Should I get this second DeVere enlarger ?

[freecitizen]

I have recently acquired a 504 DeVere enlarger from a defunct commercial photo house and plan to put a LED head on it for mono printing. There is a 507 DeVere from the same source that I can have for virtually no money. Both are the floor-standing type. I have a real space problem in fitting both enlargers into my house, and the 507 would have to be disassembled and jammed in a corner of the darkroom as a very tight fit. There is just nowhere else in my small house to put it. Up to now my maximum size negative has been 6x9 but I am likely to try 5x4 in the future. At this stage I do not think I will ever use 5x7 equipment and I likely will never use the 507 enlarger, although who knows where my photography might lead me.

I am trying to decide whether to get the second enlarger simply because I can and to save it from the landfill site. Nobody else seems to want it but me. I hate to see fine equipment like this discarded.

I am not sure what the extra size of the 5x7 might give me that I cannot get from the 5x4. One thing I suppose is the ability to print 6x17. Also large pinhole shots on 5x7 might have an advantage over 5x4.

Can anyone please help me decide whether I should get this 5x7 .... Are there any extra possibilities from 5x7 that 5x4 can't give me ?

Many Thanks ........ freecitizen

 

[fotch]

Well, if you can save it and don't, you may regret it later. Sounds like these are well built and perhaps you should use it for all sizes that you currently use. I normally used my Beseler 45 for everything including 35mm. Then again, no one has unlimited space.....

 

[snapguy]

understand

I can appreciate your lack of room for more stuff. There's plenty of room at my place for my stuff but I am beginning to wonder if there is enough space left for me. Is there not a garage space or something where you can store it until you perhaps can find room for it? I have my enlarger, for b&w, in one bathroom and use another bathroom for developing film. My "spare bedroom" has no bed but does have dozens of olde cameras. And a spare enlarger. And lenses and attachments and whatnots. How many Canon rangefinders does a guy need, especially a Nikon guy?

 

[firefli]

Too bad - I'd be interested in the enlarger (any 4x5 working enlarger) but way up here (Montreal) is a long ways away -lol
I wonder how much it would cost to ship it - lol

 

[Wayne]

I have recently acquired a 504 DeVere enlarger from a defunct commercial photo house and plan to put a LED head on it for mono printing. There is a 507 DeVere from the same source that I can have for virtually no money. Both are the floor-standing type. I have a real space problem in fitting both enlargers into my house, and the 507 would have to be disassembled and jammed in a corner of the darkroom as a very tight fit. There is just nowhere else in my small house to put it. Up to now my maximum size negative has been 6x9 but I am likely to try 5x4 in the future. At this stage I do not think I will ever use 5x7 equipment and I likely will never use the 507 enlarger, although who knows where my photography might lead me.

I am trying to decide whether to get the second enlarger simply because I can and to save it from the landfill site. Nobody else seems to want it but me. I hate to see fine equipment like this discarded.

I am not sure what the extra size of the 5x7 might give me that I cannot get from the 5x4. One thing I suppose is the ability to print 6x17. Also large pinhole shots on 5x7 might have an advantage over 5x4.

Can anyone please help me decide whether I should get this 5x7 .... Are there any extra possibilities from 5x7 that 5x4 can't give me ?

Many Thanks ........ freecitizen

Maybe someone else in your area wants it if you don't...where are you? I'd take a 5x7 enlarger.

 

[freecitizen]

The problem with using the 507 for everything is the huge leap in the cost of the LED head. Although LED on the 504 is expensive, it is worth it in my opinion .... but the cost of 5x7 LED is too much, especially as I might never use the extra real estate of the 5x7.

So I'm planning to use the 504 with LED for 6x6 up to 5x4 and the Leica V35 for 35mm.

The 507 really doesn't seem to be fitting in to my current plans very well, and it would be a hassle to keep ..... I just wonder if I pass on it .... I might regret it later. I would like to have a real reason to get it, other just treating it like a " collectible ".

 

[freecitizen]

I'm in Australia, on the west coast.

 

[paul_c5x4]

Can anyone please help me decide whether I should get this 5x7 .... Are there any extra possibilities from 5x7 that 5x4 can't give me ?

Trust me on this: Once you have started printing from 5x4, you will get a hankering to try something bigger. I'm currently hooked on 5x4, and have a desire to go bigger, much bigger.... At the size I'm contemplating, finding an enlarger is highly unlikely.

 

[freecitizen]

I just had another look at where it would need to sit in the darkroom and it is not that bad ............ I can fit it in .........

I'm now thinking of getting it mostly to try large format pinhole photography. The advantage here is that the camera can be very cheap and simple. I could probably make it myself.

I'll ask in the pinhole forum if 5x7 is significantly better than 5x4.

 

[ic-racer]

I am not sure what the extra size of the 5x7 might give me that I cannot get from the 5x4

1) It is always easier to print the rebate of 4x5" negatives on a 5x7" enlarger.
2) Illumination could be more even. I know for a fact the center 4x5" of my 8x10" enlarger is more even than the 4x5" diffuser on my 4x5" enlarger (but this measurable difference may not be evident in my prints).
3) With a longer bellows on the 5x7" enlarger making reductions is easier.

 

[Jerevan]

Look at the condition of the two enlargers, it is important that everything works as intended. The DeVere (I had a 5x7" once) is a very good sturdy enlarger. It was easy to move, once one took off the head and the baseboard, at least for two people. The 4x5 and 5x7 models, if I remember correctly, use the same base chassis.

 

[freecitizen]

Yes ..... these 5x4 and 507 DeVere enlargers are both floor-standing types and use the same base chassis. Each takes up the same space in the darkroom .... So now I'm wondering if I should make the 507 my main enlarger and spring for the larger and much more expensive LED head for it.

Thankyou ic-racer .... those are good reasons for the 507. I should get very even illumination from either LED head, but your reasons 1 and 3 are spot-on and ones I had not considered.

The 504 is perhaps a little better in condition ( less grime and rust ). The 507 is a later model with the carrier blades as part of the enlarger, but only has a basic, battered shell of a neg carrier. The 504 has the blades built into the negative carrier and is apparently the favored type with most users.

Whichever one I settle on as my main enlarger, I will definitely want the LED head .... so it might come down to the cost of that item as the decider.

Either way I'm very lucky and spoilt for choice.

 

[eclarke]

I am using these on a 5x7 and 4x5 enlarger and have a similare on an 11x14 enlarger. All work very well..


http://www.artograph.com/light-boxes/lightpad-series/

 

[MattKing]

If you have a spouse.

Whatever you do, don't ask him/her!

 

[Jerevan]

Can't you change out stuff between the two (assuming you get both) enlargers?

eclarke: can't you show how you did that with the Artograph? Sounds intriguing!