A Salthill 4x5 enlarger on CL

nbagno · Apr 14, 2021

Not mine

https://sfbay.craigslist.org/sby/pho/d/san-jose-the-most-esoteric-large-format/7306451278.html

mshchem · Apr 14, 2021

Pretty

Paul Howell · Apr 14, 2021

Only read about them, got good reviews, with such an unusual light source finding spare parts would be a pain.

DREW WILEY · Apr 15, 2021

You won't get anything special performance-wise for the extra cost. It's more of a novelty. Salthill was innovative; they certainly deserve credit for that.

Shadow Images · Apr 16, 2021

Pretty sure its the same one that pops up every once in a while for the past few years. Never seen it sell but a that price you'll have to find the right person.

logan2z · Apr 16, 2021

Shadow Images said:
Pretty sure its the same one that pops up every once in a while for the past few years. Never seen it sell but a that price you'll have to find the right person.

Yes, it's been for sale forever. The same with this Leica 1C:

https://sfbay.craigslist.org/nby/pho/d/novato-leica-enlarger-1c/7303511434.html

I asked a question about the 1C probably two years ago and never received a reply.

ic-racer · Apr 16, 2021

If one has ever been plagued by a vibrating fan, the extra performance of the fiber optic system will be appreciated. Too bad the enlarger is located thousands of miles away in a small country on the coast of North America.

510Oakster · Apr 20, 2021

I’m setting up my darkroom now, and have been reading posts on enlargers and equipment, and found posts about this Salthill being advertised on Craigslist back in 2019. It definitely looks neat, but when I see exotic materials, components and construction methods being used on a low-volume product my first thought is “unrepairable.”

I’m in the Bay Area, and interested in a Focomat or Valloy, so did contact the fellow with the ever-present Focomat. He responded right away and tried to get me to come over and see it, but that would still involve a 1-2 hours of driving. One thing I can’t understand is the number of what I assume are photographers selling photographic equipment who can’t be bothered to post more than ONE picture of the item they are trying to sell for $300 (and sometimes much more.) A recent Craigslist post in the Bay Area was for a Beseler enlarger that the seller described as fantastic...but ZERO pictures were included in the listing.

Hilo · Apr 21, 2021

That Salthill enlarger is fascinating. I can't say I understand much about the light system but probably it will be very interesting to work with. Many of the quality enlargers we use today were designed and produced much earlier, which makes this one a rare bird.

It looks like it's arm (from column to the negative carrier) hinges and comes in and out. If that's so this can be a great solution to overcome the limits that many enlargers have: the lens being too close to the column, often preventing printing larger that 16x20in. In that respect the baseboard is on the small side, which is a pity. Wall mounting could be the answer to that, it is a pity the original wall mounts are not in the pictures. I have the Durst L-1000 wall mounted and this turned this quite small 4x5 enlarger into a excellent machine.

Andrew Kleinfeld · Apr 21, 2021

It's the best enlarger I've ever used, a pleasure to operate. The guy who made it, Joe Saltzman (?), died a few years ago, unfortunately. Everything he made was spectacularly high quality.

Don_ih · Apr 21, 2021

logan2z said:
The same with this Leica 1C:

I bought one of those for $75. It's not what you'd call convenient to use, though.

This Salthill enlarger was probably the last example of innovation in enlarger technology - seems quite impressive, too. There won't be any more innovation, so this enlarger would be a treat to use, at least for a while.

logan2z · Apr 21, 2021

Don Heisz said:
I bought one of those for $75. It's not what you'd call convenient to use, though.

I've never used one, but thought it was similar in operation to most other enlargers. What did you find inconvenient about it?

Don_ih · Apr 21, 2021

logan2z said:
I've never used one, but thought it was similar in operation to most other enlargers. What did you find inconvenient about it?

If it has the glass negative holder, that is very hard to keep free from dust - and if any dust gets in there, it embeds it into the film. Also, the focus is helical. That's ok, actually, once you get used to it. A bit awkward having your head down at the grain focuser and having to focus. At least, I assume this one is the same as mine. I'm not 100% certain of the model number.

logan2z · Apr 21, 2021

Don Heisz said:
If it has the glass negative holder, that is very hard to keep free from dust - and if any dust gets in there, it embeds it into the film. Also, the focus is helical. That's ok, actually, once you get used to it. A bit awkward having your head down at the grain focuser and having to focus. At least, I assume this one is the same as mine. I'm not 100% certain of the model number.

I have a Focomat v35 with the AN glass carrier. I never really had dust problems with it, but the glass insert has a habit of falling out and I've never been able to reliably glue it back in. The correct bulbs are long out of production too and replacements are much dimmer, which leads to long exposure times. I thought about picking up a 1C since I believe it uses a more standard bulb, but I may just stick with my Beseler.

