Easel, Enlarger, Ventilation opinions please...

[lylep]

I am setting up my first personal darkroom and am trying to balance $$$ to performance and quality. It's important for me to do things the right way instead of doing things twice and spending just as much time and money, so your help is greatly appreciated.

Heres' my situation...I have been lucky enough to spend 95% of my time 'til present in a 4 room, 1100sqft., quarter-million dollar darkroom and am going into a 7x10 room in my house. I work with B&W 35 and 120, and generally don't do any prints above 16x20. I have primarily used 4x5 enlargers(can't remember the models for the life of me) with Zone VI CL heads and Saunders easels.

I would be grateful for opinions on the following...
1) I have been eyeing a Besslar 23 CIII-XL enlarger. I would greatly appreciate opinions on this enlarger and also on Condenser vs. Variable contrast. Any other enlarger suggestions would be nice as well.
2) As I mentioned above I have only used Saunders 4-blade easels and am curious if anyone has had experience to compare a Saunders 4-blade to the 4-blade Besslar and Omega Easels. Is it worth the money to go with the Saunders over the others?
3) Ventilation suggestions as well? The 7x10 room has two walls that are to the outside of the house and one to a garage.
4) I get most of my equipment/supplies from B&H or Calumet and would be interested in any other companies you have had positive experiences with.

Thanks for all your help.

 

[Nick Zentena]

My feeling buy a good easel. If you don't it'll just drive you crazy. Waste paper and time. Then you'll replace it. I just bought a new LPL 14x17 and a used Beard 20x24. The beard is built like a tank. But it's also bigger then a tank. It didn't cost very much on the used market. The LPL is a little lighter then I'd like and I'm still not 100% sure the blades are perfectly 90 degrees. But it's better then my collection of crappy used easels.

If it was me I'd get either a condensor or a colour head. I'm not sure what the point of the VC heads really are. On the used market you can find plenty of good quality enlargers. The Beselers tend to have a high degree of part sharing. That will make finding things like negative carriers easier and cheaper.

Omega is now handling the LPL easels. Saunders I think used to. So depending on which easel you're looking at it may have changed names lately.


Equipment? Used. In today's market most things can be bought used for not a great deal of money. I'm afraid to think what the Beard easel I bought would have cost new. Plenty of high quality stuff for sale on the used market. The amount of new equipment I've bought for the darkroom is fairly small.

 

[Konical]

Good Evening, Lylep,

Nick's comments are good ones. I'd add, as I've done before in other APUG threads, consider a 4 x 5 enlarger right from the start; you'll probably end up with one anyway. If you like the Beseler 23, you'll be comfortable with the 45MCR-X. Don't bother with anything but high-quality lenses. As Nick indicates, used prices are rock-bottom nowadays.

Konical

 

[jovo]

I highly recommend the Beseler 23CIII...I've had one ever since I got back into photography and it's been a solid workhorse. The variable contrast head is excellent and most convenient as long as you're sure you'll never be doing color enlarging. The only complaint I have about it is that it uses an 80 watt bulb and isn't as bright by a long shot as the 250 watt bulb in my other enlarger, an LPL 4550XLVCCE. Having said that, if I had it to do again, I'd start with the LPL and buy the requisite negative carriers and lens mounts. In this era of transition (digital inroads becoming highways as it were) the superior quaility of LF becomes very seductive. You may succumb at any moment!! Having the one enlarger, then, that will accomodate the entire array of formats is a really good thing. And for that matter, if you have the room for it, consider a 20x24 4 blade easel...it'll do absolutely everything you're ever likely to want to do with an easel. Good luck...post a pic on the 'show us you're darkroom' thread (which is a 'sticky' and easy to find) when you've made your decisions and set up your setup.

 

[pelerin]

<SNIP>
1) I have been eyeing a Besslar 23 CIII-XL enlarger. I would greatly appreciate opinions on this enlarger and also on Condenser vs. Variable contrast. Any other enlarger suggestions would be nice as well.
2) As I mentioned above I have only used Saunders 4-blade easels and am curious if anyone has had experience to compare a Saunders 4-blade to the 4-blade Besslar and Omega Easels. Is it worth the money to go with the Saunders over the others?

Thanks for all your help.

Hello,
You will find as many opinions on the condenser/diffusion debate as there are folks taking part in the discussion. If you buy a 4x5 Beseler or an Omega D you can interchange between heads quite easily and not be stuck w/ either if you find that you are unhappy with your initial choice. These enlargers are widely available used, are easily repaired by someone of average mechanical skill, and, in the case of the Omega, can be accurately aligned w/out too much struggle.
It is my opinion that the Saunders 4 blade ("Universal" or "VTrack") is "worth it" vis-a-vis other currently available options. (...not that there are many) Kostiner and Salthill both made a quality alternative which may be available second hand. If you have been working with the Saunders and are pleased with it why switch? It seems to me that an easel is either invisible or frustrating. If it works well it simply does it's job unnoticed. However both a lesser easel (in either function or construction) and an unnecessarily complex one will spend a lot of time in the forefront of your consideration. ...and I warrant neither the cause of much happiness.
Celac.

