Questions about Durst DA-900

[swordfish2071]

Hi everyone,

Long-time lurker, first time poster here. Firstly, I apologise in advance if the following questions have been answered before - I'm usually pretty good at finding relevant posts, but kindly please point me to the right post if one already exists.

A bit of background -
I live in Sydney, Australia and I have some experience with darkroom printing (does anyone know the darkroom that used to be at the Australian Centre for Photography on Oxford St?), but this is my first attempt at setting up a darkroom on my own, so I am pretty clueless.
I recently bought a Durst DA900 which came with a manual, a 50mm and 80mm lens in 25mm mount (as well as other bits and pieces).

Unfortunately, it was missing some pretty vital pieces as well. Firstly, the mirror box was missing (it came with a CLS201 colour head). Secondly, the condenser units (Unicon 80 & Unicon 105) did not come with the "retainer bar" that allows the condenser unit to move up or down as you switch between the two lenses. Thirdly, the 80mm lens elements are hopelessly cloudy.

I read on the forums here that the mirror box for the Durst M700 could possibly fit the DA900 as well, but alas, I can confirm that it does not fit.

Now some potentially stupid questions
1. Is the mirror housing essential? Can I just get a custom piece of mirror cut to the approximate size and slot it in at a 45 degree angle?
2. How important is the retainer bar? The enlarger also came with a separate plastic filter drawer, which seems to give the condenser unit the necessary lift. Can I use this to give the lift needed when I try to print my 6x9cm negs?
3. I read the manual from cover to cover, but it does not explain how to manually focus the lenses. I am hoping to replace the 80mm and potentially get a 105mm lens, both in 39mm Leica screwmount. I don't care so much about the autofocus.
4. I also could not find any information on how to adjust the enlarger so that the negative carrier/lens board/base are level with each other.
5. Would I be correct in thinking that the Unicon 50 condenser is needed if I want to print 35mm?

If anyone can help, it would be much appreciated. Sorry about my wordy first post and many thanks!

 

[cluttered]

I currently have two enlargers in my darkroom, one of these is a DA900. I wasn't keen on the idea of autofocus but it works quite well in practice, at least it does with my DA900. I cross-check with a focus finder, and it's always spot-on. Mine has the 50mm/105mm combination.

I don't think I can answer all your questions, but I can confirm that you should use the Unicon 50 for 35mm prints. Similarly, the 80mm lens goes with the Unicon 80, and that's a good combination for printing 6x6 negatives. Most of my medium format work is 6x7, so 105mm suits that, but I can use that for 6x6 if needed.

From memory, to manually focus you use the knurled knobs near the enlarger lenses. In my copy of the DA900 manual these are annotated with 31 and 32.

Feel free to send me a PM if I can be of further help, I can send photos of aspects of the enlarger if you want to compare notes.

 

[swordfish2071]

Hey thanks so much for your quick reply, cluttered. I see those knurled knobs, but on mine they seem to be blocked by the some sort of ring. I'll try to take pictures of what I mean and PM it to you. I suppose there's no harm in trying the autofocus, though with the condition of the 80mm being what it is, I don't think I have much of a choice but to swap it out. Thanks again!

 

[swordfish2071]

Does anyone else have additional info? Especially some clarification about the autofocus/possibility of manual focus would be great, as I am pretty sure the included lenses are no good.