5x4 Enlargers for small dark rooms?

The Durst L1000 looks actually exactly what i want, i used to have a 6x7 Durst and it seems to be of the same construction.

Durst's do pop up every once in a while here, so i think my choices to look for are either a Beseler MX45 or the Durst L1000.

The Beseler is up on a 'offer' price, i'll send a email and see... if its available for not too much money i can always give it a swing. At the moment i cant find a L1000 for sale.

Yes, I have bought Durst L1000 parts from your country. Some lens boards and a condenser. The enlarger itself is generally below € 150.

If the Beseler is a no, then have a look at the L1000 manual. Quite easy to understand which parts are essential and which parts would be nice to find over time. Mine by now is a full grown enlarger and having it against the wall is great.

Ditto on the Federal Enlarger. In fact I have an Aristo head for it.

If you could find one a Omega D2 is not too heavy.

Hilo said:

The Durst L1000 must be one of the smallest 4X5 enlargers. Rather small column and base board. I would say it will give you prints of about 12X16. Great metal built and very reasonable in prize. However you need to be well informed before you buy it.

- the various condensers (it always takes a combination of two)
- yes / no filter tray
- the need to have larger bulbs
- the bulb's wattage: there were 200, 300 and even higher. And active ventilation with the higher watt bulbs. Or using a dedicated heat glass between lamp house and and the head with MG filters and negative . . .

What would be best is you find a very complete one with spare bulbs. Mine is against the wall, using the Durst wall mount and gives me beautiful 20X24 prints. I took two years to get it complete.

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a sturdy wall mount is a very valuable addition to any enlarger DIY versions work if not available from manufacturer but. they make a big difference in enlarger sturdyness.

Hilo said:

Yes, I have bought Durst L1000 parts from your country. Some lens boards and a condenser. The enlarger itself is generally below € 150.

If the Beseler is a no, then have a look at the L1000 manual. Quite easy to understand which parts are essential and which parts would be nice to find over time. Mine by now is a full grown enlarger and having it against the wall is great.

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Sounds good, do you have a digital copy of the Durst L1000 manual? i tried to look for it but couldn't find a downloadable version (except as a attachment on another forum i cant access...).

Probably so old as to be unavailable but my first real darkroom in a coat closet was 6 by 6 feet and I had a Dejur professional 4x5 and a medium format Chromega enlarger side by side, and still plenty of room to work. The Dejur was bolted directly to the top of an old dresser for stability, it had a straight vertical post so it had a quite small foottprint.

I do have a pdf of the L1000 manual but it is too heavy to upload here. Send me a pm with your email address and I will send it to you . . .

Here the L1000 I have

locutus said:

Other question, i've read that 5x4 enlargers usually don't compress their bellows enough to be useful for printing 35mm negatives....how is that with the 45MX? If it can do 9.5x12" it means i can scrap my Meopta.

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The Beseler 45 does very well with 35mm and smaller negatives.

Omega made at least 4 heads for D2s and 3. First was fixed condenser head, optimized for 4X5, smaller negatives can be used, exposure times are longer due to light fall out. Second is a variable condenser, had 2 condenser stake the bottom condenser is fixed, the upper condenser moves up and down or taken out depending on the length of the lens being used. Third is a cold light, it was used with a electric shutter, the head is left one and the shutter opens for exposure. Last and rather rare is point source head. Besseler 45s use an adjustable bellows set up to adjustment for length of the lens. I have a D3 with the variable condenser head and the cold light with shutter. I do use the cold light with 4X5.

Here is a good resource for LPL and other manufacturers of enlargers, especially Omega and Beseler: http://www.khbphotografix.com/

I wouldn't consider a Beseler MX, they're bulky and aren't readily taken apart. To remove the head there's a rod that hold the head to the chassis
I don't remember if it uses snap rings or cotter pins to secure it(the rod). Then there's the chassis with four or six bolts and the width is around 18 inches. It's
very unwieldy especially if you're alone in a confined space.

I found a D5 with a shorter column, which was available as an option. And I had a new base made of slightly smaller dimensions. Those two options combined to make a more compact volume that works for my space.

Can you make any modifications to the room? Rather than carrying an enlarger from the cupboard in the hall, would it be possible to extend the cupboard and add a door INTO the bathroom? Mount it in such a way that the enlarger stores out of your way when you're not using it, but can be readily popped out of the wall on short notice if you want to do some work?

I’ve used an Omega D-II (earlier than the D-2, but similar) in various small darkrooms for some years now. I currently have a second bathroom set up as a darkroom, so it stays in one place, but when I first got it, I put it on a rolling typewriter table and added a second set of 4 rubber feet to the baseboard to fit the table exactly, with the flaps of the table folded down and the baseboard of the enlarger extending over the edges of the tabletop. This could slide right over the toilet between the sink and the wall.

I’ve also used a Graflarger back on my Linhof Tech V with an enlarging lens on the lensboard and the camera mounted either on a tripod with a copy arm on the column, so the camera extends out from the tripod and projects straight down, or on my old Beseler 22A Special enlarging chassis, which converts to a copy stand. I sold the Beseler head at some point, and I still use the column and baseboard as a copy stand in fact. Any copy stand you can find locally will work for this purpose, and there were also enlarger backs made by Linhof, both condenser and cold light, which may be easier to find in Europe than a Graflarger back.

Luckless said:

Can you make any modifications to the room?

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Practically speaking, no.

Also, Omega enlargers are really not a thing over in Europe, thanks for the recommendations on them but i haven't ever seen one come up for sale here

locutus said:

Thanks for all the comments!...


- Graflargers, i only have a 5x4" ShenHao... it serves me well but i am pretty sure using it as a enlarger would drive me nuts.. then also comes the issue of finding a column for it etc

.

