and when we checked in October 2026 several, including Beseler's 82-volt, 250-watt Dichro 45S lamp and Omega's 85-watt C760 lamp, were listed out of stock. Buy a color head with a lamp that lights.