Home made enlarger

TeachMe · Jul 2, 2016

So essentially, being a broke as hell college student who also loves building things, I've decided to build my own enlarger for bw. I got the inspiration from a YouTube video
( ). I wanted to start with a prototype, a proof of concept, so this is just the beginning. Basically I have a box with a light at one end, some parchment paper (with an S drawn on it) in the middle to diffuse and disperse the light abut and a zoom lense at the end. Initially I tried a macro lense thinking that might work well (I'm new to photography, a more experienced person may not have made my assumption) but I could only get it to focus very close to the projected surface. After playing with some different lenses I found a zoom lense worked best, it had superior focusing capabilites. The next step includes making the thing light proof, making it vertical instead of horizontal, making a sturdier film plane, adding real ground glass as opposed to parchment paper. Finally I would like to see if I could find a broken camera with which to salvage a shutter system from and build into my little Frankenstein. Below are some photos. Please give input on how to improve and what problems I may face.

This is the contraption, very simple

Below is the first projection, it's against a wall, the image may not show but the S is in focus, and the light is a bit brighter

Jim Jones · Jul 2, 2016

The enlarger in the video seems very impractical. While it demonstrates the basic principles of an enlarger, it fails to address several considerations such as even illumination of the image and precise focusing. Using a broken SLR with a macro lens would facilitate focusing and film transport. A few zoom lenses might provide close enough focusing and acceptable image quality. If you have the right equipment available, you might fabricate a substitute for the camera body from wood which could incorporate a few features lacking in a camera body. The negative can be evenly illuminated through one or more layers of opal glass, which could also hold the film flat in the film gate. Condenser lenses instead of such a diffuse light source might be more efficient, but more difficult to arrange, and they would require more space. The vertical setup is not as sturdy as your horizontal arrangement. Considering the slight value of old enlargers, the whole project seems impractical.

Chris Johnson · Jul 2, 2016

Impractical? Perhaps, but in the process he'll be making stuff and learning. Some view obstacles as roadblocks, others see oportunities.

jvo · Jul 2, 2016

can you make a picture?

yes.... then the project was a success as well as a learning experience!!!

Gerald C Koch · Jul 2, 2016

The tolerances involved in making a really useful enlarger are beyond the capabilities of the average home hobbyist without a working machine shop available to him.

TeachMe · Jul 2, 2016

This is honestly more than anything a learning experience for me until I can get a better option, I have lots of scrap wood and wood working tools, so I think I might be able to pull something off that relatively works until I can get something better. This is going to be far from perfect but for me the fun is not only building but understanding the principles of photography and facing the problem solving challenges photographers faced in the early days

Truzi · Jul 2, 2016

I was considering building a pinhole enlarger just for fun, and to show my best friend how to enlarge. Then a local photo shop had a closing/fire sale and I picked up a cheap Vivitar 356 for $15. I still think it would be fun to build one just for the experience.

Peter Schrager · Jul 2, 2016

Why not pick a broken/used enlarger
You can still use your skills to learn...o repurposed..an old b+j enlarger and it turned out better than any beseler or omega I ever had

TeachMe · Jul 2, 2016

I've been looking like crazy, I found an omega chromega b for 100, but my car won't survive the drive down to get it

TeachMe · Jul 2, 2016

Peter Schrager said:
Why not pick a broken/used enlarger
You can still use your skills to learn...o repurposed..an old b+j enlarger and it turned out better than any beseler or omega I ever had

B+j?

pdeeh · Jul 2, 2016

TeachMe said:
Please give input on how to improve and what problems I may face.

The biggest problem you face is being told "Don't do it" ...

Over the past few years I've learned a ton of good stuff about optics and chemistry generally, despite being told (or reading threads where others who have been asking about trying "pointless" things) that I shouldn't bother doing what I'm doing .

People I'm sure mean well, but all too often assume that the best way to learn things is the way they learned things themselves, and thereby (and again I don't doubt inadvertently) discourage curiousity in others.

gone · Jul 2, 2016

You can make a professional and properly aligned enlarger w/o a machine shop. I'm looking at my two Federal enlargers right now, and they're so simple and well designed that I could build one like them w/ a few tools, a level, and some carpenter squares for alignment. Getting the proper materials is the real problem though.

However, I have machine shop skills (ex tool and die maker), and the mechanical skills too (ex certified mechanic) and understand what to do. Having said that, you don't need ALL those skills to build an enlarger, not at all. You just need to understand the process of building something, be skilled to some degree w/ tools, and have those proper tools and the correct materials. Unfortunately, those things will surely cost more than just buying an enlarger. People are giving them away these days.

If I could do it, others can too. And that would be my approach, copy an existing design as much as possible. While the op should be commended for trying, it needs to be much more better built and of the correct materials. For instance, you need a diffuser of some sort to properly diffuse the light, which is not difficult to procure or build, but you do need it, or the image will be bright in the center and too dark towards the corners.

