Easy to store 4x5 enlarger for a small place?

Even in a small place it's easy to develop film. But getting back to printing will require some logistics and creativity

Can the Omega D5 (which I may have a line on a reasonably priced one) be easily disconnected from the baseboard for transport and storage between printing sessions?

If not, are there any 4x5 models that could fit that description that I should keep an eye out for?

I understand that this may not be feasible and will scale down my ambitions to 6x9/6x6/35mm so don't be afraid to be a wet blanket at this party.

The Omega D series can be removed from the baseboard, but I don't know that it qualifies as easy. It's only 4 bolts, but they're fiddly to line up and you need to have either 2 people to do it or you're going to have to dismount the head and condensor to prevent chaos inside. With any enlarger, once you take it apart and put it back together, you have alignment issues to sort out. If you limit yourself to 6x6 (maybe 6x7, but not 6x9), you the enlargers become MUCH smaller. For example, the Omega B series enlargers, which the specs say do up to 6x6, are TINY. The Omega C series, which will get you 6x7, are big compared to the B series, but a heck of a lot smaller than the Omega D or Beseler 45 series enlargers. I've never seen a Beseler 23 series enlarger in person to get a feel for its size, but that would let you go 6x9.

There is the the L1200: 4 bolts to seperate the base from the column, pull off the head and you have 3 parts plus the power supply to be stored.

ho.

Unbolting and reattaching the column on an L1200 (like most enlargers) is a fiddly job. If you have taken time to align the column with shims, this would be out of whack each time the two are separated. Most 5x4 enlargers are also quite heavy even when broken down.

Dear Kawaiithulhu,

I used an old Omega D2 for years by using it on a card table and storing the enlarger with the table in a closet. (I did have to make sure only shirts were hung above it.) The D2 was smaller, but a D5 could have been stored in the same closet. Consider finding a cheap cabinet from the local home center, putting casters on the bottom and mounting the enlarger baseboard to the top. I used this system for several years but, of course, even the shirts could not be hung above it then.

Good luck,

Neal Wydra

You have to be developed to be able disconnect D5 from its table. I was doing it along. Connecting, dicconnecting. I even moved entire D5 XL from countertop to the free spot on the floor in the same room. But I'm not developed enough to do it every printing section.
D5 is mountable on the wall, this is common solution to avoid dealing with D5 table, which is huge.

Wall mount may be an idea, I didn't think of that.

Thanks for the inputs, everyone. I've been missing wet printing and have made this my summer project.

Beseler 45-H. I've been looking for one for years. If you find one and don't want it, please let me know.

The LPL4500 II is the smallest 4x5 LPL, I think, and the head comes off really easily, but it is a big enlarger, measurements and weights and all the details at the website of KHB in Canada http://store.khbphotografix.com/LPL-Enlargers/ these models are often available at bargain prices because people want the bigger model the 4550XLG which is 6 inches higher and has a bigger baseboard and larger maximum print size.

I've never seen a 4x5 that I'd consider very portable. If you can live with 6x7 as others suggested, the Beseler 67c is pretty small for a 6x7, much smaller than the 23. The 67c can be had as a condenser or diffusion enlarger and there are usually a bunch on eBay and used, and the color diffusion heads show up in the fifty-bucks range. The Printmaker 35 had an available 6x7 kit, but it's a very flimsy "beginner" enlarger and those kits are probably rare (but it's very small and light). I'm shopping for a 4x5 but have been printing on the 67 for years, up to 20x24. Not the most alignable enlarger out there but I've had good results (I made a DIY "besalign" lens board which was a big improvement for a few bucks).

I have a Kaiser 7005 that can do 6x7 MF and with the right condenser it can do 6x9. It is a diffusor/condenser with a multigrade head and halogen, cold mirror light source. It could be put away in a large cupboard between sessions. It has one large thumbwheel that attaches the column to the column bracket on the baseboard so is very easily broken down for storage. It is German and these enlargers are still being made so spare parts are easily sourced. I don't know how common they are in the USA. I'm not familiar with large format 4x5 but you did mention MF too.

Beseler 67C on a microwave cart:



You might be able to do something similar with an Omega D5 and a bit heavier cart. Something like this:? http://www.rubbermaidcommercial.com...ial_handling_heavy_duty_utility_carts_4500-88

Going back in time a Federal 450 or 470, single post, the enlarger head comes off, the unbolted the post from the base and stored in a trunk.

Sal Santamaura said:

Beseler 45-H. I've been looking for one for years. If you find one and don't want it, please let me know.

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Local shop has one (at least it's a Beseler 45 with that style column) with a "make offer" sign on it. But I doubt that they would ship.

mgb74 said:

Local shop has one (at least it's a Beseler 45 with that style column) with a "make offer" sign on it. But I doubt that they would ship.

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I'd greatly appreciate the shop's name/location as well as your assessment of the enlarger's condition (via PM if you think that's appropriate). Thanks in advance.

