A short 5"x4" enlarger?

Hi all,
in my darkroom I've been using an LPL 6700 enlarger for both 35mm and 6x7 negs from an RB67. I've recently gotten into old folders with a 6x9 neg, but 6x9 enlargers are few and far between, so I was thinking of upgrading to a 5x4 enlarger which would allow me to print 6x9 and also to do 6x7 with the film rebate too - it might also tempt me to branch out into 5x4.

The trouble is, my darkroom is an old shed with a sloping roof, and no matter how much I move things around, I'm limited to 100 cm from the bench top to the top of the enlarger column. I've got an old 6x6 condenser enlarger that someone gave me, but that's too tall too tall, so I have tried wiggling things around in there.

Aside from raising the roof (a bit job) or lowering the bench (an even bigger job as the shed it built onto it), are there any likely candidate enlargers that might fit into such a limited vertical space?

6x9 enlargers are few and far between

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Krokus color. Fairly common on this side of the Channel.

Most 4x5 enlargers are huge beasts.

Meopta Magnifax 4/4a can handle 6x9 negatives and is about 95 centimeters from benchtop to top of column (maybe even a bit less depending on the baseboard configuration), so it should fit your darkroom. Depending on the slope of the roof, you may not be able to make use of the full height of the column, but a wide angle lens like the excellent Rodagon/Eurygon WA 80mm will work with this enlarger (at least with the diffusion heads) and will give you some added magnification if necessary. IIRC this enlarger is not uncommon in the UK. Second Hand Darkroom usually has a one or more of them for sale.

Another 6x9 enlarger is the Durst M805, but I have no idea how tall it is.

The antique DeJur I have can rotate into horizontal position.

xtolsniffer said:

The trouble is, my darkroom is an old shed

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If you can walk in the shed, a 4x5" enlarger will fit. None are as tall as an adult.

Most likely you will be better off with an enlarger with an inclined column than one with a vertical column.
If you could cut a hole in the bench top, you could remove the baseboard on something like an Omega D5 (not a d5XL) and attach the column to a well secured shelf below. Then you could use the remaining bench top as your "baseboard".

See if the Kaiser VP9005 model is available near you, it does 6x9 and is 1m tall.

Thanks all, you are a mine of information!!!

ic-racer said:

If you can walk in the shed, a 4x5" enlarger will fit. None are as tall as an adult.

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Quite wrong floor standing De Vere's and Durst enlargers are, my De Vere 5108 (10x8) enlarger is essentially the same frame as the 5x4 and 7x5 versions and you need about 8ft floor to ceiling clearance.

Probably the best bet is an LPL enlarger (quite common in the UK) and bench/wall mount it, then as Matt King suggests have a bench top cut out so it can be positioned in 3 or 4 positions, one flush with the top and the lowest just above floor level. I did this with a Johnsons V45 in two houses and it worked well it's simple to do as well. I had a Durst M601 enlarger alongside so the moveable top was quite wide.

Ian

I'm sure there are exceptions but most 6x9 enlargers are nearly as tall as their 4x5 cousins, just not so massive. You could, as others have suggested mount the enlarger on a drop leaf stand or just put it on a lower table and the print most of the time on some sort of box so you aren't bending over to service the machine.

I'm not sure if you can find one easily in the UK, but the most compact 4x5 enlarger I know of is the Ahel 12: the column only reaches 85 cm above the bench, yet it can magnify up to 4,3x - but then the head will be higher than 1 metre above the easel, as any enlarger: the format requires a 150 mm lens and for a 4.3 ratio (i.e. a 40x50 cm or 16x20" print) the negative to easel distance needs to be 900 mm, to which you need to add the the lightbox - i.e. 27 cm on the Ahel, or 30 cm with the colour head. With 1 m above the easel you cannot make prints larger than 22x28 cm, i.e. a 24x30 cm sheet with decent borders. For larger prints, you will be better off by tilting the head to use it as a horizontal enlarger and this is valid with any enlarger, not just the Ahel.

The difficulty with the Ahel 12 is to find one with the 4x5" condensers - or the colour head, which covers all the formats - and the specific 4x5" negative carrier (the "universal" carrier only covers 9x12). If you find one, make sure it is not the early version which only goes up to 9x12 and cannot be upgraded: what you need is a model labeled "Ahel 12 4x5" or "Ahel 1245".

[EDIT]: I forgot to mention that the column is slanted and the high magnification is obtained using a parallelogram arm, a neat trick that allows to raise the head to its maximum extension well above the top of the column while leaving a lot of space behind, which is a good solution for rooms with a sloped ceiling. The stability is good but can be further improved using a bracket between the top of the column and the wall.

Employment of hacksaw on the collumn.

AgX said:

Employment of hacksaw on the collumn.

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Won't work very well with my Omega D6

Try to find a Durst Laborator 1000. Its column is not that high and it's one of the best 4x5" enlargers you can get.

4x5" head on an 8x10 enlarger is probably not what the OP has in mind.

I have a Federal 4x5 enlarger that isnt very tall nor wide. looks like a tall coffee can on top of a bellows. The besler 45MX chasis leans forward a bit and sits out from the wall so that may help too.

Ron789 said:

Try to find a Durst Laborator 1000. Its column is not that high and it's one of the best 4x5" enlargers you can get.

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The column of a Laborator 1000 is 1108 mm high, too high for xtolsniffer.

Use or build a lower table.

Thanks all, I like the look of a Kaiser VP9005, I might see if I can fine one somewhere...

MattKing said:

Won't work very well with my Omega D6

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Actually the D6 can be shortened quite readily.

darkroommike said:

Actually the D6 can be shortened quite readily.

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We may be talking about two different D6s.
Mine is the original version based on the D2 - called the Prolab D6 - and has the extended double girder chassis with the springs at the top and the large base on the bottom: http://www.khbphotografix.com/omega/Enlargers/D6.htm
Where would you cut?
The newer version of the D6 based on the D5XL, with the single girder - I can see where that may work.

Yes, I guess the Durst 1000 is out of the question...??

ic-racer said:

4x5" head on an 8x10 enlarger is probably not what the OP has in mind.

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If you're referring to my comment then to clarify the De Vere 5 series (504, 507, 5108 and possibly larger) floor standing frame and column is identical for 5x4. 7x5 and 10x8 enlargers. It's not a 5x4 enlarger on a 10x8 column or vice versa or in between, just a standardised column to which De Vere attached different sized heads they weren't inter-changeable.

Ian

Well, if it is the same standardized column to which the 8x10 head is fitted, then it is a 4x5 head on an 8x10 column.

MattKing said:

We may be talking about two different D6s.
Mine is the original version based on the D2 - called the Prolab D6 - and has the extended double girder chassis with the springs at the top and the large base on the bottom: http://www.khbphotografix.com/omega/Enlargers/D6.htm
Where would you cut?
The newer version of the D6 based on the D5XL, with the single girder - I can see where that may work.

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There is an assembly at the top of the D2, D3, D4, D5 and D6 that holds the counterbalance springs. Note that the D5 and D6 based on the D5 look like they have a single girder but it's actually the same old double girder with a filler "modesty panel" between the girders this is stuck on with a couple of rivets and a long strip of double stick tape. In any case, you remove the top spring assembly then cut the extrusions equally drill some hole and remount the spring assy. In the case of a D5 or D6 you remove the skirt and either shorten it and replace or just remove the dang thing since it adds zero structural integrity. But since they aren't making any new ones, I would prefer to drop rather than chop (hey that's pretty snappy).