4x5 enlarger help!!!!!

[qazokj]

hello! first post here so bear with me.
i came into a gilkon 4x5 enlarger (pretty sure they were only ever made in Australia.
it came with a schneider-kreuznach componon 150mm lens.
while testing it all out i noticed that its not projecting all of the negative... i have no idea why this is happening..
any help would be very appreciated. thanks!!

 

[Roger Cole]

Well you have some vignetting somewhere. I don't know this particular enlarger. Is it a condenser type? The Omega D2 condenser heads came in two varieties. One needed a specific set of condensers for each format (well, you can use the ones for larger formats for smaller negatives, you just lose intensity) and the others, like my D2V (the V is for variable) had an upper condenser that can be moved for different formats. My upper condenser fits in a drawer with a diagram on the door over the drawer showing which shelf of the drawer to put the condenser depending on the focal length of the lens. Do you have any way of changing your condenser configuration, assuming this is a condenser head?

 

[Ian Grant]

It's most likely the light source that's the issue. as Roger says you need the correct condensers, looks like it's set up for 120. Sometimes the position of the lamp can be adjusted to get more even illumination,

Welcome to APUG BTW

Ian

 

[RobC]

I agree with others that it could be the wrong condensors or condensors mounted incorrectly.

But it could be a host of other things too. we need more information about the type of enlarger, the light source and whether its vertically inline with lens or whether there is a reflex mirror (as in most durst enlargers).

 

[qazokj]

thanks for the fast response! was not expecting that!
roger, im pretty sure i cant change the condensers. although i have seen a D2 head for sale...im considering buying it and just jamming it on this enlarger haha.
ian. you might be right because 120 looks fine in it, i just cant get it big enough to bother using it for mf film. thankyou both!!

 

[qazokj]

you were totally right! found a little screw at the back of the head that slides the lamp up and down. it looks much better now. thanks!!

 

[Sirius Glass]

Welcome to APUG

 

[Maris]

you were totally right! found a little screw at the back of the head that slides the lamp up and down. it looks much better now. thanks!!

The Gilkon enlarger was made by Wilson & Gilkes in Sydney, Australia. I use one in my darkroom. Getting even illumination is tricky and depends on rotating and vertically adjusting the lampholder rod. The usual 75 watt Photocrescenta bulb seems to be marginally too small for even illumination so I use the 150 watt Photocrescenta bulb which has a bigger envelope. Wilson & Gilkes made this enlarger to a budget and the costly glass condensers lenses are as small as they can be. I reckon it's really a 3 3/4" X 4 3/4" enlarger not a 4"x5" like it says on the name plate. Within limitations it works well when properly tweaked.

 

[Christopher Nisperos]

March, 1839

The Gilkon enlarger was made by Wilson & Gilkes in Sydney, Australia. I use one in my darkroom. Getting even illumination is tricky and depends on rotating and vertically adjusting the lampholder rod. The usual 75 watt Photocrescenta bulb seems to be marginally too small for even illumination so I use the 150 watt Photocrescenta bulb which has a bigger envelope. Wilson & Gilkes made this enlarger to a budget and the costly glass condensers lenses are as small as they can be. I reckon it's really a 3 3/4" X 4 3/4" enlarger not a 4"x5" like it says on the name plate. Within limitations it works well when properly tweaked.

Maris,

This is completely off topic ... but I noticed your signature quote. Did you know that Daguerre's laboratory burned to the ground on March 8, 1839, apparently just a few days before Hershel formalized the the word, "photography"? (Up volume on creepy music!)

As well —and just in time for the newly coined word— the daguerrotype process, in spite of the destroyed lab, was revealed to the world on August 19th of that same year!

Daguerre traded his invention to the French government in exchange for a lifetime pension. The French, in turn, gave the invention "free, to the world", with the other ironic exception: Daguerre had already patented the process in the U.K., Hershel's homeland.

 

[Maris]

Thanks Christopher for the historical insights. I reckon the really devastating part of Daguerre's laboratory fire was that it took his spectacular Diorama with it. And the Diorama was a major part of Louis' income which financed his photography experiments. Later, the very generous pension from the French government made Daguerre a rich man.