I have 3 enlargers. Which one do I keep?

applesanity · Oct 9, 2008

Hello everyone! New here. Backstory - I've been doing digital photography for years, but as you all know, one loses that visceral feeling with pixels and option menus. You can't hang a jpeg on the wall. Your grasp of zones and exposure are lost, replaced by some whizbang 3D matrix E/I-TTL v.2 metering.

So I've gone backwards. I am doing community college courses on black and white film photography. My skills in the darkroom are rudimentary at best for now. At the present moment, I won't be able to set up my very own darkroom, but that should change within a year or so. I've done some shopping, via Craiglist, word of mouth, etc. Currently, I am the owner of 3 enlargers. All are in pretty good and functional condition, I suppose.

A Beseler 67cs with a condenser head. It has two vertical beams holding up the enlarger, and stands about 3 feet tall from base to top.
A Beseler 23CII XL - while the condenser head is there, its innards have been taken out. It's been replaced by this flourescent doodad that looks like a long thin white worm folding back and forth, eventually taking the shape of a circle. That compartment where you stick the contrast filters has become useless, since it sits above the flourescent light. It has the same vertical beams and basebaord as the 67cs.
A Beseler 23CIII XL, but with a color head. There's these three knobs with which you can adjust the levels of yellow, magenta, and cyan. This one stands about four feet tall.

For the moment and for as long as I can tell, I'm sticking with B&W. I shoot 35mm, mostly Tri-X 400 or T-Max 100 with a Nikon FM2N. (I still have the fancy digital camera; it's collecting dust.) I might be going into MF, but not very likely, since I love doing street photography. Hence, B&W - since color is often distracting for the genre.

I really love the "glow," or dreamy look. I could never really get it down right in the darkroom without looking blurry and cheesy, but one day.... Yes, I know Nikon AIS lenses are not at all conducive to producing a glow in prints. I'm comfortable with grain - it often adds a certain gritty-ness. You know there are Photoshop plugins that can put the effects of various films into digital files?

I mostly enlarge to 8X10, occasionally 11x14.

"Keep all 3," you may say. Well, for various reasons which we won't get into, I really can't.

I appreciate the help. Great forum by the way.

Steve Smith · Oct 9, 2008

If they were mine I think I would keep the one with the colour head as it can also do variable contrast black and white.

Steve.

ic-racer · Oct 9, 2008

By far the one to keep is the one with the color head. Or put the color head on the best of the two chassis and sell the others.

reellis67 · Oct 9, 2008

The second sounds like a cold light, which is fine, but my own preference would be for the #3. You can print both black & white and color with it, the 23C is a sturdy enlarger that can print up to 6x9 so it will give you room to grow, and parts are easily available.

- Randy

Nick Zentena · Oct 9, 2008

What Randy said.

ricksplace · Oct 9, 2008

All good advice. I use a 23C. Built like a tank. I never thought I'd do colour either, but I kept the colour head just in case. I started doing colour just this spring. I got lots of good advice from the folks here. It's far easier than I thought. If I can get good results, anyone can.

You may want to check and see if your 23C has the conical light integrator installed. It's a little plastic thingy that directs the light from the dichro colour head so you can use the condensors with the colour head. If it's not there, the colour head must be used with the diffuser instead of the condensors. There is quite a bit on this site regarding condensor vs diffuser. I like the condensor results better. A little sharper and contrastier (is that a word?) than an image produced with a diffuser. Also, print times can get quite long when using the diffuser since less light gets through the diffuser as compared to the condensors.

Enjoy.

Rick.

gr82bart · Oct 9, 2008

I would keep all three (I actually have 3!) but if I had to keep just one, I too would keep the colour one.

Regards, Art.

Paul Howell · Oct 9, 2008

I would keep the 23c with the color head as well as the cold light head, but not the chassie, just in case you want to print with the cold light. I doubt that you will see much differance between the color head and the cold light head, but just in case.

applesanity · Oct 9, 2008

ic-racer said:
.... and sell the others.

These things don't exactly sell anymore. If I told you the price I paid for the color head enlarger, you'd gag. I could either strip the other two for parts, or donate them to some highschool or community college darkroom. Oh well, the times, they are a'....

ricksplace said:
You may want to check and see if your 23C has the conical light integrator installed. It's a little plastic thingy that directs the light from the dichro colour head so you can use the condensors with the colour head. If it's not there, the colour head must be used with the diffuser instead of the condensors.

