Heiland Electronics releases new high-end 8x10 enlarger

[Doug Richardson]

Heiland Electronics from Wetzlar has presented a new high-end 8x10 enlarger. In a short interview with SilvergrainClassics, Jürgen Heiland explains the device and its features.

See interview here.

 

[pentaxuser]

I suspect the answer to the question: "What's the price?" is: "If you have to ask then you can't afford it"

pentaxuser

 

[CMoore]

Is there much of a demand for an 8x10 enlarger these days.?

 

[Lachlan Young]

Is there much of a demand for an 8x10 enlarger these days.?

Yes - and new ones at that. S/H examples of good, fairly compact 8x10 machines are increasingly resembling hen's teeth. The smart thing about the design is that it has good scalability for the relative demand without needing very expensive castings.

"What's the price?"

About the market rate for a new 8x10 enlarger with some automation - and a lot cheaper than fully automated ones used to be. You'll have an idea of prices if you've been looking for an 8x10 enlarger recently - otherwise, it's not something to get worried about.

 

[mshchem]

WOW, HOW COOL IS THAT!

 

[CMoore]

Yes - and new ones at that. S/H examples of good, fairly compact 8x10 machines are increasingly resembling hen's teeth. The smart thing about the design is that it has good scalability for the relative demand without needing very expensive castings.


.

I had no idea there was demand. Never would have guessed.

I have never even been in the same room ans an 8x10.
But this new one does seem to be A LOT smaller and lighter than enlargers from days gone by.

I saw a Youtube video where they had to reinforce the floor to hold the machine.
Not sure if this new enlarger will do what THAT one did...........but the compact size is impressive, just based on what i have seen on Youtube.

 

[Cholentpot]

It sounds like a dialup modem

 

[MattKing]

It sounds like a dialup modem

You are showing your age

 

[pentaxuser]

Yes - and new ones at that. S/H examples of good, fairly compact 8x10 machines are increasingly resembling hen's teeth. The smart thing about the design is that it has good scalability for the relative demand without needing very expensive castings.



About the market rate for a new 8x10 enlarger with some automation - and a lot cheaper than fully automated ones used to be. You'll have an idea of prices if you've been looking for an 8x10 enlarger recently - otherwise, it's not something to get worried about.

Just simply curious about what a 8x10 enlarger with automation might cost. It sounds as if you may know the market rate so I was simply hoping for an answer. I am not worried about it in the sense that I am not in the market for one but does that exclude me from seeking the information?

pentaxuser

 

[faberryman]

I think it looks pretty slick. Even if you don't shoot 8x10, you could have a lot of fun making it go up and down. Alas, most (actually all) of the stuff Heiland sells is really high quality and really expensive. I'd look into contact printing.

 

[logan2z]

I doubt I'd ever shoot LF (never say never, I guess), but I'm not a "huge print" guy and I'd probably just make contact prints from 8x10 negatives and eschew the enlarger altogether. Interesting that all of the sample prints in the video were relatively small as well.

Of course, this enlarger looks uber cool and I'm sure it is superbly engineered, given Heiland's reputation. I do wonder what the market is for such a device and I'm sure it'll be eye-wateringly expensive. But if you've got the budget and the need to make enlargements from 8x10 negatives, then this has to be pretty appealing. If nothing else, it's nice to see a company like Heiland continue to produce products targeted at the analog market, even if I can't afford any of them

 

[mshchem]

Figure at least $20,000. The Heiland LED heads alone are enormously expensive.

Charges will depend on what the customer orders. Like buying an Aston Martin .
I'm definitely interested, I would need to convert my living room into a darkroom. Existing darkroom has 8 foot ceiling.

 

[Mick Fagan]

That particular unit stands at 2.5m tall, so a ceiling space of 2.55m would be a requirement for starters; this is about where most enlargers of this type are at. My own DeVere free standing enlarger, just fits under my 2.5m high darkroom ceiling when fully extended.

