Are there enlargers with movements?

[Ariston]

For instance, if you have a picture with somewhat converging lines and want to straighten them out, are there enlargers that let you tilt the head/negative to manipulate the lines in the photo while keeping the image in focus?

 

[removed account4]

what format? my durst m601 has movements and I think my omega d3v does as well...
have you tried the tilt the easel and stop the lens down trick?

 

[fdonadio]

For instance, if you have a picture with somewhat converging lines and want to straighten them out, are there enlargers that let you tilt the head/negative to manipulate the lines in the photo while keeping the image in focus?

My Durst M605 has movements on the lens stage. I tilt the easel to correct “keystoning” and swing/tilt the lens to keep everything in focus. Easier said than done, but it works.

 

[Lachlan Young]

You're realistically looking for something like a Durst 138s that lets you tilt neg/ lens/ baseboard relative to each other. Have fun realigning them afterwards.

 

[Ariston]

Very interesting... I'm not looking for one, but was curious if they existed. I took a photo today for which I thought it would be useful.

 

[Andrew O'Neill]

Yes, there are. My Lucky (Fujimoto) 4x5 enlarger's head swivels, as well as the lens stage. I've only ever used the movements to level those two planes.

 

[Kino]

You could also bolt a small board on a heavy ball head and place it under the enlarger to tilt the paper easel.

If you have an old Majestic geared head laying about, it would be ideal!

 

[Ariston]

what format? my durst m601 has movements and I think my omega d3v does as well...
have you tried the tilt the easel and stop the lens down trick?

I was wondering if stopping the lens down had the same effect for projection...

 

[voceumana]

The LPL 7700 (Saunders/Omega 670 in the USA) offers a tilting head assembly and lens board stage for left/right compensation.

Head tilt for distortion adjustment, lens board tilt for focus adjustment.

 

[AgX]

Many models by several manufactures have movements. That is swing of

-) head
and
-) lens

some models have added swing of
-) board

 

[AgX]

Then you also got the other commercial approch:
turning a view- or field-camera into an enlarger by substituting its back by an enlarger head,

 

[DREW WILEY]

Yes, commercial enlargers have a lot of potential movements, none of which I ever use. I keep things locked on square. But one could simply raise one side or another of the paper easel by shimming it, to try to converge verticals. You would still need to stop the lens way down for sufficient depth of field. If this is a routine issue, you should be looking for a view camera instead, or some kind of perspective-control lens with vertical offset ability, so that the shots will be correct to begin with.

 

[Deleted member 88956]

Get a Linhof Technika and enlarging add ons, nothing will match that.

 

[ic-racer]

Even my smallest enlarger (Philips PCS 150) will do perspective correction. But you do need to prop up the easel on one side.

Full movements would include swing of the lensboard and swing of the table. Since the lensboard does not swing on the lens axis, the Durst also has shift at the lensboard, to bring the image circle back to the center.

 

[Louis Nargi]

what format? my durst m601 has movements and I think my omega d3v does as well...
have you tried the tilt the easel and stop the lens down trick?

My Thoughts also

 

[MattKing]

Beselers too - at least some of them.

 

[R.Gould]

Meopta Opemus 6 has fullm range of movements to correct convergeing verticals,Ect, and re allinging afterwards is a doodle with them, just line up the lines built into the head, I have done this a few times

 

[Hilo]

The Leitz Focomats Ic and IIc (35mm, and up to 6X9) made up to the early seventies have wooden baseboards with clamping systems, mostly to fix easels to the baseboard. These easels have corresponding slots underneath.

But there also exists a tilting device that one can fix an easel to. This device turns in pretty much any direction. I have had this piece for ages and never used it. See pictures . . .

Michael

 

[PonySoldier1887]

Omega D Series utilizes an insert which allows tilts at the negative stage and tilts at the easel to correct perspective.

Joel

 

[Lachlan Young]

But there also exists a tilting device that one can fix an easel to. This device turns in pretty much any direction. I have had this piece for ages and never used it. See pictures . . .

Saunders also made something pretty similar, but with a vacuum clamp for baseboard attachment. Is the second easel in your images the Leitz borderless easel?

 

[Hilo]

Is the second easel in your images the Leitz borderless easel?

Lachlan, I don't know. Until now I figured it was just a small easel, to use for small sizes. But you could be right: I need to check, but I think those largest sizes are 10X15cm and I assume you are able to cut the prints to that size . . . The paper size to use is probably 13X18cm.

This small black metal easel came with the tilting device . . . also never used.

Michael

 

[AgX]

Well, as already indicated we all can sum up many enlargers from full movements (3 swing axes) to ones with lesser axes, needing some improvisations.

 

[MattKing]

It occurs to me that over the years I've encountered a few very cheap enlargers that certainly had movements - they were so poorly made that they moved all the time, whether you wanted them to or not!
None of the ones mentioned here though.

 

[Doremus Scudder]

Let me just add that for minor corrections of converging parallels, simply propping up the easel on one side is usually enough. The depth of field at the easel is rather large and stopping down two or three stops from wide open on your enlarging lens is almost always adequate for the job if you're just propping the easel an inch or thereabouts on one side.

You really only need "full movements" when doing extreme corrections (like ic-racer illustrates above). I have an enlarger with an adjustable lens stage, but use that only rarely. However, I often shim up the easel a bit for minor tweaks; everything is always sharp.

Best,

Doremus

 

[Sirius Glass]

Let me just add that for minor corrections of converging parallels, simply propping up the easel on one side is usually enough. The depth of field at the easel is rather large and stopping down two or three stops from wide open on your enlarging lens is almost always adequate for the job if you're just propping the easel an inch or thereabouts on one side.

I did that in college when I took wedding photographs of people of the large persuasion to make them look slimmer. I made enough money on print requests to pay for a year of tuition, books, board and clothes. They all said that no one had ever photographed the "real me".