Beseler 45 MX II to 45 MXT conversion kit?

[Kino]

I have read that Beseler once offered a conversion kit to turn a 45 MX II to a 45 MXT. Does anyone know if this kit is still offered?

From what I understand, it basically replaced the tapered bellows and small lens board stage with the square bellows and larger lens board frame; This allowed you to install the 3 lens turret of the MXT on the MX II.

Anyone done this recently?

Of course, it would probably be much less expensive to just purchase extra lens boards... hmmm???

 

[Doremus Scudder]

I don't know about the conversion kit, but I did buy the bellows stage from a newer Beseler 45MXT on eBay and installed it on an ancient Beseler 45M. It simply replaced the aging tapered bellows that were there, no modifications needed at all, just disassemble/reassemble with the new parts.

FWIW, though, I prefer the tapered bellows stage on my older blue Beseler 45MCRX because the lens stage can be tilted to do a bit of perspective correction when needed. The larger bellows on the MXT can't. Plus, it takes about five seconds to change lenses with the spring-mounted lensboard. The turret would really only be handy if one were mass-printing lots of prints from a different size negative each time. I don't use my turret at all; it lives in the cupboard.

Best,

Doremus

 

[Kino]

Very good points, Doremus.

Thank you.

 

[mshchem]

The turrets take some getting used to. I followed the lead of a longtime printer, she put little labels on the barrels of the lenses. Watch Ebay, I accumulated 7 or 8 Beseler 4x5 enlargers during the great purge. Since equipped a couple fellows. The original system of switching out lenses on mounted boards is really pretty sweet.

 

[grahamp]

The curved metal mount for the turret inside the focus bellows can get in the way of using large rear element lenses on plain lens boards. My 240mm EL-Nikkor is mounted on the face of a lens panel to get around it. I didn't want to do surgery on the enlarger in case I ever wanted to use a turret. Most people won't need to hang a lens that big - it is part of my 8x10 setup.

I like lenses on individual boards because I can switch them between my two enlargers.