Some very nifty pieces of equipment shown there, of which the mechanical up and down movements and the bellows movements are the least spectacular. Having 0.1mm increments of focus adjustment, is probably finer than any hand adjusted system invented, including the DeVere manually adjusted system, which I consider the be pretty much the best available.

That particular enlarger has the capability of doing 1m x 1.2m prints, I would assume a vacuum back for the print board would be on offer and I would assume it would work better than the industry standard vacuum backs made by Klimsch for their gallery cameras may cost as much as a small second-hand automobile, but at least the prints would be razor sharp corner to corner.

Although these enlargers will sort of look the same, I would think each and every one of them will be substantially different as they will be made to order for each customers specifications. Effectively, bespoke enlargers.

Would be wonderful to work with, almost make it enjoyable to come to work and use them.

 

[Andrew O'Neill]

WOW!

 

[Lachlan Young]

I’d like it if it was 4x5 and dispensed with the motors and split grade mumbo jumbo.

As contradictory as it sounds, the motors may actually help to keep the price more reasonable - as I understand it, the plan is that it'll be a modular enlarger ecosystem, so 4x5 etc are likely. The LED heads have a controller option to dial in specific grades - though being able to dial in the desired ISO(R) and hold that constant across different emulsions would be a nice addition to the system. For the floor-standing 8x10 version, you're about on the money (from what I've heard) - there likely won't be too much price variance, apart from choosing which control interface for the head you want. Wall & bench variants should be quite a bit less.

 

[Cholentpot]

You are showing your age

I'm practically a baby here...

 

[ic-racer]

This is fantastic news. For many years I worried if my Durst ever became permanently inoperable, I'd have difficulty finding another enlarger. This is great to see an improvement over the Durst. Basically modern electronics allow a more compact design with less expense. I have the sales receipt for my enlarge and the inflation adjusted price today would be $95,000. I suspect this new enlarger by Keinzel is considerably less expensive.

 

[Mick Fagan]

This is fantastic news. For many years I worried if my Durst ever became permanently inoperable, I'd have difficulty finding another enlarger. This is great to see an improvement over the Durst. Basically modern electronics allow a more compact design with less expense. I have the sales receipt for my enlarge and the inflation adjusted price today would be $95,000. I suspect this new enlarger by Keinzel is considerably less expensive.

View attachment 289065

That made me do some calculations with regard to my own enlarger as I thought it wouldn't be anywhere near your figure.

My enlarger is a 1981 free standing Devere 4x5" unit with a colour head. I know that it was purchased, base enlarger only price at approximate $20,000 AUD tax exempt (manufacturing use). If one added the sales tax at 32% for a base price of $26,400 then the outcome is unreal. I didn't purchase it, but my work did.

20 years later I bought it for $2,000 AUD in 2001. According to the Reserve Bank of Australia inflation calculator, today my enlarger would cost $106,240.00 AUD.

Total change in cost is 302.4 per cent, over 39 years, at an average annual inflation rate of 3.6 per cent.

Funny money pricing.

 

[Tom Kershaw]

I’d like it if it was 4x5 and dispensed with the motors and silly split grade mumbo jumbo.

I don't personally take issue with motors, but I've tried split grade printing in the past and don't really see the advantage over a single "grade", at least in general application.

 

[RalphLambrecht]

Heiland Electronics from Wetzlar has presented a new high-end 8x10 enlarger. In a short interview with SilvergrainClassics, Jürgen Heiland explains the device and its features.

See interview here.

I thought 8x10 is for contact printing!

 

[pentaxuser]

Thanks for the price estimate, michael_r.

pentaxuser

 

[Links_147]

While I don't think I will ever have the opportunity to use one of these. I am very glad that it has been made.

 

[Slixtiesix]

Cool machine! If they´d still use film photography in Star Trek, I bet this is how their enlargers would look like.

 

[Michel Hardy-Vallée]

There comes a point when photo gear inches closer towards the realm of machine tools like CNC mills or routers. It's nice to see all those modern technologies (I guess LED, servos, electronics) being put to analogue uses.

This would be an amazing tool for a pro lab, or someone who has a sufficient turnover to amortize the costs.