As mentioned above, I would go with a 6x7 or 6x6 enlarger on a cart (microwave, cabinet with casters, etc). You "might" be able to put a 4x5 on a similar cart, all depends on the size of the baseboard and the cart. With the cart, you can roll the cart out of the way and into a closet or the corner of a room. This is what a friend of mine is doing; stored in the corner of the family room (under a cover) then rolled into the bathroom to print.

The problems with diassembling any enlarger between sessions are 1) how to disassemble/assemble, 2) what do you put it into.
1) I disassembled a D5 with color head when I bought it. It took TWO of us to safely separate the column (with attached head) from the baseboard. And I would think it would again take TWO people to reattach the column to the baseboard. The column with the attached head is heavy and clumsy to handle. Smaller enlargers (6x7 and smaller) are MUCH easier to break down, if you have to, less bulk and weight to handle.
2) The box for my Omega 6x7 is pretty BIG and clumsy to handle. I can barely handle the box myself, without a cart to move it. I would hate to have to deal with packing a 4x5 enlarger away and moving the box(es). And the space that the box(es) take up will be similar to or more than the space that the enlarger will take up.

Having said this, I use a Durst M600 (6x6 format), and I have to store it broken down in its box between sessions. Luckily it assembles and disassembles quite easily. The box for the Durst M600 is less half the size of the box for my Omega 6x7 enlarger. I guess the Europeans have a similar space problem and have to pack things away between sessions. I print in a small half bath, where I can't even roll a cart into the half bath. The enlarger sits on the closed toilet, though I am thinking of getting/making a small table to fit over the toilet, to raise the enlarger higher. In my old apartment, the enlarger sat on a piece of 1/2 plywood over the bath tub.

I have to agree that removing the baseboard and disassembly sounds like a bad idea all around. Not the weight so much, but the loss of calibration and extra work to setup having a chilling effect on the random print making urges.

Rolling cart has some potential because it can also be used to store trays and random stuff. I may consider a cutting down the baseboard since I will never make larger than 11x14, or send out if I really want one that large once a year.

All sorts of good options here, including models I didn't know existed.

I owned the larger of the LPL 4x5 enlargers, and friends thought I was a little nutty to have such an imposing piece of equipment in a small place! Although removing the head from the column takes about 30 seconds, and unbolting the column from the baseboard takes just a few minutes, it isn't something I'd want to do on a routine basis.

The smaller of the LPLs on a rolling cart (lockable wheels!) sounds like a decent compromise, especially if it also provides storage space for grain magnifiers, lenses, film carriers, trays, easels and the like.

Worse comes to worse I sacrifice a Crown Graphic and put it on a stick with an LED grid stuck in the Graflok mount

I use a Omega DII and is small and light. The baseboard with cone comes off the chassis with one large knob. I use to set it up in the bathroom on the vanity. Actually, the baseboard is smaller than the Beseler 23CII so don't need to take it off to store or move it. Also, there is a smaller, less common LPL 4500 enlarger (not the 4500 II), has a smaller and lighter column and baseboard, like the smaller LPL 670.

paul_c5x4 said:

Unbolting and reattaching the column on an L1200 (like most enlargers) is a fiddly job. If you have taken time to align the column with shims, this would be out of whack each time the two are separated.

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Shims can be glued to one face of the coupling.

Kawaiithulhu said:

Worse comes to worse I sacrifice a Crown Graphic and put it on a stick with an LED grid stuck in the Graflok mount

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No need to sacrifice it, just covert it temporarily. Google "Graflarger"

ac12 said:

As mentioned above, I would go with a 6x7 or 6x6 enlarger on a cart (microwave, cabinet with casters, etc). You "might" be able to put a 4x5 on a similar cart, all depends on the size of the baseboard and the cart. With the cart, you can roll the cart out of the way and into a closet or the corner of a room. This is what a friend of mine is doing; stored in the corner of the family room (under a cover) then rolled into the bathroom to print.

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In my single days, I had a Beseler 45V-XL on a low TV cart in a second bedroom, which I had set up with light blocking curtains so that I could even print in the middle of the day. I agree that disassempling some enlargers is feasible when they are smaller, but 4x5 can entail some heavy support columns. It was a massive effort simply to move to a new house, and I cannot possibly imagine take down and reassemply just for a printing session! Even the baseboard alone is hefty. The low TV cart was needed because of the extra long column on the 45VXL.

Paul Howell said:

Going back in time a Federal 450 or 470, single post, the enlarger head comes off, the unbolted the post from the base and stored in a trunk.

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I owned a Federal 4x5, for a brief time, about 30 years ago. I didn't keep it because I was able to set up a permanent darkroom (and had other enlargers), but recall thinking it would have been great for a portable darkroom.

I do have a Federal 296 pending a lot of restoration work and a lens to fit that teeny tiny lens board... if I can't come up with a 4x5 solution this year.

So not all is lost. There's always 4x5 contact prints and those can be wonderful when displayed well.

I had totally forgotten about the Graflarger back The original light tubes don't play well with VC papers, but I think there's something called "graded papers" that don't have to do with school.
I may make this a DIY project, once I drink one more cup of coffee...