Intrepid enlarger

Has anyone have any experience using the intrepid enlarger? I'm considering getting one and would like to hear from people who owns one what their experience with intrepid enlarger is like?

It's been reviewed widely on YouTube...

Looks like a flimsy toy to me. What does it cost?, versus finding a decent used real enlarger (which are sometimes free). Whatever. At least you won't be gambling much money. But I've always regretted entry-level purchases, and quickly moved on to better equipment.

DREW WILEY said:

Looks like a flimsy toy to me. What does it cost?, versus finding a decent used real enlarger (which are sometimes free).

Click to expand...

Google Intrepid Cameras...It aint flimsy..its reasonable cheap ($300-$400 WITHOUT LENS) and quite a number of peop;e on YOUTUBE like it...otherwise you will have to open your wallet and buy a dearer one....

I've owned a lot of enlargers, and have even built several of my own. Maybe the UTube generation has different expectations. I'll stand by my comment, "flimsy". But if it helps people acquire a taste for darkroom printing, that's at least a worthy start.

Here are my impressions, I bought a secondhand one a while back, mostly for the light source and holders to use for digitizing. It’s not a bad setup for someone who needs something that uses minimal space. It’s not intended to be a permanently set up production enlarger, it’s a little fiddly to use, but it works well enough. I set mine up on a repurposed Dust 301 column and baseboard, it would do better on a regular copy stand. It’s nice that the controller has a built-in timer, though I’d like it better if it had programming for F-stop timing. Overall it’s nicely made and thought out for what it is.

If you want something to do a lot of printing with, but still easy to pack away, a small to medium size Durst might be better, if you can find one. OTH, if something like that fits your need, the “finding” part isn’t an issue with the intrepid, you just order it.

My Beseler 4x5 enlarger is far more solid but it is also a LOT bigger and not something I set up and take down whenever I need it. But if you already have room to set up a Beseler or a Durst than you don't need the Intrepid, and you already know that.

Heck. If someone wants to make an enlarger out of a camera on a column, just buy an affordable old Sinar etc monorail camerra, and put a light source and neg carrier atop that, along with a baseboard and socket mount. It would be darn precise by comparison, yet not take up much space and easily collapse down.

At one time, small process or "stat" cameras were available for next to nothing, or outright free, lens n' all; and people adapted those into compact enlargers, yet capable of large prints if needed.

I'm not trying to discourage anyone from buying Intrepid this or that - just stating that there are multiple options if you can't find or fit in a conventional enlarger.

Get those old, solidly built enlarger that is capable of printing upto 8x10 or atleast upto 5x7.

In the long term it's peace of mind, other than spending two times for doing the same job.

But if there is a space constraints then you may get Interpid.

baachitraka said:

Get those old, solidly built enlarger that is capable of printing upto 8x10 or atleast upto 5x7.

In the long term it's peace of mind, other than spending two times for doing the same job.

But if there is a space constraints then you may get Interpid.

Click to expand...

+1

Enlargers like the Beseler 23C are a dime a dozen around here (there's at least six of them for sale on our local Craigslist right now), are well built and will do up to 6x9. I picked one up in great condition several years ago for $100 including negative carriers, an easel, a Nikon El Nikkor 50mm lens, an Omega timer, and a ton of other accessories. I don't know the size of the Intrepid's footprint, but the 23C baseboard isn't that big and I had a pretty small darkroom space at the time I purchased it.

logan2z said:

+1

Enlargers like the Beseler 23C are a dime a dozen around here (there's at least six of them for sale on our local Craigslist right now), are well built and will do up to 6x9. I picked one up in great condition several years ago for $100 including negative carriers, an easel, a Nikon El Nikkor 50mm lens, an Omega timer, and a ton of other accessories. I don't know the size of the Intrepid's footprint, but the 23C baseboard isn't that big and I had a pretty small darkroom space at the time I purchased it.

Click to expand...

The thing is once you have printed a medium format negative and wonder how beautiful those tonal gradations are then doing the same thing with a large format negative is not far. So picking an enlarger that can take at-least 4x5 is a very good idea now...

There are an awful lot of dirt cheap old Omega enlargers out there too, still in decent condition. My first enlarger was a new but basic 6X7 Chromega colorhead unit. But I soon discovered how much it limited me, and within a year and a half, sold it off, and acquired a far more versatile and solid used 4X5 Chromega system instead. It lasted a long time, and for awhile, I still used it in parallel with my much nicer big Durst commercial units.

vic82 said:

I'm considering getting one

Click to expand...

koraks said:

For Sale - Omega C-700 Condenser Enlarger 35mm to 6x7

Modernish enlarger in good working condition. Shows some rust on the screws. Does not come with lens (39 mount). COMES WITH NEW BULB. $80 plus shipping. Would be somewhat expensive to ship if not in West Coast USA. For example $30 to Bay Area, $40 to Portland OR, $72 to NY. I also have parts...

www.photrio.com

Click to expand...

Not a good choice if the goal is to enlarge 4"x5" negatives.
But certainly functional for smaller formats.

Not sure if you are still looking for opinions. I have both the Compact and the 4x5 (I use that with an intrepid black 4x5).
If your main concern is space (mine is), I think they are great. I mount the Compact on a smallish tripod, and the 4x5 on a beefier one. Levelling and setup do take a bit of effort and practice, but once you've established some heights for your regular print sizes, that just takes a few minutes.
Build quality wise, the compact is pretty good, though the lens mount isn't the best, after a while mine came a bit loose when I over tightened a lens. Greg "The Naked Photographer", sells a replacement lens board that uses a spring loaded "nepla" connection and it is well worth it. The 4x5 is much simpler, build quality there is great, but then there's a lot less to get wrong.
The biggest issues mentioned on line relate to colour printing. The LEDs aren't especially accurate for RA4 so fine adjustments aren't always possible, if you're a colour printing aficionado then it's not for you. *But* if, like me, you only need colour for occasional fun prints, then it is (IMO), just fine. For black and white printing it's good. I've recently built an under-the-lens filter tray so that I can switch to using ilford filters, but the built in contrast filtering does work alright.
Some tips for using the compact:
- switch the central focusing thread around. Having the focusing knob under the enlarger makes it easier to take the head off for scanning, but is an absolute nightmare for actually focusing an enlarger.
- I used a white gel pen to mark some of the positions on the colour/contrast knobs.
- I stuck a little rubber jelly foot thing to the Run button to make it easier to find.
- It's worth getting a horizontal tripod extension arm (I use it with a pan/tilt head), to mount it on.
It's not the cheapest option, but if you want to save space, personally I think it's absolutely brilliant, I have a convenient medium format enlarger AND a 4x5, and both live in a box under my desk.

DREW WILEY said:

and put a light source and neg carrier atop that,

Click to expand...

Intrepid sells that option (for any camera with a regular back). A great entry into 4x5 printing if you don't have room for monstrous enlargers.

I have used both, returned compact after 2 failed unit. Failed in a sense that the film plane and lens plane were not parallel to each other so it was not possible to have edge to edge sharp prints. Sadly there is no way to correct it.
I still have 4x5 one, that is obviously more flexible but again you have to make sure every time lens and negative plane are parallel to each other and to your easel to have edge to edge sharp prints. I am not an expert but buying a semi decent only enlarger is a better option