Recessed Lens Board Plate - which one is this?

[Paolo Saccheri]

Hello,

I hope you can help me identifying this recessed lens board if you know the name of the one with the same exact dimensions.
I firmly believe belongs to an old Durst enlarger but I dont know which one and I also think it could have been made by some OEM company and not Durst itself since there are no texts on it.
I would like to know what enlarger this is for, since I know each enlarger has its own "locking" system and needs its own lens adapters/boards/plates/cups (which is the correct name for it?) to be properly fixed.
After all, it would be nice to know which M25 lenses it can be useful for (wide, normal, tele...).
I attach two photos and a sketch I did of its significant dimensions.

Thank you all for the help and light you will bring to this identification!!

Paolo

 

[ac12]

That appears to be a Durst Sixtif lenspanel for a M600 enlarger. I do not know of any other Durst enlarger that uses a 70mm lens panel. The later 60x series used the larger 77mm lens panel.
Used with a 28 or 35mm lens.
Many of my Durst lens panels do not have any printing on it. I do not know why some do and some do not.

BTW, great drawing.

 

[Arvee]

I believe it is the Setopla 2825, a recessed lens board for adapting a 25mm threaded 50mm enlarging lens for use in the M600, 601 Durst enlargers which were 6x6 enlargers and needed the adapter to get decent image size for 35mm negs.

 

[ac12]

Fred
The Setopla is a 78mm lens panel for the M601, M605, M800, M805, L1000. It is recessed, but only about 15mm, not the 27mm per the drawing.
The M600 takes a smaller 70mm lens panel which matches the diameter of the drawing.

 

[Paolo Saccheri]

Thank you for your help ac12 and Fred,

yes, I now have found a photo on internet searching for sixtif and it resembles exactly my cup!

 

[ac12]

Paolo
What enlarger do you have?

 

[Paolo Saccheri]

ac12
I don't have any enlarger.
I shoot film and only develop it myself. For printing I go to a pro lab.
I have a dear friend that used to be a photo lab owner but many years ago and he had many little things left in his drawers... among which the sixtif, a film carrier, a condenser uzuco and many other that I now try to sell to compensate the economic crisis I live in.
That's why it is also important for me to know what I have in my hands and to be able to describe it well. And that's why I thank you for your help.
I think may be 25 or 30 euro could be a price... I don't know the correct value and people's need for it but I found on the internet the same item at 50 £ pound sterlins!

 

[ac12]

I would start at 15 or 20 euro and see how the bidding goes.
The film format for that Sixtif combined with the specific enlarger it is for, is a very very very small portion of the people printing, so you will not have many people interested.

 

[Paolo Saccheri]

yes, from the table of lenses you wrote that goes well for a 35mm or 28mm on a durst 600 I understand the sixtif goes well for those who want to print half frame 35mm or less...
So almost nobody but I know who still shoot half frames so... who knows in the world....

What do you say about a 40mm lens? Does that lens go along with the 50 or with the 35 (talking about recessed plate)?

ciao

 

[ac12]

The 40mm lens is a tough call.
It "may" work on the Sixtub, but it may not. If I had a 40mm lens, I would first check it on the Sixtub, as it is shallower and thus easier to reach the aperture ring. Only if it did NOT work with the Sixtub, then I would go to the deeper Sixtif.

Without testing (as above) then I would use the deeper Sixtif with the 40.

In practice the recessed lens panels are sometimes difficult to use. This is because of limited access to the lens for your fingers. More so if you have to reach INTO the recessed lens panel to reach the aperture ring. I recall an accessory handle that was somehow attached to the aperture ring of the lens, so you could turn the aperture ring w/o reaching into the deep recessed lens panels.

35mm half frame used to be a popular format. Slightly smaller camera, and you got 72 shots out of a roll of 36 exposure 35mm film. It was the point and shoot of the day. And as most people did not print larger than 5x7, the smaller negative format was not a problem.

 

[Paolo Saccheri]

ac12
I found this info here in Apug for Durst D659: (there was a url link here which no longer exists)
"A Durst SEIPLA-75 recessed lens mount tub is 70mm in diameter and 33.5mm deep and could be easily modded to hold a 50mm lens in place."

I found on a Durst general part list booklet (I have been given together with other things) that the Seipla 75 was good for 75 or 80 mm lenses with 25mm screw mount on enlarger D659.

So my Sixtif could be mounted on a D659 since it has 70mm diameter? And used with longer lenses than those good with M600?

 

[ac12]

Paolo
You need to be careful,
You need to verify that the SEIPLA-75 is really 70mm in diameter. The notes that I have indicate that the SEIPLA is 78mm in diameter. What other lens panels does the D659 take? Looking at the other lens panels might verify 70 or 78mm.
There does appear to be another instance of where the SEIPLA-75 is specified for the old 609 enlarger. But the other lens panel, Seimar, I don't know the diameter of it either.

I have no data on the D659 enlarger.
But if it takes a 70mm lens plate then your Sixtif could be used on it.

The design of the enlarger determines what lens is used on what lens panel.
Example, the 50mm lens on the L1200 uses a flat Lapla lens panel, while on the L1000 it uses the recessed Setopla lens panel.

 

[BlueWind]

ac12
"... I found on a Durst general part list booklet (I have been given together with other things) ... "

Hi
Can you tell us more about that booklet ? I would be very much interested in having access to its contents. And if you decide to sell it, send me a PM.
Regards
Joao