Unknown enlarger help!!

[Arelia99]

I have been looking on the internet for information on an enlarger and have found nothing! So perhaps someone here has seen it...

At a local thrift store someone or a company must have divested themselves of a large heavy enlarger...The thrift store has labeled it an "Nikon Industrial enlarger" I looked at it closely and could find no other company name, other than that the base has a plate that says Nikon, Japan and a serial number (550688). Next time I go back I am going to take a picture so that I can show it around and see if anyone recognizes it. I hate to see a good enlarger go to waste....

The unit itself is large and heavy...it looks nothing like the Nikon RA-350, whic is the only Nikon enlarger I have seen mentioned on the net!
It has a Nikon Nikkor lens on it...also seemed to have something that I could swear looks like a square shaped viewing screen. It has a large belows. What struck me as odd was that it also had one of those cable releases attached to it. I cannot figure out what the cable release would be for. If anyone has any ideas what this might be I would love to know! Unfortunantely I live about 45 minutes away so I will not be able to run down and take a picture of it for a little while!

Thanks in advance!

Nancy Phaup

 

[Nick Zentena]

Some sort of copy camera?



Did it have a spring back for a sheet film holder?

I bet you focus by looking at the ground glass then slip the holder in.

Is the lens in a shutter?

What lens? If nothing else the lens and likely shutter could/would be worth something.

 

[raucousimages]

Ditto, sounds like a copy camera.

 

[Arelia99]

That makes a lot of sense! Would the lens in a copy camera be usable in an enlarger I wonder? Thanks for the help!

Nancy

 

[Donald Miller]

That makes a lot of sense! Would the lens in a copy camera be usable in an enlarger I wonder? Thanks for the help!

Nancy

Depends on the focal length of the lens. Sometimes process lenses (the name usually given to this type of lens) can be mounted in shutters and used on view cameras. The Red Dot Artar, G Claron, and Repo Claron lenses are used interchangeably.

 

[Scottie]

I saw something similar in a camera shop in Glasgow.
I remarked to the salesman that I had never seen such a big enlarger, he replied that it was a "Rostrum Camera" you sometimes see "Rostrum Cameraman" in the end credit's of TV documentaries.

 

[charleymeyer]

Hi, sounds like it could be a Multiphot, check out item 230023356912 on ebay. This one is configured as a 4X5. I recently sold one that was complete 4X5 and 35mm for $5700. Individual Macro (not Micro) Nikkors go for $500 to $1000. These are very desirable Macro/Microphotography units for the right person and are superior to the Leitz Aristophots which was an earlier design.

 

[Paul Sorensen]

Hi, sounds like it could be a Multiphot, check out item 230023356912 on ebay. This one is configured as a 4X5. I recently sold one that was complete 4X5 and 35mm for $5700. Individual Macro (not Micro) Nikkors go for $500 to $1000. These are very desirable Macro/Microphotography units for the right person and are superior to the Leitz Aristophots which was an earlier design.

Damn, you better be hotfooting it over to the thrift store before one of us gets a crazy idea.

 

[charleymeyer]

The cable release on the reflex housing opens the shutter when the mirror is lowered for viewing. The lenses that were available for this were 19mm, 35mm, 65mm and 120mm allowing the camera to cover .5X to 40X magnification on the ground glass. If you want any photos or manuals I still have digital copies, email me if you're interested. Best, Charley

 

[Arelia99]

Wow...

I don't know what to think now! I will definitely be going back to look at it! Thanks for the information!

Nancy