The worth of a Durst 606

[hoffy]

I recently found out an old friend from another hobby of mine (slot car racing) used to have a fully functioning dark room. He has now offered me his old enlarger, a Durst 606. I am not sure of the lens (if it has one at all). He has asked that he will sell it for "What ever its worth", but I know he won't be happy with just $50.

I have googled and checked ebay and really cannot find much info (in English at least), let alone what prices these are fetching.

Can anyone give me an indication on what this enlarger is like? What would be a fair price?

Cheers

 

[bsdunek]

I have used a Durst 606 for more than 40 years now. It's very solid built and works well. It has a filter drawer above the negative carrier. As far as any enlargers go today, they seem to go for disippointingly low prices as there are a lot around and not many buyers.
For myself, if I wanted it and it had a good lens with it, $100(US) would not be out of the question.
You need different lensboards for different lenses. I have 50mm and 75mm lenses and the proper lensboards for each. The basic enlarger has a glass sandwich carrier with cropping strips you can move to fit the film size. I like glassless carriers and have them for 35mm, 6X6, and a home made one for Minox.
Parts are somewhat hard to find, although they turn up on eBay occasionaly.
I would say if it has the right lens and negative carrier for you, give him a price he'll accept. If you consider that you can use it for the rest of your life, your per year cost will be pretty low. Just IMHO.

 

[apkujeong]

I bought a Durst 606 a couple of years ago for £20 plus postage. It came with 50mm & 75mm lenses & boards, plus the neg carrier / glassless accessories. It didn't come with the original baseboard - it should have, but I think the seller struggled to pack and ship it at the price he'd quoted, so I lost out there, had to make a new baseboard. Also the lenses were 25mm rather than 39mm. The lenses were not expensive ones, but were decent, a Schneider componon 50mm and a Durst badged componar 75mm.

It's a nice enlarger, but since buying it I quickly wanted 6x9 and now 9x12cm also, so ended up buying a Durst Laborator 1000. That cost £31, but I had to collect it (no shipping). It's also a heck of a lot bigger and heavier, I had to set up a new darkroom to use it.

The 606 is quite nice to use, not much to break on it either, so if it's complete I'd not worry too much about parts. Quite compact too, which can be important, depending on what space you have available for your darkroom.

 

[ic-racer]

I agree with bsdunek, it depends on what comes with it. If you would feel better, an offer of $100 USD equivalent would be reasonable assuming it has the following: Complete set of condensers, at least one lens with appropriate lens board, but better if two, at least one negative carrier. Without these things, it is not a functional enlarger and $50 would be about right.

 

[mgb74]

If prices in Australia are like those in the US, he should be very happy with equivalent of US$50. It's a nice enlarger, but not very common anymore. It does have an advantage of being fairly compact.

First question is whether you'll be satisfied with ability to print only 35mm and 6x6. If so, then I would only consider it (or any other similar enlarger) if it has 2 negative carriers (35mm and 6x6), 2 lens discs, and (if it uses different condensers) 2 condensers. Finding these things after the fact would be difficult and expensive. I would worry less about the lens, since they are readily available.

On an enlarger this old, pay attention to whether replacement bulbs are available and whether the lens discs have 39mm, 32mm or 25mm openings. The 39mm is best, 25mm and 32mm mean finding lenses with those size barrels (less common, but on the other hand ofter very cheap).

 

[C A Sugg]

For what it's worth, I picked up a Durst M600 for $20 US off of Craigs List a couple of weeks ago. Not something I was looking for, but I do occasionally have friends that have a kid getting the darkroom bug looking for a cheap enlarger. Plus the seller was only a few blocks away. It's well used but seems sound and complete for 35mm, except that it is a Componar in 25mm mount. Sadly, I used to have an old style Componon in that mount, but gave it away years ago.

 

[hoffy]

Thanks for th replies guys. I know what its worth now, but I am a little unsure on what I will offer!! I know the guy reasonably well and he at times struggles for a buck, which is unfortunate for a retired gent.

Cheers Anyway