Beseler 45s and Beseler Universal 45

Curt · Jun 7, 2006

How many out there have a Beseler color head; that works? Where did the controllers crawl of to? Is there color head that for the Beseler 45 that is reliable and doesn't cost a BMW to buy?

Curt

Nick Zentena · Jun 8, 2006

I've got an older one perched on top of my CB-7. I say perched because technically it needs some sort of adapter for my enlarger. I made a shim out of cardboard. Works fine. No fancy computer controls. Just bulb and filters. Don't remember the model name right now. Isn't the current model also not computer controlled?

Chan Tran · Jun 8, 2006

Currently there are 2 heads available for the beseler 45. The good old 45s which is just bulb and filter. I believe Nick has this one. The Universal 45 has 3 bulbs and requires a controller to go with it. You can get either a VC or a color controller. I am not familiar with this head.
I have what is called "color computer head" which very much the same as the 45s but the filter values are measured by the sensors in the mixing chamber and displayed in digital form with LED. I like this one very much, as the filter values will change with bulb aging and very consistent.
There was also the Minolta/Beseler 45A, which used repeating strobes with 4 flash bulbs. I heard that this one is very troublesome.

ann · Jun 8, 2006

i have one in use but it is the old version , it must be over 20 years old and works great.

ZorkiKat · Jun 8, 2006

Don't have a Beseler 45, but got a 23CII with a 30+ year old DGA dichro colour head.
Works well, though it seems not to be as efficient like the later dichro colour heads. The 300W halogen lamp's output doesn't seem to be fully utilised- a lot is lost in the filters/mixing chamber.

Jay

jeroldharter · Jun 10, 2006

I have a Dichro 45S and it works very well. Almost too bright for my VC B&W printing though. Extremely reliable for years. The Universal would be nice but they are very expensive and I am not sure if you could easily rig one up to an RH Designs timer to which I am addicted.

pramaglia · Jun 29, 2006

Beseler Dichro 45 color computer head and D.A.T.A. Module

I have a Beseler Dichro 45 color computer head and a Beseler D.A.T.A. module. The color head works fine with a regular darkroom timer, but not with the D.A.T.A. module. I found out that if you use the D.A.T.A. module with the Dichro 45 color head you need to replace one of the integrated circuit modules (IC6) inside the head with a new pre-programmed piggyback IC6 module. Of course Beseler doesn't sell these anymore and no one has any laying around. I also found out that the module is a Mostek 3870 and the manufacturer went out of business in 1985. Even if I could find the right part it would be useless because it's an EPROM that needs to be programmed first before it will communicate with the D.A.T.A. module. It's simple to program one of these if you have one you can copy from. If not you are pretty much dead in thewater and the D.A.T.A module is useless.

Curt · Jun 29, 2006

I decided to put on a 5X7 cold light head and not use any of the Beseler heads I have. I bought a 5X7 Aristo Cold Light Head for $75 and and have a 210mm and a 180mm Schneider enlarging lens so the rest is easy. I wanted to go to 5x7 enlarging anyway.

Curt

Nick Zentena · Jun 29, 2006

Did you just place the head on the enlarger? I'm guessing it was more complicated then that. Anybody do the same with the Aristo 810 head?

Curt · Jun 29, 2006

The head has to be adapted higher than that of a regular 4x5 head. There has to be a film holder under the light and as close to the light as possible like all cold light heads. I have an 8X10 Aristo cold light head also but no holder or adapter. I thought of going to 8X10 as I have a Schneider 360mm, huge lens, but decided that 5X7 was big enough.

Curt

Nick Zentena · Jun 30, 2006

I've got an 8x10 monorail I'd like to convert. Every so often I do a little on building a light source but I get side tracked.

Changeling1 · Jun 30, 2006

Curt said:
How many out there have a Beseler color head; that works? Where did the controllers crawl of to? Is there color head that for the Beseler 45 that is reliable and doesn't cost a BMW to buy?

Curt

Beseler 45 S is a simple and straightforward workhorse type colorhead.
The "Minolta-Beseler" and "Computerized" colorheads are tricky to use and difficult and expensive to service. Many of the computerized heads are sold minus the absolutely essential D.A.T.A. Module without which the colorhead is useless. The flashtubes for the Minolta-Beseler haven't been made in twenty years and they were made in Japan. Make sure the fan runs strong on all the colorheads as they often don't work properly.

