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The B66 enlarger had a tall order to
fill - replacing the B-22 that had been a top seller for years. It
succeeded by incorporating a number of improvements while
maintaining the best features of the B22. The condenser head was a
new design - a box with a sliding front panel providing easy access
to the condensers and providing convenient slots for heat absorbing
glass and filters. The column was now finished in powder coated
black to reduce reflections and the counterbalance spring no longer
jutted above the top of the column.
Initially
the B66 was offered in both standard and XL versions, but the
standard column was discontinued after just a couple of years due to
strong consumer preference for the XL models. As with the B22, the
B66 was frequently sold with lens and negative carrier packages.
The
colorhead that was was provided with the B66 throughout its
production run was the Chromega B Dichroic Lamphouse, although there
was an adapter kit available later on to allow retrofitting the
C-700 or C760 Dichroic colorhead.
Used Advice: The B-66 is fully
serviceable, but note that a common problem on early B-66s concerned
the aluminum elevation lock knob that had a tendency to break when
over-tightened. Late models used a larger elevation lock knob with
a steel shaft. |
