Kaiser vs Beseler enlargers

[winston_smith]

Hi everyone,

I have a terrible a dilemma and I dare to ask for your help. I have a Beseler 67XLD enlarger in like-new condition that I bought a year ago. I used it a lot, but it always bugged me that it seemed slightly misaligned. Well, these days I made myself a laser-alignment tool (took me three days of hard work to make it truly vertical to the base - with an accuracy of 6mm at 2.5 meters, better than Versalab Parallel). Today I proceeded checking my enlarger with my new toy. As I expected, it was out of alignment. The problem is that I simply could not get it aligned, after many, many frustrating hours. The Beseler design leaves a lot to be desired from this point of view. I made some slight progress, but far from perfect.

After so many hours of hard labor, I started asking myself whether it would be a good investment to buy another enlarger. It seems like the only reasonable solution for a new enlarger is the Kaiser System V series. I oscillate between 7005 and 9005. My question is: are you familiar with these enlargers? How would you rate them compared to Beseler? Are they hard to align? Do they have any particular issues?

Any thoughts will be greatly appreciated.

Many thanks,
W.S.

 

[gorbas]

You are in Europe, simply buy any used Durst. Must be millions of them around EU. Also look in EU for Italian IFF or British DeVere or in Romania most likely you will have used Meopta Magnifax 3 or 4 for up to 6x9, or Opemus for up to 6x6cm. Be sure that they have all small accessories you need, lens panels, negative carriers, etc.

 

[winston_smith]

Hi,

Thank you for your piece of advice. It's very hard to find a good enlarger in my country. The owners usually didn't store them properly, so they are all rusty with fogged optics. That's why I had to bring my enlarger all the way from the US.

Any Kaiser owners on this forum?

Many thanks,
W.S.

You are in Europe, simply buy any used Durst. Must be millions of them around EU. Also look in EU for Italian IFF or British DeVere or in Romania most likely you will have used Meopta Magnifax 3 or 4 for up to 6x9, or Opemus for up to 6x6cm. Be sure that they have all small accessories you need, lens panels, negative carriers, etc.

 

[Richard Jepsen]

I researched buying a 9005 because of the hybrid light source, condenser and diffusion. a 9005 seems related to a Durst design with the exception of the light source. Your concern is alignment. A like new Durst 605 or 670 should be considered.

 

[ic-racer]

That is a good enlarger. Maybe you are doing something wrong. What exactly won't' 'align'

Quote from Modern Photography 1977:

The beseler 67C was so well aligned that the error was undecernible. Estimation puts the variation somewhere around 1/24 of a bubble length on all three planes. We have rarely seen a machine this well aligned simply because shipping can often affect enlarger alignment. How Beseler achieved this unusual result is a mystery, but we hope they engrave the formula in bronze and keep it safe.

 

[winston_smith]

That is a good enlarger. Maybe you are doing something wrong. What exactly won't' 'align'

Quote from Modern Photography 1977:

I can't get the lens to be parallel with the negative stage. And if I somehow get close, I then discover that it goes out of alignment when I raise or lower the lens. The tilt of the lens is set by three set screws behind the bellows, which proved to be more like a torture device than anything useful.

My Beseler is recent production, perhaps Beseler lower their standards.

Many thanks,
W.S.