Condit Mfg.

[mikewhi]

It seems that Condit went out of business a while ago. Does anyone know what became of them? I can't find them in the Yellow Pages on Yahoo, either.

Condit used to be in Connecticut, not far from where I lived. I went out to visit them one day. They were in a simple brick building out in the country. I met John and his son, both very nice people. They showed me areound the shop. One of the things they showed me was a prototye of an 8x10 enlarger they were building. The best that I can describe it was it lookied like the upper assembly of a Saltzman enlarger! It was beauitful. It even had a pin registration negative carrier, 10"x10". It was spring loaded so the head moved up and down very easily. It was made to be wall mounted. It was build like a Saltzman, that is like a rock. They said if they got it working, it would sell for about $5k. I told them to put my name on the waiting list, but I never heard from them.

I bought some pin registration equipment from them and left. It's sad to see such a good company, devoted to quality engineering, leave the scene. I don't know if they just didn't have enough business or if the son wasn't interested in taking over the place.

-Mike

 

[Donald Miller]

It seems that Condit went out of business a while ago. Does anyone know what became of them? I can't find them in the Yellow Pages on Yahoo, either.

Condit used to be in Connecticut, not far from where I lived. I went out to visit them one day. They were in a simple brick building out in the country. I met John and his son, both very nice people. They showed me areound the shop. One of the things they showed me was a prototye of an 8x10 enlarger they were building. The best that I can describe it was it lookied like the upper assembly of a Saltzman enlarger! It was beauitful. It even had a pin registration negative carrier, 10"x10". It was spring loaded so the head moved up and down very easily. It was made to be wall mounted. It was build like a Saltzman, that is like a rock. They said if they got it working, it would sell for about $5k. I told them to put my name on the waiting list, but I never heard from them.

I bought some pin registration equipment from them and left. It's sad to see such a good company, devoted to quality engineering, leave the scene. I don't know if they just didn't have enough business or if the son wasn't interested in taking over the place.

-Mike

I think that Condit was a victim of the migration to digital in the graphics industry. From what I can gather Durst Pro/Jensen Optical has utilized some of the Condit design in the pin registration equipment that they sell. Durst's line of enlargers especially in the vertical 10X10 and 11X14 sizes is as well designed as it comes. Cost is well above $5K though.