For Enlargers

Off-the-shelf cameras produce negative quality that is not reproduced with equal quality by off-the-shelf enlargers. The main reason for this discrepancy is the generally poor parallelism of enlargers. It is also the most important reason you should check alignment of your enlarger. Because many photographers are aware of this problem, most of zig-align's sales are for enlarger alignment products.

The LED module systems (ZDs) are the professional's choice for checking parallelism of an enlarger's lens, neg, and paper planes (as well as for checking copy setups). The ring module enlarger systems (ZEs) are entry level.

LED Facts Information Brief
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If the patterns for lens-to-paper and neg-to-paper are symmetrical, then lens, neg, and paper are parallel.

If the patterns for both pairs are the same but not symmetrical, only lens and neg are parallel. You can make the paper plane parallel to the enlarger planes without further adjustment of the enlarger by using ease-align (ZA1 or ZA2).

Understanding the above can help you determine how to achieve alignment of your enlarger.

For contents and component sizes of the standard enlarger systems, see System Components.

LED module uses

LED module systems

Ring module systems