Beseler Enlarger Focus Drift

Dan Rainer · Sep 14, 2025

I'm using a Beseler 67 print head on a Beseler Printmaker 35 chassis (picture below). I've had this setup for a few years with no issues. The last couple days I've noticed an issue while printing. I'd focus, stop down, and print as normal but after a print or two my focus would be wildly off. I took to focusing before everything single exposure, but still ended up with at least one print that was slightly soft.

I'm performing a realignment now, but I really don't think that's the issue. When properly focused, the prints are sharp corner to corner. However, as an experiment, I focused the enlarger and waited for 5 minutes—leaving my grain focuser in the same spot. When I rechecked focus, it was completely off.

Anyone have experience with something like this? Is it possible that the weight of the lens stage is causing the focus to sag over time?

Pieter12 · Sep 14, 2025

The negative is popping from the enlarger lamp heat. Try getting a heat-absorbing glass or a use a glass carrier that holds the negative flat.

mshchem · Sep 14, 2025

Pieter12 said:
The negative is popping from the enlarger lamp heat. Try getting a heat-absorbing glass or a use a glass carrier that holds the negative flat.

Absolutely, this is my first suggestion too.

MattKing · Sep 14, 2025

I would check the head elevation lock and the focus adjustment. I expect one or both are losing a bit of their locking strength, and may need parts adjusted or perhaps replaced.

Dan Rainer · Sep 15, 2025

Pieter12 said:
The negative is popping from the enlarger lamp heat. Try getting a heat-absorbing glass or a use a glass carrier that holds the negative flat.

mshchem said:
Absolutely, this is my first suggestion too.

My bulb recently died and I replaced it right before the print sessions with the focus issues. I'm guess the new bulb kicks out more heat than the dying one. Just ordered a Beseler heat absorbing glass accessory. Thanks!

logan2z · Sep 15, 2025

Dan Rainer said:
My bulb recently died and I replaced it right before the print sessions with the focus issues. I'm guess the new bulb kicks out more heat than the dying one. Just ordered a Beseler heat absorbing glass accessory. Thanks!

I had negative popping issues with my 23C II even when using the heat absorbing glass. The solution, as @Pieter12 mentioned, was to use a glass negative carrier.

fiddle · Sep 15, 2025

logan2z said:
I had negative popping issues with my 23C II even when using the heat absorbing glass. The solution, as @Pieter12 mentioned, was to use a glass negative carrier.

This.
The heat absorbing glass did help a little, but was still an issue until I got a glass carrier.
I ended up getting a regular 6x7 carrier, and buying the original replacement glass from khbphotografix in canada. Was able to mount finagle some mounting scheme. Was cheaper than finding a glass carrier.

logan2z · Sep 15, 2025

fiddle said:
Was cheaper than finding a glass carrier.

The Beseler 6x9 glass carriers are very expensive - $245 at Freestyle. I have one and the hinges are cheaply made and require some fiddling to get them to close once open. I was disappointed in the quality given the asking price.

MattKing · Sep 15, 2025

This enlarger is a bit different than the 23 series enlargers.
Yes, negative popping is a possibility, but I don't recall it ever being much of an issue in the years that I used my Beseler 67 with a condenser head.
And yes, I know that the 6x7 head for the Printmaker 35 chassis is similar to the Beseler 67 head, but not identical.
I would still recommend looking in particular at the focus adjust mechanism.

Pieter12 · Sep 15, 2025

MattKing said:
I would still recommend looking in particular at the focus adjust mechanism.

I would think a simple test would be to shut off the enlarger for a bit to cool down and turn it back on and see if the focus is in the original state. That would point directly to the negative popping.

Brendan Quirk · Sep 15, 2025

My solution for the 23CII and the negative popping issue is to KEEP the bulb on as much as possible. It only goes off when metering and when placing the paper in the easel. This keeps the negative in the "popped" position, and keeps focus (which was set when popped). I go through one bulb maybe every two years, and a look at the gallery will show that I do a lot of printing!

Dan Rainer · Sep 16, 2025

logan2z said:
I had negative popping issues with my 23C II even when using the heat absorbing glass. The solution, as @Pieter12 mentioned, was to use a glass negative carrier.

fiddle said:
This.
The heat absorbing glass did help a little, but was still an issue until I got a glass carrier.
I ended up getting a regular 6x7 carrier, and buying the original replacement glass from khbphotografix in canada. Was able to mount finagle some mounting scheme. Was cheaper than finding a glass carrier.

As far as I understand, Beseler never made glass carriers for the Printmaker 67/35 series. I'm assuming you mean building a modified carrier with third-party ANR glass?

MattKing said:
This enlarger is a bit different than the 23 series enlargers.
Yes, negative popping is a possibility, but I don't recall it ever being much of an issue in the years that I used my Beseler 67 with a condenser head.
And yes, I know that the 6x7 head for the Printmaker 35 chassis is similar to the Beseler 67 head, but not identical.
I would still recommend looking in particular at the focus adjust mechanism.

I just finished a full realignment, with the same issue. Pretty sure it's a negative pop. I checked and adjusted the focus mechanism and if anything, it was a bit *too* stiff. I slightly loosened the action. The elevation lock is solid.

Pieter12 said:
I would think a simple test would be to shut off the enlarger for a bit to cool down and turn it back on and see if the focus is in the original state. That would point directly to the negative popping.

I tried this. Focused, turned off the head, came back five minutes later: focus is soft. Refocused, left the head on, came back five minutes later: focus is tack sharp. This, coupled with the fact that I never had this issue before swapping the bulb, points to it being heat issue.

I'll update once I get the heat absorbing glass. Thanks for all the helpful replies!

Brendan Quirk · Sep 16, 2025

I watched the negative image and saw it actually popping. It happens fairly sudden, over maybe a second or so. Illuminating...

DREW WILEY · Sep 16, 2025

Poor man's glass carrier : Find some old Gepe glass slide mounts, either 35mm or 6X7 as needed, preferably with Anti-Newton glass.

Dan Rainer · Sep 20, 2025

The heat absorbing glass did the trick! Thanks for all the helpful feedback

Beseler Enlarger Focus Drift

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