Durst 1000 with Liesegang lens. Crap?

As I've written in another thread, the market for LF enlargers in Sweden, is just sooo limited.

The only ones I've found locally, are two Durst Laborator 1000, one with a CLS450 head, and the other with a BW head. They are both a bit battered. The seller is a bit confused about what he actually has for these enlargers, but it seems he has a 9x12 cm carrier and a 135mm / 4.5 Liesegang Coronar. He's asking about 400 USD for each of the enlargers. He says he'll get them sold for that, but I'm not so sure. I think it's too much for the state they're in.

Has anyone here used the Liesegang lens?

Can a 9x12 carrier be used with 4x5" film, or will it be cropped a lot or not even fit?

Getting spare parts, and neg carriers seems difficult with Durst. There's such a plethora of names and models on carriers etc, and I find it confusing. Not so much is available on e**y.

Is it possible to adjust neg carrier flatness, lensboard flatness etc on this model?

Is it a better idea to get both, at a discounted price, so I can use parts etc from one? Seller say's he wont budge from 800 USD for both, but I'm not buying at that price. Around 600 might be OK, or am I better off waiting for a better deal?

Sorry about the many questions, and messed up post... I have too many enlargers spinning around my head...

That colour head is newer then mine but the enlarger is the same. It's an okay enlarger. I've no idea what the state of your local market is but the price would be high from here. Mine in mint condition with a full six month warranty wasn't much more then $300 US.

The only current part that will fit is lens boards. Actually that's for my head. I've no idea if the current neg carriers will fit the head you're looking at. IIRC the B&W head uses a no longer produced bulb. So you want to check that issue out.

I wouldn't worry about the lens. You can get a 135mm or 150mm lens used for not much money. It would not be a make/break issue for me.

Have you looked at the lensboards? The things could hold a tank. They won't flex-) The whole thing is fairly solid. Unless it's been abused of course but I think it would take a lot of abuse.

I wouldn't get both. Unless you want both heads.

http://www3.sympatico.ca/nick_zentena/Durst1000.html

Is that it?

Nick Zentena said:

http://www3.sympatico.ca/nick_zentena/Durst1000.html

Is that it?

Click to expand...

Thanks! It's similar. But the BW head looked different and more like a box.

I've purchased two thru eBay with price for each around $200, both with older color heads. I would think having both color head & condenser would be good thing. Here's a manual

The BW head is of diffusion type on this particular machine.

Yeah, Sweden isn't a big market, but $400 sounds like an okay deal, especially if you can pick it up locally. Just wish I could do that. The best thing is if you can find a complete outfit. As you say, it could take some effort to find what you need otherwise. The Liesegang lens I really don't know anything about, but it could probably do as a first lens. Otherwise it's pretty easy to find G-Clarons for a song. Longer enlarger lenses aren't really hot stuff...

The Dursts are sturdy, wellbuilt and will last a long time. Only issues are spare parts. Worst case you can cobble together a neg holder and so on, but sometimes it would be easier just to live somewhere else.

Hello, I just bought a Laborator 1000 with B/W condenser head for 3000SEK (~USD400) and a nice 150mm lens and a new digital timer. This seems to be what they go for around here. I got it from a local shop so you can probably get it cheaper from a private person, but I thought it was worth a little extra to be able to bug them with any questions I might have in the future. It looks just like the one Nick Z linked to. But it has a regular E27 opal lamp, maybe it was modified at some time.

It came with holders from 35mm to 9x12cm. If I ever need 4x5 I might try to mill one of the smaller ones or just fashion something, they arent that complicated. It also came with something called a Taunodap 450. A "mixing box" of some sorts, I have no idea what its for or how Im supposed to attach it to the enlarger..