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Nothing wrong with the ShenHao, all models seem to have a standard back. I'm pretty sure a Graflarger would fit on it, and work perfectly.

What you would do is mount the camera (with Graflarger attached) on a tripod, and focus on an opposite wall; you'd need only a couple of feet for the size of enlargement
that you're interested in. You don't use the Graflarger/camera on a column, but rather as a horizontal enlarger (visualise a projector for negatives, rather than slides).

The paper is placed on an opposing wall, you can use any of various means of holding it there, and you make the exposure.

I admit that the Graflarger is pretty primitive, but it works well, and I've used mine while travelling; I'm not alone on that point.

Assembly is fast:
- Mount the camera on your tripod;

- Mount a piece of paper ( your choice of colour ) of the size of print that you intend,
upon the opposing wall;

- Focus and frame on an the camera, as level and as squarely as possible, on that paper...-
---lock everything tight;

- remove the back from your camera, and mount the Graflarger; insert your negative; turn on the dark in the room.

- If you have a safelight, now would e a good time to try it out. Replace your "focus " paper with the "print" paper,
and be careful to place it exactly the same as the other.

- Expose your paper, and process it.

Basically, it works the same as a vertical enlarger, but you have:
- less equipment ( big enlarger);
- less expense ( OK, so a really industrial-quality enlarger is pretty well free, if you're near one);
- less accurate/ precise: but, on the other hand, just as precise as any of the very best popular (Beseler, Omega) models
that you would assemble in 30 minutes, for occasional use.
- can be used in a small room without a level bench ( actually, you don't even need a level floor!);
- I'm not sure where I read it, but ( I'm no physicist, so maybe it makes sense ) it said that the lens that created the negative
is going to be kind to that same negative when projected. .....Something about the aberrations balancing themselves out...

At any rate, you may find that you've seen more practical solutions to your original query, in this thread, than you'd be
likely to find in a month of independent research. Everyone here has been a beginner at one time, and we've all been
forced to find a balance of time/funds/room/materials, and some of us are well past the point of remembering "insoluble" problems.

My simple point? You've rejected some very good suggestions, but maybe you should review most of this thread.

Seriously, good luck and best wishes, and I hope your " little washroom " project will work out.....
till the better opportunity arises !!




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Several thoughts: one, you might want to have a look at a Magliner Film Truck or other similarly heavy duty trolley as a means of moving your enlarger (or at least see how you can borrow some design ideas); two, most bench 4x5 enlargers will want about 1.5m clear headroom if you need to get up towards the top of the column. Omegas & Beselers aren't ultra rare in Europe, but Durst machines are likely to be easier to find where you are. A DeVere 504 might be overkill for what you need/ want. Worst case, I'm sure Kienzle could build a custom short column enlarger (at a probably not inconsiderable price). They all offer recessed lensboards to handle 50mm lenses.

mshchem said:

Nice. What's the light source?

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I took an LED pot light I bought at Home Depot and attached it to the top of the old mixing chamber.

I once used a closet to leave my enlarger set up and carried exposed paper to tray line in bathroom in a paper safe. Just had to remove clothes and light proof under the door. Just a thought. Paper exposure and processing don't have to be done in the space.

Does the Beseler 23 do 4x5.?
If it is temporary.....Can you use the kitchen instead of the bathroom.?

Bob Eskridge said:

Ditto on the Federal Enlarger. In fact I have an Aristo head for it.

If you could find one a Omega D2 is not too heavy.

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I had an Omega D2;it is very flimsy compared to Durst.

CMoore said:

Does the Beseler 23 do 4x5.?
If it is temporary.....Can you use the kitchen instead of the bathroom.?

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A Beseler 23C can be modified to do 4x5 using Omega holders. There used to be a web page somewhere on this, not sure if it's there any longer. I might have some info if the OP is interested.

with the right filtration a bright LED attached to the back of a camera would be perfect. there would be no worry of heat from a bulb and a lens or fire hazard from various paper products,
you could use a foam core/matboard housing to mount it on with home made film holders. there would be
no worries of an olde fluorescent / cold light head needing ot be rebuilt. if horizontal projection isn't your thing copy stands can be purchased on ebay for like 35-40$ i think i got mine
from a catalog ( library supplies ) for around hte same price. and the fun thing about using a shen hao is you can enlarge your smaller format negatives ( 120+35mm ) and
do perspective controled enlargements to fix skewed lines+distortions ( or make it ).
the only tricky part would be getting the right color filtration so the light would match the vc paper.

have fun !

mshchem said:

I would find a single column enlarger and mount it to the wall above the washer, fix the holes when you leave. Better to ask forgiveness than permission when it comes to land lords

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This.

Apart from the rent being paid on time, all landlords care about is that their property is in a rentable condition when you leave. Have a tradesman do the wall mounting and when it's time to move, have a tradesman fill the holes and paint the room. It'll be like nothing ever happened.

Wall projection is an option, but I find alignment gets trickier, and it rules out conventional enlarging easels.

The main problem I’ve found with the Graflarger back, which also applies to older cold light heads that don’t have a heating unit or closed-loop sensor system like a Metrolux timer, is that it’s harder to get consistent exposure times, due to the ramp time of the bulb which varies with temperature, so if you try to do a run, say, of 50 postcards, you’ll find you need to decrease exposure time with each few cards. The solution to that, lacking a Metrolux timer, is to leave the lamp on, let it warm up, and control the exposure with a shutter on the lens, lens cap, or black card between the lens and the paper.

On my D-II I have a HI-D cold light head, which has a heater circuit, and I have a Metrolux timer, so I can use short exposures, timed to 0.1 sec, and get very consistent results.