Enlarger bellows flare

[philldresser]

Rigged up my 'new' Devere 504 enlarger tonight after some prelim maintenance.

I placed a neg in the 5x4 holder and projected onto the baseboard and noticed a series of fient but noticable concentric square rings around the image. Further investigation determined that it was flare from the bellows. Is this normal. I have used an LPL enlarger but did not notice this problem.

Would it be worth painting the inside of the bellows or what else can you recommend.

Phill

 

[Loose Gravel]

You might put a 45 neg holder in the enlarger and see if the rings are still there. Of course, the blacker the better inside your enlarger. I don't know about paint on bellows. Black baffles made of thin shim stock is something telescope makers use to reduce stray light. I don't know where they would go in a Devere, as I don't know these enlargers.

 

[philldresser]

You might put a 45 neg holder in the enlarger and see if the rings are still there. Of course, the blacker the better inside your enlarger. I don't know about paint on bellows. Black baffles made of thin shim stock is something telescope makers use to reduce stray light. I don't know where they would go in a Devere, as I don't know these enlargers.

LG

The rings are clearly evident with the 5x4 holder in place.
I vacuumed the inside of the bellows this morning (very dusty) and cleaned all internal surfaces and will experiment again tonight.

Phill

 

[Donald Miller]

Phill,

I am not sure if your enlarger is a condensor or diffusion light source enlarger. However this sounds like my Durst when the lamp is not properly adjusted to the condensors.

If you have a diffusion source, then I would plan on everything internal to the light path needing to be a flat black.