"Enlarger Love"

[chip j]

Yes... and it's out of control.... a Leitz Valoy II, a Focomat 1c, a Focomat V35, a Focomat 2c, a Durst M805 and a Laborator 138s. I love them all but I need to make choices. At the moment I only use the Laborator 138s and the Focomat 1c. The others are carefully stored.

What a wealth of riches!!

 

[M Carter]

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...

 

[Luis-F-S]

Hard not to love a DeVere 5108!

 

[TheFlyingCamera]

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.

 

[shoot6x7]

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 !

 

[Hilo]

As was mentioned, to me it is just a tool.
BUT, I find wet darkroom work to be a pleasant relaxing thing to do.
To that end, I am in the process of restoring a Durst L-1000, to be my primary enlarger, once I get my darkroom setup.
My current enlarger is a Durst M600, that I use because it is easily disassembled and stored away.
I guess, I have a soft spot for the Durst enlargers.

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.

 

[darkroommike]

I'm sitting here with my Durst M601, haven't got a chance to print with it, but seems to be a nice enlarger

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.

 

[Old-N-Feeble]

"Enlarger Love"

I get occasional spam emails for stuff like that.

 

[mr rusty]

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!

 

[Ronald Moravec]

Omega D2 and D6. Just machines that work.

V35 and two Focomat IC These are first class designs.

 

[RalphLambrecht]

I tend to think of my enlargers like a Carpenter thinks of his hammers. Rather fond of them unless he smashes his thumb....

My Focomat is a more recent purchase and there are some things I don't really like about it. It took a while to get rid of all the lightleaks. The double glass carrier I put together is pretty thick. I haven't gotten around to shimming the condenser yet so the carrier will fit right. The Leitz easel must have been designed by a friggin' Nazi. It is abolutely terrible to get the paper in right, but the autofocus is off if you don't use it. Trying to focus manually requires you to hire a circus contortionist. I have heard that Saunders made a four blade easel for it, but I have never seen one.

On the other hand, my Saunders enlarger is perfect. Only complaint I have about it is the glass carrier is just a touch too small for 4x5 so if you are not careful you get the "fuzzy edge" which is pretty aggrevating. Don't know the brainiac who did the measurements on that one. Must've been a Yakuza who was missing a pinkie so he couldn't count to ten.

Durst had the better Germans to design their enlargers.

 

[Pierre Barrellon]

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.

 

[chip j]

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?

 

[Pierre Barrellon]

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).

 

[OptiKen]

mine's just a box with a lamp in it

But do you love your box? That becomes the question

 

[OptiKen]

This thread brings new meaning to the admonition: "Get a Room!"

LOL Very good!!

 

[Loren Sattler]

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.

 

[Hilo]

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 !

 

[ciennepi]

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.

 

[flavio81]

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!

 

[RichardJack]

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

 

[Celepe]

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...

 

[ic-racer]

Restoring this to its original operating condition was certainly a labor of love.

 

[flavio81]

Restoring this to its original operating condition was certainly a labor of love.

WOWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWWW!!

 

[chip j]

Restoring this to its original operating condition was certainly a labor of love.

Is that color olive drab? Looks like a military enlarger!