Bessler Too Bright?

LA-Darkroom · Dec 27, 2020

Hey Everyone,

I'm sorry if this has been posted before...I searched and searched and now I've been drawn out of lurking to ask....

I have a new 23C III, 75W bulb, fresh out of the box. I tossed on my trusty 75mm, popped a 6x4.5 in it, reasonably thick negative, and BAM can't get print times over 5 seconds. Try another negative, same issue. Try a different paper, same issue. Try 35mm and a 50mm lense, same issue.

I've never had this problem before, and I'm a bit flummux'd. I feel like I've set something up incorrectly. Do I just grab some ND gels, a 25/50w bulb?

Thanks for the help!

Sirius Glass · Dec 27, 2020

My enlarger has two levels of illumination about 2 f/stops. Does yours?

LA-Darkroom · Dec 27, 2020

Sirius Glass said:
My enlarger has two levels of illumination about 2 f/stops. Does yours?

Do you mean with regards to the position of the condenser?

btaylor · Dec 28, 2020

It would be helpful to know what degree of enlargement and what f stop you are using. Modern papers are much faster than the old days in my experience- it would be easy to get those short times with a short enlargement and a larger aperture. Congrats on your new 23c II BTW, great enlarger for 35mm and MF.

Rick A · Dec 28, 2020

LA-Darkroom said:
Hey Everyone,

I'm sorry if this has been posted before...I searched and searched and now I've been drawn out of lurking to ask....

I have a new 23C III, 75W bulb, fresh out of the box. I tossed on my trusty 75mm, popped a 6x4.5 in it, reasonably thick negative, and BAM can't get print times over 5 seconds. Try another negative, same issue. Try a different paper, same issue. Try 35mm and a 50mm lense, same issue.

I've never had this problem before, and I'm a bit flummux'd. I feel like I've set something up incorrectly. Do I just grab some ND gels, a 25/50w bulb?

Thanks for the help!

What f stop are you using, Try stopping down one or two stops. Also, make sure your condenser head is set to the correct position for the format/lens combo.

DWThomas · Dec 28, 2020

btaylor said:
It would be helpful to know what degree of enlargement and what f stop you are using. Modern papers are much faster than the old days in my experience- it would be easy to get those short times with a short enlargement and a larger aperture. Congrats on your new 23c II BTW, great enlarger for 35mm and MF.

Yes, when I came back to home B&W printing after 25 years of sending color stuff off to the lab I was shocked at the short exposures I was getting (I'm using an Omega B-8). I ended up buying a 2-stop ND filter. By artfully stocking 50, 80, and 105mm El-Nikors the same filter fits all.

Sirius Glass · Dec 28, 2020

LA-Darkroom said:
Do you mean with regards to the position of the condenser?

There is a lever on the side of mine:

White - no filters full light for focusing

High - brightest for dense negatives

Low for thinner negatives or if the light is too bright on High

Vaughn · Dec 28, 2020

I wonder if you got a 'bad' enlarger lamp. I do not think they made a lower wattage enlarger lamp. I ran a bank of 23CIIs...can't say we ever had this problem...except when students did not realize the lens was set on focus and was not actually stopping down when they set the aperture. Obviously not your issue if you tried different lenses.

cjbecker · Dec 28, 2020

With my 23c ii with 6x6 negatives printed to either 5x7 or 5x5, with ilford mgv paper, my print times are in the 3-5 second mark at f16. This generation of paper is faster then the older generation. i have since switched to a diffusion setup with it.

LA-Darkroom · Dec 28, 2020

btaylor said:
It would be helpful to know what degree of enlargement and what f stop you are using. Modern papers are much faster than the old days in my experience- it would be easy to get those short times with a short enlargement and a larger aperture. Congrats on your new 23c II BTW, great enlarger for 35mm and MF.

I have a feeling it's a bit of all of this...stopped to f22. It looks too bright, visibly. I knew I was going to have an issue the moment I turned it on.

Vaughn said:
I wonder if you got a 'bad' enlarger lamp. I do not think they made a lower wattage enlarger lamp. I ran a bank of 23CIIs...can't say we ever had this problem...except when students did not realize the lens was set on focus and was not actually stopping down when they set the aperture. Obviously not your issue if you tried different lenses.

It may just be too bright, I ordered a smaller watt bulb!

cjbecker said:
With my 23c ii with 6x6 negatives printed to either 5x7 or 5x5, with ilford mgv paper, my print times are in the 3-5 second mark at f16. This generation of paper is faster then the older generation. i have since switched to a diffusion setup with it.

That's really where I've been, and it's just too fast for my style.

Ordered some ND gels and a lower watt bulb. Thanks, all, for the help!

Dan0001 · Dec 28, 2020

You can use neutral density filters but I have successfully used a dimmer switch(rheostat) on my Omega B22( same bulb as yours) to where it is about 1/3 less light output and no I do not have any issues with variable contrast filters. Bulb life is probably lengthened too. I also have an older Beseler 4 X 5 MCRX condenser enlarger that came with a rheostat(Called Registrol )...so there is some history behind this method. I confess I never got around to using the Beseler with the rheostat because I had a Zone VI Cold light installed right after I got it.

Bessler Too Bright?

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