Keep in mind though that you don't need a colorhead to make color prints.You can always buy a set of color filters and use the built-in filter drawer on the condenser head.

insuldog · Apr 16, 2009

120v 300w ge elh beseler 45s

is elh lamp 120v 300w to hot for beseler45s color head? please help. I do not want to burn this head up, it is to expensive to throw away on a $10 lamp. but I have 1 300w in hand and want to make sure I can use it. I have no manual, also does anyone know where I can get a free download on this.

domaz · Apr 16, 2009

Curt said:
I decided to put on a 5X7 cold light head and not use any of the Beseler heads I have. I bought a 5X7 Aristo Cold Light Head for $75 and and have a 210mm and a 180mm Schneider enlarging lens so the rest is easy. I wanted to go to 5x7 enlarging anyway.

Curt

Did you have to upgrade the bellows as well for that? I tried mounting a 210mm Rodagon to my 45M and I could barely get the thing to focus. Had to extend the bellows to maximum and it still didn't seem to work well. Also had trouble mounting it because of the protruding back elements.

Curt · Apr 16, 2009

No I scrapped the idea of converting the Beseler 45 to anything larger. I have a Durst 138 5x7 enlarger. For the Beseler enlarger I have a cold light head and I converted one of the Beseler heads to take a 120 Volt halogen bulb with the same specs as the 83 volt bulb that was dedicated to the circuit boards that long since failed. I am using the Beseler right now but will be changing it out with the Durst this Summer. The Durst can be turned into an 8x10 enlarger with a head extension with a slot for a negative carrier and an Aristo cold light on top. Several people here have done just that. Beseler made or makes a conversion to 8x10 but it is or was very expensive, I am not sure about a 5x7 conversion. There are several models too, I have the model with a larger bottom lens stage that has a square mounting plate that the lens board goes on. Some models have a small tapered bellows to the lens stage. Aristo had a Beseler 5x7 head listed but I believe it was for the CB model.

ricksplace · Apr 17, 2009

ZorkiKat said:
Don't have a Beseler 45, but got a 23CII with a 30+ year old DGA dichro colour head.
Works well, though it seems not to be as efficient like the later dichro colour heads. The 300W halogen lamp's output doesn't seem to be fully utilised- a lot is lost in the filters/mixing chamber.

Jay

You need a "conical light integrator" which focuses the light so condensors can still be used with the dichro head. I bought mine on ebay for $10. With a 250W bulb, at f11 I get 10 sec average with b&w, 3 sec with colour.

MalcolmRay · Sep 9, 2010

Beseler 45 enlarger dichro color head

Wow! it was years ago you guys were last discussing these units. I received one of these today as I need to modify to 5x7 right away. Anyway, the bulb in the Dicro45 color head appears burnt. How do you remove it? I have the unit open and removed the main large cylindrical lamphouse (condenser?). But the bulb appears to be in a small black metal box on the right side. No idea how to go further. Help would be appreciated. I have a bushel basket of new 7 inch long negatives to print. Thanks for any help--oh yes, I will probably eventually have to abandon the dicro45 unit anyway and replace with a homemade or Aristo 5x7 lamphouse. But I would like to see this unit working. I hate having things laying around that are broken. Besides I could print up to 4x5 with it.

Neil Poulsen · Oct 17, 2010

Check out this thread. Some of the Universal and 45S Beseler heads can have an unpredictable delay in lighting after they receive power.

(there was a url link here which no longer exists)

After a lot of trouble, I circumvented this problem by by-passing the internal light control system. No matter; I use a Zone VI compensating enlarging timer which accomplishes the same task.

Curt · Oct 17, 2010

Neil Poulsen said:
Check out this thread. Some of the Universal and 45S Beseler heads can have an unpredictable delay in lighting after they receive power.

(there was a url link here which no longer exists)

After a lot of trouble, I circumvented this problem by by-passing the internal light control system. No matter; I use a Zone VI compensating enlarging timer which accomplishes the same task.

After reading everything I could get my hands on I rewired mine and made it usable again. Similarly I use a Sola CVS.

Dave Ludwig · Oct 23, 2010

I've got a 45 Dichro Computer head on a 45V-XL with two working MODULE contollers, one new and one used, and an extra chip needed to use the controller. I had to replace the 3 gain dials on the head with something more industrial. The gain dials that zero out the display are very fragile and if you ever have to remove the circuit board chances are you will pop one of them off. Like I did. A friend rewired the contacts so the new 1ohm pot dials stick out the back of the head. I just wish there was a cheaper way of motorizing the lift. If anyone has a suggestions.

Luseboy · Oct 26, 2010

I have the dichro dg head. It has no problems what so ever. But i dont use it. Acctually, if anyone is looking for a color head, i have it up for sale. send me a pm if you are.

-Austin

Beseler 45s and Beseler Universal 45

Privacy & Transparency

Privacy & Transparency