Converting a De Vere 54 condenser enlarger to diffusion

[dj_judas21]

I have recently acquired a De Vere 54 (not 504) enlarger to begin printing from large format negatives, having upgraded from an LPL C7700 6x7 enlarger.

This is my first condenser enlarger and I'm having one or two problems with even illumination and significant light fall-off towards the edges. The enlarger came with one condenser which is not labelled, but seems to give pretty even illumination with a 135mm lens. However when printing with my 50mm, 75mm, or 110mm lenses, there is extreme light fall-off towards the edges.

I suspect it will be difficult and/or expensive to get hold of different condensers for different focal lengths so for now I'm working around the problem by placing a piece of translucent plastic (from a light box) in the filter drawer. This helps a lot and I'm able to make prints using shorter lenses, although it still needs some edge burning.

I'm not tied to having a condenser enlarger; I got on fine with diffusers for medium format. I removed the condenser from this enlarger to see what it would do, and the result is a very uneven light, so obviously one cannot simply remove the condenser without also making other modifications.

What is involved in converting this head to a diffusion head? I could try putting one piece of translucent plastic in the filter drawer and another at the bottom of the condenser chamber (without the condenser in place). I could also try painting the inside of the lamphouse and condenser chamber in matt white to make the whole thing into a diffusion mixing box. Has anyone tried this, and is it likely to work? I'm also going to experiment with different light bulbs, including a traditional pearl bulb and also a couple of halogen reflectors, one of which has an enormous reflector to produce a wide beam.

I'm aware that diffusion enlargers produce less contrasty images (which is fine by me) and that they are less efficient with light, i.e. longer exposure times may be needed. Are there any other pitfalls?

Thanks,
Jonathan

 

[Steve Smith]

If you do a search here, you should find some threads detailing the conversion I did on my DeVere 54 to an LED light source.

I'm not sure if that would be any help to you though!

And it's quite a coincidence that my previous enlarger was an LPL too (a 6700 in my case).


Steve.

 

[Ian Grant]

You can use a De Vere Cold Cathode head it fits instead of the condenser housing. They do come up for sale on Ebay.

Or make an LED head like Steve suggests.

Ian

 

[dj_judas21]

I considered a cold cathode head but they sound like a bit of a pain when you consider the warm-up time, etc. I'd also rather not spend any money on this, if my problem can be resolved simply by adding a diffusion filter and painting the inside of the lamphouse white!

 

[ic-racer]

I found the following information about the enlarger on the internet. I'd look for a 150mm lens for it. For smaller formats, you are unlikely to re-design the DeVere 54 into a machine anywhere as good as your LPL C7700.

This enlarger was designed specifically for 4x5" format, the condenser is optimised for a 150mm lens, but 135mm will work, shorter focal lengths will give serious vignetting problems,

 

[dj_judas21]

For smaller formats, you are unlikely to re-design the DeVere 54 into a machine anywhere as good as your LPL C7700.

Yes, I'm afraid you're right. Unfortunately I don't have the room for two enlargers so I have to keep the De Vere 54 over the C7700.

I've done some experiments with two pieces of clear frosted perspex (one in place of the condenser, immediately above the neg and one in the filter drawer) and replacing the frosted light bulb with a higher-powered halogen reflector lamp to compensate for the light lost in diffusion. The early results are promising and I think I can make it work well enough to print 35mm at 10x8" and medium format at larger sizes.

If there is any such thing, which enlarger is the best all-rounder for 35mm, medium format and large format?

 

[resummerfield]

My Durst L1200 does a good job on 35mm up to 4x5, and it has a condenser head and the Dichro head. I suspect the Beseler 45 also works well at 35mm to 4x5.

 

[MartinP]

Shouldn't the Varicon head for the 504 have two condensers in it - not just one? I am using a Varicon head on the De Vere 203 and to cover from 35mm to 6x9cm you change the top one of the two condensers. There is a small diagram on the inside of the condenser-stage door which should also be present (but different of course) on the larger head of your machine.

 

[Steve Smith]

My Durst L1200 does a good job on 35mm up to 4x5, and it has a condenser head and the Dichro head. I suspect the Beseler 45 also works well at 35mm to 4x5.

My DeVere 54 is also better than I thought it would be for 35mm.

I don't have a 50mm lens so I use an 80mm and the head has to go quite high with the bellows almost completely collapsed - but it works.

I gave my LPL 6700 away to a local school which was enlarging its darkroom so I don't have that option any more!


Steve.

 

[Ian Grant]

Looking at how a light mixing box is constructed it wouldn't be a major task to make one yourself and at a very low cost. I've just been cleaning up a Jobo (LPL) enlarger and I need to make one for a 6x9 Durst (I have smaller Durst mixing boxes), also the one on my De Vere 5108 is quite simple as well.

You can use a transformer and 12v Halogen lamps designed for shop displays (these are quite decent transformers) I have one that will control 6 halogen lamps that was being thrown out about 20 years ago.

I think I've seen online articles on making mixing boxes.

Ian

 

[dj_judas21]

I did some test prints to measure light fall-off while experimenting with different diffusing setups and I finally found a setup that works. It involves two types of diffusion material at different points in the lamp house and also painting the inside of the lamp house and condenser chamber in matt white. There will be photos about the conversion when it's done

 

[dj_judas21]

So here's an article on my blog about the modification of this De Vere 54 from condenser to diffusion, including photos of the work and some test prints too. Overall I'm pleased with the end result although the diffusion loses a lot of light. Hope this is interesting.

http://www.jonathangazeley.com/2014/05/converting-a-de-vere-54-condenser-enlarger-to-diffusion/

 

[ic-racer]

Nice work, the only comment I have is that the 'test prints' should be done with no negative in the holder.

 

[Steve Smith]

Looks good to me.

I don't know if your new light source will cover it but the DeVere 54 will just about take a 5x7 negative if you make a suitable holder.


Steve.

 

[dj_judas21]

I do indeed have a 5x7" holder but (currently) no camera that shoots this size. I suspect there'd be some light fall-off with a 5x7" going right to the edges of the replacement light box.