In the end, rather than trying to reinvent the wheel, I decided that spending $18 each for my enlargers plus shipping was the smarter way to go. Had to buy the correct bulb for one, a few other odds and ends, repaint one base, and buy better lenses, but I now have two very nice and properly aligned enlargers that can print from 35mm to to 6x9 negs, and print them larger than 16x20 for around $60 each.

TeachMe · Jul 2, 2016

Where are you guys getting enlarger for $18 and $15?????

gone · Jul 2, 2016

eBay. Bought both mine there. I have a thread on them here if you search under Federal enlargers. Shipping on both ran about $30-$38 each though. Minolta 50 2.8 enlarging lens for 35m negs from KEH was $28 shipped, 90 Wollensak Raptor for 6x9 enlarging was $25 shipped, new bulb was $10 shipped, made the lens boards myself for free, etc. You can do it. My off the cuff total for the enlargers did not include the enlarger shipping probably, but I have maybe $170 in the two of them, or $85 each including all shipping charges. I could have done it for MUCH less w/ lessor lenses and only 6x6 capability. See them all the time for $50 shipped w/ lenses that would be "good enough" up to 6x6.

pdeeh · Jul 2, 2016

TeachMe said:
Where are you guys getting enlarger for $18 and $15?????

I managed to acquire 4 enlargers for no dollars at all (well,no pounds actually)

I got them via freecycle, which I believe started in the US

OptiKen · Jul 2, 2016

I think it's awesome and brilliant! Good job!

gone · Jul 2, 2016

Never thought of that. Freecycle is great. When we lived in Daytona Beach someone wanted to give me two enlargers w/ lenses and all, but I didn't feel like driving over to pick them up on my bike w/ a little trailer. I'm lazy, and like things delivered to my door for a small price :}

TeachMe · Jul 2, 2016

I'll check out freecycle, if I do get one thiugh I'll probably still keep at this, I just love the idea too much, expect Mach II in a week or so

JW PHOTO · Jul 2, 2016

pdeeh said:
The biggest problem you face is being told "Don't do it" ...

Over the past few years I've learned a ton of good stuff about optics and chemistry generally, despite being told (or reading threads where others who have been asking about trying "pointless" things) that I shouldn't bother doing what I'm doing .

People I'm sure mean well, but all too often assume that the best way to learn things is the way they learned things themselves, and thereby (and again I don't doubt inadvertently) discourage curiousity in others.

Yes! Yes! Yes! pdeeh I agree 100% with what you say. Truth is, I'm one of those guys that when somebody tells me I can't do something or something can't be done, I go out and try as hard as I can to prove them wrong. Of course that is if it doesn't cost me a ton of money to do it.

John Koehrer · Jul 2, 2016

In spite of the naysayers go ahead, when you're done feel free to mock them.
What you're doing is pinhole photography, lot's of people really enjoy the challenges
of DIY.
Good fortune.

Bill Burk · Jul 2, 2016

I once helped a friend's son make a camera from a bunch of junk including a wooden box and an old projector lens. The shutter was an empty reel from a reel-to-reel tape spun on a pencil with a weighted string where the tape would go. It worked but teacher wasn't impressed. Something to the effect that it "wasn't a true experiment"... He's going for his PhD now...

paul ron · Jul 2, 2016

go for it!

as a kid i used the family slide projector.

you realize you can also use a camera in reverse?

MartinP · Jul 2, 2016

TeachMe said:
Where are you guys getting enlarger for $18 and $15?????

In the national secondhand website here (in NL) there are dozens of enlargers available at any one time, pricing from zero to a few hundred Euros (plus the usual nutters over-pricing "valuable antiques", which are actually broken and worthless 1970's gear). I suppose one could conclude that either the geographical gaps between darkroom printers in the USA was much larger, as it's a big place, or proportionally fewer people did their own temporary-darkroom work as a hobby.

Edit: A typical 'hobbyist' medium-format enlarger printing up to about 40cm wide comes in around 25 Euros for a good one, including lens.

MattKing · Jul 2, 2016

I'll congratulate the OP for his/her initiative and energy, while agreeing with those who suggest that you will get better results with most used, manufactured equipment.

Your experience will definitely help you evaluate and maintain anything you find on Craiglist.

Brian Schmidt · Jul 2, 2016

A guy on here who goes by pentaxpete said he made an enlarger out of old milk tins when he was young after WWII. He might have some good advice if you contact him. He has a thread on the first page of the Plate Camera page if you want a way to contact him.

Something simple to do would be to build a lighted box above the film while it is in a camera. Then you could project it right out the front. I am going to do this with my plate camera at some point as I don't have an enlarger big enough for 6X9 negatives.

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