When I look inside, I see a bulb that gets hot very fast, then the color filtering contraption. the light then gets directed into this black metal trapezoid box thing with styrofoam on the insides, which is the light that ends up on the negative. The styrofoam closest to the top opening also appears slightly melted, but the black metal hasn't been exposed. I don't think there's anything where I can stick condensing lenses. The sides of the color head, however, have lots of grooves that appear to be meant for placing other objects in them, but they're mostly unused, as far as i can tell.

Thanks everyone for the advice. It looks like I'll be keeping the the color head one. It's also the one with the nicest looking chassis.

Claire Senft · Oct 9, 2008

I concur with the advice about keeping the colorhead enlarger.

MattKing · Oct 9, 2008

If you are going to keep just 1, I would recommend the 23C with colour head.

If you have the space and are considering keeping 2, I'd suggest keeping the 67cs and the 23C with colour head. That way, you will have both condensor and diffusion light sources, and if you do start to shoot MF you can dedicate one to 35mm, and the other to MF. You can also use one for flashing, or set up one for larger prints, and the other for smaller.

Having a backup enlarger is only a bad idea if you don't have the space for it.

Matt

fotch · Oct 9, 2008

I would keep the 23 with color head, and if I could, keep the other 23. Maybe dismantle it to reduce space or just keep the cold light head. You probably won't get much if you sell it, however, if you need a part, will pay a lot.

Good Luck
Jim

Chan Tran · Oct 9, 2008

I would keep the one with color head. The heads are not interchangable between the three of them though. The 23CII and 23CIII are quite different.

Uhner · Oct 9, 2008

I find that having access to two enlargers (which I usually don’t I’m afraid) makes it a lot easier to do pre and post flashing. On the other hand that can be done with other contraptions as well.

If you can’t keep two of them, do as others have advised keep the one with the colour head.

fototeque · Oct 9, 2008

Color head you'll alway have options or the ability to buy other heads for it!!! I am hoping to find a decent 5X7 as I too am going backwards and hopefully way back to Platinum printing.

Jim Noel · Oct 9, 2008

Keep te 23CIII, remove the cold light from the 23CII and keep that. You willhave an extremely versatile system.

Edwardv · Oct 9, 2008

Keep the one with the color heard. Good luck.

jeroldharter · Oct 9, 2008

fotch said:
I would keep the 23 with color head, and if I could, keep the other 23. Maybe dismantle it to reduce space or just keep the cold light head. You probably won't get much if you sell it, however, if you need a part, will pay a lot.

Good Luck
Jim

Ditto. I would just remove the baseboard rather than take it all apart.

applesanity · Oct 9, 2008

I find that having access to two enlargers (which I usually don’t I’m afraid) makes it a lot easier to do pre and post flashing. On the other hand that can be done with other contraptions as well.

Shows how much I know. What's pre and post flashing?

Again, thanks for all the advice from everyone.

Frank Hoerauf · Oct 9, 2008

I would keep all 3, for the reason they arent worth dirt on the resale market. You could need parts in the future and to give them away doesnt make sense.just my opinion.........frank

Stew · Oct 9, 2008

Keep the colour head enlarger. Some day you might want to try colour too ! It will work for black and white also by setting the contrast with the magenta and yellow dials. Colour heads are usually diffusion light source and that means less dust to spot later in your prints.I used to own a condenser, but now I have a colour head on my new enlarger;I wouldn't go back!

Hope this helps!

Dennis S · Oct 9, 2008

Ya I have 3. 2 get used regularly and the third sits on the floor under the other 2 (JUST IN CASE !!) I have tons of room thats why I have my stool with wheels. Not all people are fortunate as I but I LOVE the space.

Uhner · Oct 10, 2008

applesanity said:
What's pre and post flashing?

You can pre-sensitise the paper with a short exposure of white light before you expose the paper with image forming light. By doing this you can reduce contrast and improve highlight detail. Pre-flashing should not produce any tone on the paper in; it is a way to overcome a given papers initial inertia to light. Do a test strip with the enlarger lens stopped way down. The maximum pre-flash exposure is the one on the strip before the first step that shows a faint tone.

Post-flashing is to apply a short exposure of white light after you have exposed the paper with image forming light that in effect slightly fogs the paper. It can be useful when printing negatives with burned out highlights.