Don_ih · Apr 21, 2021

logan2z said:
I have a Focomat v35 with the AN glass carrier. I never really had dust problems with it, but the glass insert has a habit of falling out and I've never been able to reliably glue it back in. The correct bulbs are long out of production too and replacements are much dimmer, which leads to long exposure times. I thought about picking up a 1C since I believe it uses a more standard bulb, but I may just stick with my Beseler.

I enjoy using the Leitz but it's just not as quick as my Chromega - not just because of filtration. The Leitz actually enlarges the entire frame from my Leica III negatives, though - the Omega will crop a bit. The lens in the Leitz is nice - but I could put that in any enlarger.

I could have bought a Beseler cheap a couple of years ago, but I already have too many enlargers.

Sal Santamaura · Apr 21, 2021

Don Heisz said:
...This Salthill enlarger was probably the last example of innovation in enlarger technology...

I suspect many of us using Heiland LED enlarger light sources would disagree with that.

Don_ih · Apr 21, 2021

Sal Santamaura said:
I suspect many of us using Heiland LED enlarger light sources would disagree with that.

Except that's a retrofit. Nothing is designed around that, is there? But at the very least, there probably won't be any innovation past that.

Well, there's this: https://heilandelectronic.de/enlarger

DREW WILEY · Apr 21, 2021

Compared to true commercial enlargers, it's a comparatively modest device. Just a cute fish in the small pond category, and now more of an extinct conversation piece than anything else. And it's a very far cry from the latest innovations. Still, it might amount to a fine instrument usable to someone, and hopefully will find a new home. But it will be a hard sell at that asking price. There are a lot of bargains out there on far more serious enlargers these days. But most of those won't likely even fit in the average home darkroom.

Sal Santamaura · Apr 21, 2021

Don Heisz said:
...This Salthill enlarger was probably the last example of innovation in enlarger technology...

Sal Santamaura said:
I suspect many of us using Heiland LED enlarger light sources would disagree with that.

Don Heisz said:
Except that's a retrofit. Nothing is designed around that, is there? But at the very least, there probably won't be any innovation past that...

Remember what "assume" stands for:

https://www.facebook.com/

That's Herr Heiland in the video. I've not known him to fail at bringing a product to market.

Don_ih · Apr 21, 2021

Sal Santamaura said:
Remember what "assume" stands for:

I said "probably".

DREW WILEY · Apr 21, 2021

Anything that only prints black and white is hardly state of the art in my book. A good colorhead will do it all.

Sal Santamaura · Apr 21, 2021

DREW WILEY said:
Anything that only prints black and white is hardly state of the art in my book. A good colorhead will do it all.

The Heiland LED light source works fine for color printing. See writeup by Markus Pritzi here:

https://heilandelectronic.de/kunden-meinungen/lang:en

mshchem · Apr 22, 2021

I'll stick with what I got. A LED source is a convenient replacement head for an existing enlarger. Everything I have is closed loop. I have two enlargers with halogen additive heads and two Zone VI heads with VC cold lights that run through a Metrolux II tmer. Pretty sweet. IMHO

Don_ih · Apr 22, 2021

My Chromega uses a 75watt projector bulb which is about $35 to replace. It's blown twice in the past 5 years. I don't think there'd be any easy way to change its light source. Last time it blew, I used a smaller Omega condenser that I put a regular $3 LED bulb in. That worked fine.

I had a cheap General enlarger for a while. It had a regular light bulb in it when I got it. When it projected, you could see the circle with GE from the light bulb on the easel.

DREW WILEY · Apr 22, 2021

Additive heads can be finicky. One has to be wary of voltage surges that can mess with the electronics. Had that happen a few months ago when some idiot running a backhoe accidentally intercepted underground utility lines, and then another idiot somehow spliced the system back together wrong. I stopped printing for a few days until my voltmeter showed complete normal consistency. Any anomaly like that seems to magnetize some component within the control box that takes a few days to settle down afterwards. And it's important not to have any electronic lighting ballasts in the same building, just ordinary ballasts. I also have a huge custom built additive 8x10 enlarger which gives wonderful color, but also can sometimes get schizophrenic, electronics-wise. So I keep a Durst L184 with a more ordinary 10X10 subtractive colorhead next to it as a backup. That room has a very high ceiling to accommodate enlarger height, the custom enlarger being about 14 ft tall. Smaller format film is printed with other enlargers, one of them additive, in a different room with regular 8 ft ceiling height.

A Salthill 4x5 enlarger on CL

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