What is this thing?

[JBrunner]

I called the seller and he doesn't know much other than what he put in the ad. (he's selling it for someone else) I'm very tempted to drive the 10 miles to go get it. Can I enlarge 8x10 negs with it?

http://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=218&ad=5505566&cat=&lpid=

 

[Christopher Walrath]

Does that thing have a stick?

I haven't the foggiest, J. Sorry.

 

[Eric Rose]

Jason, The Repo Man. LOL I have no idea what the heck it is but for $100 why not check it out.

 

[Moopheus]

It's a repro camera for prepress work--making film (to make plates for printing) from camera-ready copy.

 

[JBrunner]

It's a repro camera for prepress work--making film (to make plates for printing) from camera-ready copy.

I wonder how hard it would be to make it work backwards? Might have a decent lens.

 

[Mick Fagan]

Jason, for $100 you will (or should) have a beautiful vacuum back, about the size of an A3 or oversized A3 possibility.

There is then the two lenses, one will probably be a 150 G f9 Rodenstock the other a 240 wide angle which will cover 8x10 like you wouldn't believe and is probably designed to cover a 12x16" or 30x40cm sheet of film. You will of course have to figure out how to put shutters in them, but I mean to say!

Why don't you just bop on down there?

Have you left yet?

Mick.

 

[Frank Szabo]

deleted - gave some bad info.

 

[mpirie]

Yep, we used to use the Repromaster for making lith negs.

IIRC the timer on the right side would switch the lamp on and off as per your exposure and it was used under normal safelight conditions in the darkroom.

The hand-wheels on the right and left were used to alter the magnification by raising and lowering the light table.

I doubt the timer and lamp combination would be accurate or refined enough to use as a 10x8 enlarger.

 

[paul ewins]

There's a good chance the lenses will be Staeble/Eskofot Ultragons that can't be remounted easily into shutters. If they are Schneiders then you will have got your $100 back straight off. The only thing to remember is that these items are usually quite heavy and bulky. I bought one a couple of years ago for $10 and needed a hire trailer to get it home. It was loaded with a forklift and I had to disassemble it on the trailer as it was too heavy to move. I got a few good bits and a whole lot more went in the skip.

 

[PHOTOTONE]

A graphic-arts camera like this is intended to make litho-negs of reflective art. Not transparent art. Therefore you could not "easily" make it into an enlarger without constructing a light source that would shine thru a negative. Still, there may be enough "salvage" on it to make it worth $100 if you can get it locally. The 2 lenses, and the mechanism for the vacuum back (if it has a vacuum back) should be worth $100.

 

[raucousimages]

Jason.
Call me if you want to go take a look,we can take my truck. I could use the drive.
John

 

[Photo Engineer]

It looks very much like our Air Force contact printers for 9x18 film.

PE

 

[lonepeak]

Jason, I saw one in a movie recently and they were using it to make offset printing plates. At least it looked a lot like it??? Barry

 

[rcoda]

It's what we used to call a "stat" camera used for exposing plates and litho negatives mainly used for print, before the digital era. You could probably modify it to enlarge LF negs.

They are beasts, though. My dad had a printing shop in Passaic, NJ when I was a young kid. They got a new stat camera and had it installed in the basement, where the darkroom was. They had to build a room for it. I would say at least 20x20 ft.

 

[thebanana]

Do you have a boat? This might make a good anchor.