If you have two enlargers you can have one permanently set up for flash duty. Otherwise you have to remove the negative from the enlarger, a practice that quickly becomes a nuisance. Apparently it is possible to pre flash, with the negative in place, through a thick, opaque sheet of Perspex that will diffuse the light to an even grey. If you do this you have to do a test strip every time you use pre-flash – which may be a good practice anyway if you don’t have a very stable light source.

mikeb380 · Oct 15, 2008

I bought a 67CII with a condenser head and then purchased a color head for it. I'll use the color head to print on VC paper and do away with the need for filters. Also gives more range than filters do as you can do steps in the middle of two filters. The color head isn't as sharp as the condenser head but the trade-off is that dust spots are much less noticeable with it. Always tradeoffs in life. I'd keep the two 23Cs and have both heads to use then give away the 67C. There is always Craig's List to get rid of stuff like that.
Michael

fschifano · Oct 17, 2008

applesanity said:
Hello everyone! New here. Backstory - I've been doing digital photography for years, but as you all know, one loses that visceral feeling with pixels and option menus. You can't hang a jpeg on the wall. Your grasp of zones and exposure are lost, replaced by some whizbang 3D matrix E/I-TTL v.2 metering.

So I've gone backwards. I am doing community college courses on black and white film photography. My skills in the darkroom are rudimentary at best for now. At the present moment, I won't be able to set up my very own darkroom, but that should change within a year or so. I've done some shopping, via Craiglist, word of mouth, etc. Currently, I am the owner of 3 enlargers. All are in pretty good and functional condition, I suppose.

A Beseler 67cs with a condenser head. It has two vertical beams holding up the enlarger, and stands about 3 feet tall from base to top.

A Beseler 23CII XL - while the condenser head is there, its innards have been taken out. It's been replaced by this flourescent doodad that looks like a long thin white worm folding back and forth, eventually taking the shape of a circle. That compartment where you stick the contrast filters has become useless, since it sits above the flourescent light. It has the same vertical beams and basebaord as the 67cs.

A Beseler 23CIII XL, but with a color head. There's these three knobs with which you can adjust the levels of yellow, magenta, and cyan. This one stands about four feet tall.

For the moment and for as long as I can tell, I'm sticking with B&W. I shoot 35mm, mostly Tri-X 400 or T-Max 100 with a Nikon FM2N. (I still have the fancy digital camera; it's collecting dust.) I might be going into MF, but not very likely, since I love doing street photography. Hence, B&W - since color is often distracting for the genre.

I really love the "glow," or dreamy look. I could never really get it down right in the darkroom without looking blurry and cheesy, but one day.... Yes, I know Nikon AIS lenses are not at all conducive to producing a glow in prints. I'm comfortable with grain - it often adds a certain gritty-ness. You know there are Photoshop plugins that can put the effects of various films into digital files?

I mostly enlarge to 8X10, occasionally 11x14.

"Keep all 3," you may say. Well, for various reasons which we won't get into, I really can't.

I appreciate the help. Great forum by the way.

Keep #3, the one with the color head if you can't keep them all. Maybe dismantle the other 23C XL for parts because you never know. The built in filters can easily be used for variable contrast papers. I do it all the time with my Omega color head. Once you work out the settings and exposure compensations for a given paper, it is so much easier than swapping filters in and out. Most papers have a little chart in the tech doc describing the yellow and magenta filter settings for a given contrast range. Beseler color heads use the Kodak standard, so keep that in mind when referencing the documentation.

The cold light, IMO, is pretty useless. Being a florescent tube, it suffers from the same sort of characteristics of any florescent tube. They take a long time to start, and don't reach peak output until they are warmed up. There are all sorts of control devices available to compensate for this effect, but they are expensive. If effect, you wind up with a table full of electronics to do what a simple tungsten or tungsten/halogen bulb does naturally.

A condenser might be useful, but I've never found the need to use one. It has no effect on the resolving power of the optical system, and is maybe good for about 1/2 grade harder contrast than a diffusion type light source. This is easily compensated for with the built in filtration of the color head. Dust spots do show up more sharply, and that's a real PITA. The less time spent print spotting, the better, I say.

If the foam liner of the light box is beginning to deteriorate, fear not. These light boxes can be relined, and will function as new. Look around for rehab kits for your light box, or cut your own from sheets of white styrofoam of the same thickness. Again, I've done this with a 4x5 and 6x7 light boxes for my Omega enlarger and I couldn't be more pleased with the results.

I have 3 enlargers. Which one do I keep?

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