Brand

Used Leitz enlargers

Ernst Leitz took over Carl Kellner's optical workshop in Wetzlar and put his own name on it in 1869. The firm made its name with microscopes before the Leica camera arrived in the 1920s, and it wasn't long before it sold enlargers to print Leica negatives. A Leitz Valoy was being advertised by 1932, and the first Focomat followed in 1934. From then on there were two lines. The Valoys were plain manual enlargers, and the Focomats had a cam that kept the lens in focus as the head moved. The post-war Focomat Ic for 35mm and the IIc for negatives up to 6x9 cm worked in newspaper darkrooms for decades. The V35 of 1978 swapped the opal bulb and condenser for a halogen mixing box, and after the company's mergers it was sold as the Leica V35 from 1989. Kienzle Phototechnik in Germany still makes carriers, masks and lamps for most of them.

6 models we cover.