Durst Enlarger Condensers?

Hey All,

So I've been looking on my local kijiji ads to piece together a darkroom. I came upon one listing with a Durst 401 MKII 4x5 enlarger with stand and a Durst 4x5 condenser enlarger and 2 Durst Laborator 1000.

I literally can not find anything on these things on google except a few threads on other forums, where the OP already knew what they were and was asking specific questions.

My question is should I be worried that there's so little info on this brand?

The durst I have, 138s is a precision machine. The condensors need to be perfect, but they can be found.
Parts are out there, I doubt anything would ever break on it though. There is info, try the LF forum as well.

http://www.largeformatphotography.info/forum/

dasBlute said:

The durst I have, 138s is a precision machine. The condensors need to be perfect, but they can be found.
Parts are out there, I doubt anything would ever break on it though. There is info, try the LF forum as well.

http://www.largeformatphotography.info/forum/

Click to expand...

Thanks! I'll run a search on that forum. Good to know your's is still solid. My biggest fear is buying dead weight that can't be repaired.

I have a L1000.
Warning, you want ALL the parts included with the enlarger.

Buying the condensers separate will be a difficult and long hunt, and it will likely be expensive when you do find it.
Example, I'm in California, and I had to get one of the condenser lenses from a seller in France.

Similarly buying Durst negative masks will be a difficult and long hunt.
But at least there is an alternative for the Durst negative masks. However that is not an easy cheap alternative.
Get an Omega D5 negative carrier of the desired film format, then take that to a machine shop and have them cut it down to size and bevel the 2 sides to fit into the negative carrier.
So not a cheap alternative, but it is an alternative.

As for bulbs. The designed Durst bulbs are no longer made, and essentially not available. Any that you might see on the open market sell for a nutty price $$$. But there is an alternative, a standard G30 WHITE bulb. Probably not as good as the Durst bulb, but it is a workable alternative. The limitation here is the white G30 bulb is only available in a max 100 watt bulb, nothing higher. And with the ending of manufacturing of general incandescent bulbs over 60 watts, you better get what you can NOW. I stocked up on enough 60 and 100w bulb to keep me going for 15-20 years.

PM me with your email, and I will send you the manual for the L1000.

Thanks for the tips ac12!

With regards to the bulbs being lowering in watts, I assume I'd need to play with and extend exposure times to compensate?

I have a durst pro 4x5. It's earlier model of the same design is the ce1000. It was a pain to find the negative carriers for 6x9 and 4x5 that I needed. I used Matt board for the longest time. I still have trouble finding the correct lens board to fit an odd size 150mm lens. And I have yet to find any info on a glass carrier that would fit the machine. I still don't even have a manual for it and there aren't any online for some reason. But it's very solid and steady. Durst makes nice enlargers but its hard to find parts and when you do you have to hope they don't cost an outrageous amount.

Newt_on_Swings said:

I have a durst pro 4x5. It's earlier model of the same design is the ce1000. It was a pain to find the negative carriers for 6x9 and 4x5 that I needed. I used Matt board for the longest time. I still have trouble finding the correct lens board to fit an odd size 150mm lens. And I have yet to find any info on a glass carrier that would fit the machine. I still don't even have a manual for it and there aren't any online for some reason. But it's very solid and steady. Durst makes nice enlargers but its hard to find parts and when you do you have to hope they don't cost an outrageous amount.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the info. I'm looking at the equipment tomorrow and the lenses as well as the negative carriers are at the top of my list to check, that and the bulbs. It's strange the Durst brand must have gone out of business long before the internet, I can't find a thing on them. I was looking at other listings a few weeks ago they were selling beseler enlargers and I can find a ton of info on them.

These two sites could help you with Durst manuals:
http://manuelsphoto.free.fr/
http://durst.loremi.com/index.php
Otherwise, from experience I can tell that L1000 is a great enlarger. Parts are more difficult to get than for the newer L1200 but on the other hand seem to be cheaper on the average. I assembled mine from parts and it is not the best way, I can tell. But I got it together within months. Still looking for the Taunodap part though... Good luck.

davidmasek said:

These two sites could help you with Durst manuals:
http://manuelsphoto.free.fr/
http://durst.loremi.com/index.php
Otherwise, from experience I can tell that L1000 is a great enlarger. Parts are more difficult to get than for the newer L1200 but on the other hand seem to be cheaper on the average. I assembled mine from parts and it is not the best way, I can tell. But I got it together within months. Still looking for the Taunodap part though... Good luck.

Click to expand...

Wow thanks! That's an amazing resource, I really appreciate it!

I have most of a Laborator 1000, but I essentially stopped looking for parts.

At least I have it if my better half didn't discard it. It is built like a precision medical instrument. And if you get one all together it should outlive you.

michaelbsc said:

I have most of a Laborator 1000, but I essentially stopped looking for parts.

At least I have it if my better half didn't discard it. It is built like a precision medical instrument. And if you get one all together it should outlive you.

Click to expand...

Yeah it seems incredibly well build. What parts are you missing?

duparis00 said:

Thanks for the tips ac12!

With regards to the bulbs being lowering in watts, I assume I'd need to play with and extend exposure times to compensate?

Click to expand...

YUP.

While I have not set up and tested my L1000 yet, based on my experience with a Durst M600, I think the 100w bulb should be OK.
I had to drop down in wattage for the M600 enlarger from a 150w bulb to a 75w bulb, to have an exposure time that I could do any manipulation with. The stock 150w bulb gave me exposure times of about 5 sec or less, at min aperture. In fact I wanted an even lower wattage bulb than the 75w PH211, but I could not find one, so I lived with the 75w bulb. It is with this experience that I also got some 60w bulbs for the L1000.