 

[Huw]

Ventilation, positive pressure, i.e. force filtered air into the darkroom and put an exit vent above the sink. Cheap way to filter air is a car air filter.

 

[photobackpacker]

What are you developing and what formats are you working with?

 

[lylep]

I am developing B&W - 35 fuji neopan, and some 120- haven't really settled in on a film, very little 4x5 - ilford delta 100

 

[photobackpacker]

If you are certain you will not be going to 4x5, the 23C is a fine choice. If, however, you are working in landscape, still life or other subject matter not requiring the agility of roll film - I would seriously consider a 4X5 enlarger. At least then, when your dream LF camera lays itself at your feet with a price tag that you can't pass up, you will be prepared to use it without having to upgrade your enlarger.

If money is no object, (yeah, right!) then the LPL is my hands down favorite. The VCCE head is outstanding and is used by the top pros. The color head is equally outstanding and has its top pro supporters as well. I have owned 4 different enlargers (23C, 45MX, Zone VI and Saunders LPL) and the LPL is probably the last one I will own.

Easels. I own a Saunders 11x14 and a 16X20. They are both great. The 16X20 stays on the enlarger almost exclusively, now, and I use it for everything - primarily because it weighs a ton and is a pain to store. I guarantee you, it won't move on your enlarger if you bump it!

Ventilation. My dark room is 22X12X7 which is just under 1900 cubic feet. I am getting 8.5+ air exchanges per hour with a Dayton 265 shaded pole blower (also called squirrel cage fan or blower.) Dayton makes a quality product and my 265 is relatively quiet. When I framed in the dark room, I use one of the channels between the studs as a ventilation shaft. I placed the blower at floor level outside the DR and a vent grate at ceiling level on the inside. I painted the sheet rock and studs flat black inside the channel before closing up the wall. It works great. With the size of your darkroom, you should be able to get by with a 140 cfm unit like this one.

http://kingsolar.net/ecommerce/product?product_id=1607

They are selling it new for around $90 but I suspect you can find it a bit cheaper new with some searching. I bought my 265 cfm on ebay for $42 including shipping.

If you are persistant, you can create a fantastic darkroom with used equipment from ebay and stretch your purchasing power. Enlargers are often sold with the lenses which is an incredibly good deal.

Safelights. I had a Thomas in my DR for 10 years. I have attended two of John Sexton's seminars. 50% of the participants had safelight problems (fogged prints). 80% of these were using Thomas safelights.

I had to shutter mine down to such a low level, it didn't make sense. I finally pulled it down and replaced it with a used Kodak 10X12 hung in bounce lighting mode. I also added a Zone VI safelight. I have tested my lighting with my materials and (using the Kodak test) am able to work with printing paper for over 12 minutes - pre and post exposure - with no sign of fogging. My Thomas will hit ebay as soon as I can work myself up to take a d****al picture of it.

Rememer, GFI outlets on the wet side. If you are running new circuits to the DR, I am told there are circuit breaker panel GFI breakers that will serve the entire DR.

Good Luck

 

[Paul Howell]

I recommend that you map out your space, you need an enlarger with fit the foot print and height requirements of your ceiling. A 23c is not much smaller than a Omega D, but even a few inches can make the difference. You might want to consider a vacuum easel, noisy but mine works real well.

Paul

 

[lylep]

Thanks for the input- the LPL sounds better and better the more I think about it, do research, and get your opinions. I have been pulling info off of websites on the 4500II and am getting mixed information on wether they are stabilized in the stock form or if a seperate voltage stabilizer is need with the model.
Most folks are responding to/praising the VCCE head- how about the B&W diffusion head?

Lastly price wise I would love to hear opinions on the estimated value of a LPL4500II with the B&W head with three middle of the road lenses - 80,105,135 (in VG++ condition)?

 

[jp80874]

Positive pressure filtered ventilation is best. Avoid a common error of putting the exhaust vent directly above the sink. It or they should be just above the trays, on the opposite side of the sink from you. If it is over the sink the fumes come straight up out of the tray to the vent. Your nose is usually in that path inhaling the fumes at their strongest.

My preference is for fans quieter than the usual bathroom exhaust. Quieter is usually more expensive. I like Panasonic inline 120 cfm fans. The loudest noise is air moving in the pipe.

Kodak and Ilford say change the air in the room six times in an hour. Anything more is safer and more comfortable.

Enjoy,

John Powers

 

[photobackpacker]

Thanks for the input- the LPL sounds better and better the more I think about it, do research, and get your opinions. I have been pulling info off of websites on the 4500II and am getting mixed information on wether they are stabilized in the stock form or if a seperate voltage stabilizer is need with the model.
Most folks are responding to/praising the VCCE head- how about the B&W diffusion head?

Lastly price wise I would love to hear opinions on the estimated value of a LPL4500II with the B&W head with three middle of the road lenses - 80,105,135 (in VG++ condition)?

My rule of thumb is 50%-75% of new. My bid depends on condition, rarity and my lust factor :0.