Durst L1200 vs Omega D5000

I have been on the lookout for a 4x5 version of my Durst L1840 8x10 enlarger. Well, a L1200 came up for sale within driving distance for the "Local Pickup Only"

The thing is, after finding the L1200, I'm not impressed with its construction compared to the two D5500s that I already have.

My wife said I can get it if I want ,but I think I'll pass. Especially since I'll still need to source a dichroic head for it.

You could always get an L-138 and pretend it is a 4x5. Durst apparently made a whole business out of this with the S-45(EM), etc. The proper color head will be hard to find, though.

It should be easy to find a colour head for the L1200......either the CLS501 or CLS450 will fit......providing you have the correct mounting hardware since they were used on other chassis'.

A better solution is to go for the Ilford MG500 head and controller if you use variable grade paper.......but again, the L1200 adapter needs to be used.

There was a cold-light head for it, but i've never seen one for sale.

Mike

ic-racer said:

The thing is, after finding the L1200, I'm not impressed with its construction compared to the two D5500s that I already have.

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Honestly, I've not been terribly impressed by any of the Dursts in the sub 5x7 range - with a couple of exceptions (and mainly because they're evidently essentially shrunken 138/184 style construction). Not super keen on Omega's construction habits either. It's quite eye opening to see the differences between the fundamental engineering of a De Vere and many of the enlargers aimed at similar 'professional photography' markets - especially if you've ever dismantled an L1200. The machines made for the industrial/ governmental/ mapping markets etc are a different story - and the baseline 'professional' machines in a lot of Europe were often aimed at 13x18cm, rather than 4x5. In the UK there was apparently (half a century or more ago) a significant sales tax difference between 4x5 and half plate, which essentially defined 1/2 plate as 'professional' and 4x5 as not - so there were effectively quite strong financial incentives to go with 4x5 for many.

mpirie said:

A better solution is to go for the Ilford MG500 head and controller if you use variable grade paper

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Given the choice, I'd go with the colour dichroic & use separate filters if necessary - the MG500 is not as great a solution as people want it to be - and is very full of ageing electronics. You can convert the Durst colour heads to act as a defacto split-grade by modifying the fixed 'boost' filter with a magenta dichroic, setting max yellow on the dial & using the two place/ withdraw levers to control them.

Wow, that L1200 was bid almost to $1500! That is more than I paid for two Durst L1840s.

ic-racer said:

Wow, that L1200 was bid almost to $1500! That is more than I paid for two Durst L1840s.

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Except you got them when enlargers were being dumped at high speed. It was fun while it lasted. Different times now.

What I wonder is: what is wrong with L1200? I don't think I cam across comments trying to see Omega as so much better of an alternative. I have used both, even if not for long. I don't see how that comparison could win on an actual merit.

As for De Vere, they do look like solid horse, and sound like one too.

VTLD said:

Except you got them when enlargers were being dumped at high speed. It was fun while it lasted. Different times now.

What I wonder is: what is wrong with L1200? I don't think I cam across comments trying to see Omega as so much better of an alternative. I have used both, even if not for long. I don't see how that comparison could win on an actual merit.

As for De Vere, they do look like solid horse, and sound like one too.

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I actually paid $1200 USD for my first D5500 in 1999. Still would be nice to have a 4x5" Durst some day.

Enlarger prices are highly dependent on location.
Durst is a particularly good example. For some reason there was much better distribution of the Durst "hobbyist" models in Canada than the USA. As a result, you are more likely to see used ones around here.
As for the professional level Durst enlargers, I certainly encountered them when they were current, but I have no sense of how widespread their uptake was in the Canadian market.

but I have no sense of how widespread their uptake was in the Canadian market.

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One of my L1840s came from Canada, and had been used for photography. The other L1840 came from Midwest USA and was used for graphic arts and sign making.

I saw this recently: https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=4527888190591619&set=pcb.2461463237319669

$2000 might be a bit steep but I assume that's just a starting point. No connection to the seller.

Durst never made a commercial duty 4X5 enlarger equivalent to the L184. The smallest was the 5X7 L138 series, which handles 4x5 and smaller too, of course. The L1200, although a very fine product, came out of the separate amateur division and uses different less-expensive materials, like an anodized aluminum chassis comparable to other mid-range enlargers like the Omega..

I was offered a very clean L1200 and colorhead for free, but had nowhere to put it. All my Dursts are true commercial L184 and L138 based. Properly maintained, they could easily see another century of use. It would simply be too expensive materials-wise, and especially labor-wise, to revive that level of build quality again.

Durst never made a commercial duty 4X5 enlarger equivalent to the L184.

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Don't forget about the Labator 54. Has many features of the L184 and L138, including ability to project horizontal. construction.

Wow, that looks ancient. I've never seen one of those. There were all kinds of esoteric L's and hydrids of them, clear up to an early convertible vertical / horizontal 11X14 model, possibly even bigger still. Some might have been one of a kind. I've refurbished both mid and late vintage 138's, as well as a late 184 - not just the turkey itself, but all the Thanksgiving trimmings too. These can be quite fun and rewarding to bring back to a second life. I'm sure itching to get mine back into color printing, and not just black and white, but am awaiting a fresh supply of color paper.

I looked up the manual for that L54. It was a scaled-down tabletop model, minus the lower half of the chassis. Not being a full 5x7 head, it also needed its own carriers. But given the style of carrier options in the manual, it's probably a tweak of a later 138 system, and just looks earlier due to certain details probably more related to lower price point than actual vintage.

The Laborator 54, 184 and 139 seem to have all been introduced within a year or so of each other in 1959/60 - and a fair guess would be that a major revision of the 138 (by then a decade old) happened at the same time (not sure if that was the 'S' revision - there are a couple of other 138 sub-variants that have features that seem to have been unified into the 138S). It may well indicate the point that the ranges diverged into 'professional'/ industrial and more amateur/ less industrially oriented - up until that point, their construction styles seem to have been largely fairly unified. Worth noting too that Durst themselves termed essentially everything from the M805/ Laborator 900 upwards as a 'Professional' product. Other than the one-offs that crop up in Durst's histories, the two biggest machines they seem to have offered were the Laborator 2400 (30x30cm) and Laborator 3000 (30x40cm) in the 1970s.