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"Enlarger Love"

What a wealth of riches!!
 
I kinda love my darkroom. 12 years ago I remarried and we bought an up & down duplex, opened up the stairs so it's "one big house", with plans to gut the upstairs kitchen and make a master bath. But that's waiting for when we have an extra $8k or so lying around. It was the storage-mess room for some time, and about 5 years ago I got the enlarger out of the attic.

I shoot digital stills and video commercially, and when I find I've been too busy to print for weeks, I still go in there, tidy things up, re-sort the paper stash. I am 100% cognizant of how lucky I am to have a decent-sized and single-purpose darkroom (with all the kitchen cabinets and counters still there, very handy!) (except for December when it becomes the gift-wrapping room). And a wife who is 100% cool with it, too. It's lovely to be able to do purely creative work that takes a lot of knowledge and old-school tech (chemicals and paper and so on). The "death of film" is a sad thing (especially the death of Ektachrome EPJ... and Polagraph and type 55...), but I sure appreciate getting high-end equipment for next-to-nothing.

I just gave away my Beseler 67 to a 14-year old girl whose father is excited to start her with a darkroom; it even had a ghetto pin-registration system and DIY glass carrier. Got a like-new condition 45MXT (for $150!). Printed for the first time with it last weekend; the big beast is NICE...
 
Hard not to love a DeVere 5108!
 
While I don't have my ultimate dream enlarger (A Durst 138 with dichro head - just not enough room in the house), I do very much appreciate my Beseler 45V-XL. It does everything I want and need it to do. The only time I don't love it is if/when I have to move it - with baseboard it weighs in somewhere north of 100 lbs.
 
Durst M805 is my fave, then an L1200 point source, followed by a pair of M605's (one color, one condenser) and a Focomat 1a for show.
We also have a Hansa and a B66 but they're only for use by visitors whom are not alowed to touch the Dursts or the Leitz !
 

The L1000 is great. I took a year before I got it right: the right bulbs, got the wall mount and put it agains the wall, found a filter holder and installed a small fan into the side of the lamp house. Then I found the heat glass. I like the simplicity of this enlarger. In that it reminds me of the Leitz Valoy II for 135mm.
 
mehguy said:
I'm sitting here with my Durst M601, haven't got a chance to print with it, but seems to be a nice enlarger
Click to expand...
I bought my M601 with both dicroic and condensers new back about 1976 and really loved it, I had a chance a few years later and picked up a stripped M601 head with a taller column and just moved my condensers over into machine number two. Twice the love! And I feed and support a pair of Omegas: a D3V and a D5/Multigrade 600. So life is very, very good.
 
"Enlarger Love"

I get occasional spam emails for stuff like that.
 
I feel that I was lucky acquiring my Vivitar V1 when I knew nothing about enlargers. It's solid, cold light, came with componon lenses and does the business. Yes, well pleased!
 
Durst had the better Germans to design their enlargers.
 
Every time I put my hands on my photo club heavy used Omega's, I remember how I love my De Vere 504 ! Such a cool machine, just the neg carrier isn't as good as Durst's.
 
Where do you buy De Vere enlargers? I've heard a lot about them but have hardly seen any. Did they make any for 35mm only?
 
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I don't think they made a 35mm only enlarger... I bought mine in Ontario, it was a former college equipment. It was the latest generation, sold for a song, so I couldn't resist. I had to fix it though, because the filtration was out of calibration.
Truly nice machine.
I think they are easier to find in the UK, but there is a place to buy (expensive) accessories here in Canada (KHB photographix).
 
Very happy with my recently acquired Focomat 1C. I love the auto focus and glass negative carrier that flattens out a curled 35mm negative. It is a pleasure to use. Thought about adding a 2C. Looked at one for sale locally, but way to heavy to lift and move in and out of my makeshift darkroom in the laundry room in the house.
 

Or: a 2C justifies making something permanent in your laundry room !
 
Yes, I also are in love of my enlargers.
The first that I bought is a Durst U70 (up to 6x9 cm). It was made from 1947 until 1967. Mine is in wery good condition and its a workhorse and a joy to use. Whit it I print all of my photo, from 16mm (Minolta 16) up to 6x7 (mamiya RB67 ProS).
But in Italy we say "L'amore è eterno, fin che dura" and that sounds about "Love is eternal, until it last"
So from a few month I fall in love of a Durst laborator 138 S tha I bought for 300 Euro complete of 3 lenses and all the set of Latico condenser.
I am amazed by the precision mechanics and the perfect design of this piece of engineering that was buil from 1948 until 1994 (46 years of the same design !!!).
I have bought it to print my 4x5 negative of the Sinar Norma but till I have a permanent darkroom it must stay sleeping in a room of my home.
 
Last week i bought my first "really good" enlarger, a Durst M670 Color.

I still can't use it because i'm in the process of hacking a power source, but i'm already in love with it. I bought this model because one of my local labs used exactly the same model for my B/W prints, and i loved how the prints turned out. For lenses i have an EL-nikkor 50/2.8 and Durst Componon 105/5.6.

I already want to own more DURST enlargers, they are so cool!
 
I love my old Omega D2V. It's built like a tank, I have negative carriers from 16mm to 4x5" and El Nikkors and Componon's from 40mm-135mm. I have a smaller Omega B series with a color head, but I no longer process color. Many years ago I owned a Durst M600 but never liked it because it did not have a bellows and the image would shift from left to right as I focused. It was not sturdy enough for me either. The large Durst models are great. I was never a Bessler fan but they were good enlargers.
I just cleaned up my darkroom and hope to start printing again soon. My favorite size negatives to work with are 6x6 and 6x7.
regards,
Rick
 
I own 2 Durst Pictograph (same base as the L1200, diffused light, multigrade, closed loop). Amazing machines. If this enlarger was a car it would be the perfect mix between a Ferrari for the looks, a Mercedes for the comfort and a Land Rover for the sturdiness. That sounds like love...
 
Restoring this to its original operating condition was certainly a labor of love.
 

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