Durst DA 900 manual

[frobozz]

I recently acquired a Durst DA 900 enlarger. In researching it on the web I saw people looking for a manual for it, but nobody ever providing one. Let me correct that now! It came with a manual so I made one of my high-res PDFs of it in all its glory.

http://www.backglass.org/duncan/darkroom/durst_da900/durst_da900_manual.pdf

Sorry for the slow downloads, but it's just my poor little DSL leading to a server in my basement.

Duncan

 

[frobozz]

I've been cleaning up and documenting the DA-900 with an eye towards selling it. I figure ads are ephemeral, but I could put all the pictures here for the more permanent record, for anyone who ever has a DA-900 and would like to see detailed pics of it and its accessories. If there's any other detail someone needs a picture of that's not here, let me know soon!

http://backglass.org/duncan/darkroom/durst_da900/

This thing is a pretty sturdy beast, I'm impressed. And the dual lens autofocus mechanism is inspired. As the head goes up and down on the column, the lens racks to maintain focus.

Duncan

 

[youngrichard]

Thanks. I have one of these and got a manual from Old Timer Cameras; I think it must be an earlier edition, yours is much more comprehensive. You seem to have everything except the Autocalo heat absorber. How accurate is the Autofocus? I note the paint on the adjusting screws on the lens panels is not disturbed and you have the original lenses with serial numbers coinciding with the numbers on the front panel, so after setting the Focus Variator to the height of your easel it should be spot on. Mine wasn't so I fiddled with the screws (not recommended by Durst) and it is now excellent.
Richard

 

[frobozz]

From what I've played with it so far, it seems to track pretty well when autofocusing as you move the head up and down.

Is the heat absorbing glass only needed when using a hotter bulb? Or is that something that's required to make this thing usable in its current state?

The enlarger doesn't exactly match the manual, I'm not sure if it's newer (I think so) or older than the manual. For instance the way they describe the Focus Variator working is that the rear knob is the setscrew and when loosened allows the two side knobs (where the steel bands wrap up) to be turned up or down. But on mine, the rear knob would appear to be geared to the side drums (no longer knobbed) such that spinning the rear knob cranks the steel bands up and down directly and in sync.

The number of adjustments on this thing is amazing - for instance the bulb can be moved forward and back in the head (friction fit with a little bellows), and up and down (with a setscrew to hold it). Making it a little pain to set up precisely the first time, for sure, but at least you can set it up precisely!

Duncan

 

[youngrichard]

In my experience, you don't need the Autocalo normally, otherwise it would have been standard equipment. With the 150w bulb I haven't had heat problems eg negative popping, though you might with a 250w bulb, or a point source bulb.
The Focus Variator is the knob on top of the column; set the height of your easel on the scale at the top of the column, in cm on the right or inches on the left. The knobs to right and left of the head are to raise/lower the head on the right, and to lock it on the left.
The filters you show in the pictures are 8.9 cm square; you need 12 cm square, which I don't think were made, you need to cut down 15cm square filters, not difficult. You have a filter drawer; mine came without, but I easily made one out of 1mm card and a bit of glue. I expect you have worked out that Autofocus is set for the 50mm and 80mm lenses for 35mm negswith the 50mm Unicon and 6x6 with the 85 mm Unicon; with your 105 mm lens and Unicon 105 condenser you will need to focus by hand.
Richard

 

[frobozz]

OK, here's a question for youngrichard or any other Durst experts: the serial numbers stamped on the head match the lenses. The number stamped next to the "A" on the head matches the one stamped on the Autoneg negative carrier (the other carriers have no serial numbers so were presumably bought as later options.) What is the number stamped next to the "S" on the head? Is that just the serial number of the enlarger itself? Makes sense, since mine is 3337 and that seems in the right range for a high end enlarger if they started at, say, 1000.

Duncan

 

[youngrichard]

Yes I wondered that too. The number after A is the serial number of the enlarger and is repeated on the Autoneg carrier supplied with the machine - 21402028 in my case. The number after the S on my machine is the same as yours - 3337. There is no clue in the manual that I can see that explains this.
Richard

 

[Contrastique]

Thank you so much for putting this pdf out here! It helped me solve my issues with the DA900. ;-)

 

[cluttered]

And thanks from me, as well. (I'll be receiving my DA 900 next week.)

 

[simplify-your-life]

Dear frobozz,

is the link to the DURST DA 900 manual still active?
My browser keeps saying that the PDF is corrupted and can't be loaded.

hope you can help .

take care,
ellen

 

[frobozz]

Still there and still opens for me, both in Safari and Chrome browsers and Adobe Reader 8 on a Mac... And just downloaded Adobe Reader X for the Mac and it works there too. And just tried it with Adobe Reader X in IE on Windows XP and it works there too! Maybe the entire file didn't download? It's 11.5MB.

Duncan

 

[simplify-your-life]

tried with firefox on a (very) slow internet connection.
thanks for suggesting google chrome - succesfully downloaded the 11,3 MB pdf on a different computer with faster connection.

take care,
ellen

 

[James Guerin]

thanks for this! I just bought a complete DA900 for 50 euro here in France! I think I've scored a really nice enlarger!