Durst Laborator 1200 - Anyone using one?

Dave Miller · Mar 24, 2008

Cor said:
Thanks for the tip, so if you change contrast you do not have to change the exposure time, that is convenient!

What about the vibration of the fan? If you put your hand on the housing do you feel a slight vibration?

Best,

Cor

I have the 1200/VLS501 and can confirm that I do not have to change exposure time when I change contrast, and that applies from grade 00 to 5.
I can hear the fan but cannot feel any vibration on the head. Incidentally the fan only runs when the lamp is lit, so is not intrusive.

Cor · Mar 24, 2008

Good to know Dave!

Perhaps I rely should check that fan, perhaps it is mounted wrongly or so...and keep an eye on a VLS501. I did make a table with various settings and time compensation for the CL501. I also looked into Paul Butzi system (dialing in Cyan as ND)..but returned to the condensor housing, also as I said, his vibration should influence sharpness..

Weren't you a fan of condensor enlargers or am I mixing you up with another Dave..?..

Best,

Cor

Dave Miller said:
I have the 1200/VLS501 and can confirm that I do not have to change exposure time when I change contrast, and that applies from grade 00 to 5.
I can hear the fan but cannot feel any vibration on the head. Incidentally the fan only runs when the lamp is lit, so is not intrusive.

Dave Miller · Mar 24, 2008

Cor said:
Good to know Dave!

Perhaps I rely should check that fan, perhaps it is mounted wrongly or so...and keep an eye on a VLS501. I did make a table with various settings and time compensation for the CL501. I also looked into Paul Butzi system (dialing in Cyan as ND)..but returned to the condensor housing, also as I said, his vibration should influence sharpness..

Weren't you a fan of condensor enlargers or am I mixing you up with another Dave..?..

Best,

Cor

Someone else, I've never had the privilege of using a condenser head.

RobC · Mar 24, 2008

I have a cls501 head on my L1200. When I bought it I could feel a vibration in the head when the lamp and fan were on. I don't think it caused lack of sharpness. However, after close inspection I found that the fan unit is mounted on a rubber vibration damping base and to stop that from moving in transit there is a transit screw which needs removing when the unit is in use. Its at the top edge of the fan unit and connects it to the lamp unit.
Removing the screw reduced the apparent vibration to virtually nothing and my prints are very sharp when I get everything correct.

RobC · Mar 24, 2008

A correctly setup cls501 head has extremely precise calibration built into the dichroic filter dials. I beleive these may have been setup using Ilford papers or vice versa. Using Ilford provided units for Y+M there is very even spacing between each grade given in the ilford paper data sheet.
The speed point (where the curves for each grade cross) seems to be almost exactly on a print value V. Thats for ilford papers. It will be different for other paper brands and each nominal grade may not cross at exactly the same point in the way ilford papers seem to.

RobC · Mar 24, 2008

Cor said:
Thanks for the tip, so if you change contrast you do not have to change the exposure time, that is convenient!

This is only true if you base your exposure on the speed point of grades. See my post above. i.e. if the speed point (print value where each contrast grade crosses) is the same as the print value you base your exposure time on, then you will not need to adjust exposure time for a contrast change.
However, in real world practice, there is always some subjective tweaking of print time and grade (for me anyway).

MattKing · Mar 24, 2008

Cor said:
Good to know Dave!

Weren't you a fan of condensor enlargers or am I mixing you up with another Dave..?..

Best,

Cor

Bet you are thinking of Donald Miller, and point source enlargers.

Matt

Swift Raven · Mar 24, 2008

dickgent said:
Well, I have picked up my enlarger (5 hours one way) and I found it does not have a transformer (varipoint condenser) or condensing lenses (the convex ones). My questions"

Can I project 4x5 using the mixing box only? or is do I need the convex lenses similar to the ones for 35mm and 6x9. How do these work?

It seems the lamp requires 12v 100 watts. The literature that I can find indicates that the transformer can control the power to the lamp. But the only transformer I can find outputs 24v. I know this could be a problem. Does anyone have the serial number moddel number for the transformer?

Do I need different mixing bboxes and lenses for different formats? If so what are they.

Lastly, The spring is disconnected from the top of the column. Any advice on reconnecting it? Is there a easy way?

Yes I know you get what you pay for..... But I am determined to make this work. In for a penny...

Any comments or advice will be helpful. Thanks

You definetly have a problem. My suggestions:
First go to the Jensen Optical website. That website has manuals for all Durst enlargers and you can down load the one for the L1200. Jensen also carries parts for all Durst enlargers. He is not inexpensive but then you get what you pay for...

If you are a B&W printer you might want to consider getting a cold light head for that enlarger. Then you do not have to deal with the problem of the power supply, or mixing boxes.

