Words of Advice RE: Vintage Enlargers

[Hatchetman]

DON'T DO IT!

I probably wasted 20 hours of time putting together an old DeJur Professional 4x5 enlarger (I have a decent Beseler, but it only goes up to 6x7). This one had been taken apart for a conversion into a lamp, but the person never got around to it and gave it to me. I made a lensboard. Rewired the damn thing. Got a lens for it. Got a filter holder for it.

Couldn't figure why the prints had mysterious white spots on them. Any guesses?

Condenser lenses have nicks and scrapes on them which make the marks. Now I know what to check when I BUY a decent enlarger.

Plus all the gears etc are all worn and stripped and getting the damn thing aligned and in focus is a pain.

Maybe I'll make a lamp out of it.

 

[snapguy]

good one

That's a good one. I guess you wouldn't be interested in any of my steampunk cameras which I make from olde camera parts and Whatevers. But I have a rule -- I NEVER use cameras/camera parts in such a way that they can't be put back together. Not everyone has that rule, though, I suppose.

 

[Bill Burk]

I solved the problem with my DII, I picked up a spare pair of condensers and cherry picked ones without bubbles...

I've since moved on to a different light source which brings me its own challenges...

But at least those are white spots. Black spots are worse.

 

[Hatchetman]

I solved the problem with my DII, I picked up a spare pair of condensers and cherry picked ones without bubbles...

I've since moved on to a different light source which brings me its own challenges...

But at least those are white spots. Black spots are worse.

And I'd be the guy who bought the DII with the bad condensers!

Lint/Dust spots. Ugh! I tried spotting a few prints for practice. They looked 10X worse after that! I may just stick with small & medium format.

 

[jp498]

Make it into a diffusion enlarger

 

[Phillip P. Dimor]

Those large condensers are easily scratched up. I love condensers but good glass is a must. Had to buy two sets to make one mint one.

Sent from my SGH-S730G using Tapatalk

 

[ic-racer]

What is a vintage enlarger?

 

[Ian Grant]

My Houghton King, about 100+ years old, just needs me to make new bellows, condensers are fine. I have an Ensign candle powered safelight to go with it

Dursts are easy to rebuild I'd persevere.

Ian