Renato Tonelli · Mar 24, 2008

I have never seen a cold light head for the Durst l-1200. A few years ago I called Aristo - they still don't make one. I once considered retrofitting the guts out of one of their heads into a 4x5 mixing box.

Swift Raven · Mar 25, 2008

Actually they did and I have one! It is not the best because it does not have a heater in it. So when I did use it I let it warm up for a minute before exposing the paper. But it is not hard to adapt an Aristo head to an L1200. I used an Aristo head for some time before buying a CLS500 color head.

dickgent · Aug 14, 2008

UPDATE -- I found and Purchasesd a Ilford 500H head. Replace the standard head and got it working. I machined (retrofitted) a CarlWen negative carrier to the the head and also machined some standard carriers to fit. All is working well. I now am searching for a Ilford 500P probe for the head. none available... I will keep looking. Thanks for your responses.

dickgent · Aug 21, 2008

Finally made a print Durst 1200

Well I have finally made my first print with the 1200. It was an amazing experience. A great enlarger, my first set of exposures were 16x20 using 4x5 negs. Really impressive.... even without the Ilford 500P multigrade probe. The 500 H head is great too! Thanks for all who contributed.

mattm098 · Mar 29, 2010

Guys,

I want to try to buy a Durst L1200 enlarger along with a CLS 1501 and its power supply on eBay. How much is it worth so I can make him an offer? Thank you.

RalphLambrecht · Mar 29, 2010

mattm098 said:
Guys,

I want to try to buy a Durst L1200 enlarger along with a CLS 1501 and its power supply on eBay. How much is it worth so I can make him an offer? Thank you.

I paid $5,000 for a demo model in 1998. It came without lenses.

mattm098 · Mar 29, 2010

Ralph, thanks for the fast reply. I know prices changed a lot from 10 years ago. Did someone brought/saw a transaction made within the last 5 years (2005-2010)? There is one on eBay with the L1200, CLS501 and the power supply for 950US. Is it a fair price? I looked around and just saw 1 posted price online going for 1000EURO that was sold in France:
http://www.amako.fr/Page.php?Durst-LABORATOR-1200-+-CLS-501&Name=produit_desc&pi=2188

RobertV · Mar 29, 2010

I paid $5,000 for a demo model in 1998

I just "gave" one away, with Multigraph head, all Femoboxes and 50mm, 80mm and 150mm Rodenstock lenses. Eur. 650,-

New price: NLG. 13.500,- in 1998. (Eur. 6100).

mattm098 · Mar 29, 2010

Robert, I beleive the CLS501 head is a much better and higher quality than the Multigraph. Please correct me if I'm wrong. Do you beleive 950US is fair price for the CLS501 along with the L1200 and power supply only? Thanks guys.

RalphLambrecht · Mar 29, 2010

mattm098 said:
Ralph, thanks for the fast reply. I know prices changed a lot from 10 years ago. Did someone brought/saw a transaction made within the last 5 years (2005-2010)? There is one on eBay with the L1200, CLS501 and the power supply for 950US. Is it a fair price? I looked around and just saw 1 posted price online going for 1000EURO that was sold in France:
http://www.amako.fr/Page.php?Durst-LABORATOR-1200-+-CLS-501&Name=produit_desc&pi=2188

You should be able to do better than that, but I've seen them go recently between $500 and $1,500.

RalphLambrecht · Mar 29, 2010

mattm098 said:
Robert, I beleive the CLS501 head is a much better and higher quality than the Multigraph. Please correct me if I'm wrong. Do you beleive 950US is fair price for the CLS501 along with the L1200 and power supply only? Thanks guys.

The Multigraph head is great, the CLS501 is simpler to use!

paul_c5x4 · Mar 29, 2010

I scored two L1200's last summer, one with a CLS500 head, the other a CLS450. The first was only £50, the second, £250 - But I also got a spare head with it.

mattm098 · Mar 29, 2010

Paul, are you sure those weren't stolen lol... the price is simply illogical and doesn't make any sense

mattm098 · Mar 29, 2010

I guess this is what happens when granpa and uncle pass away and kids want to get ride of the vintage antiquity equipments... Very sad.

mikebarger · Mar 29, 2010

That's what makes it tough to buy on the used market. Just when you think you're getting a good deal, something comes along at half the price or worse free.

Mike

mattm098 · Mar 29, 2010

Mike, you're right. But those elements can be viewed more of luck and broke than actual market values. If someone donates his equipment for 50E, it doesn't mean that the new market price is 50E. Otherwise all enlargers would have ZERO as value as many are donated for 0 to charity organism. Sorry for my English.

RalphLambrecht · Mar 29, 2010

My simple eBay rule is:

Figure out what the product is worth to you. Make that your max bid. If you get it for that, fine, if not, don't worry about it, someone was willing to pay more than what it's worth to you. And, never ever, check prices after you bought!

Durst Laborator 1200 - Anyone using one?

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