What is a Beseler Minolta 45A or its many friends

[swmcl]

Excuse the ignorance please ...

What is this device? How does one use it? When does one use it?

I came across it searching for grain magnifiers...

Cheers,

[Leigh]

Minolta designed (and built AFAIK) the color head for the Beseler 45-series enlarger frame.

- Leigh

[brucetaylor]

Yes, fits the Beseler 4x5 enlarger. I have one but have not used it yet. It is a color head and uses a different exposure technique than any other head I know of- it uses flash tubes, a burst of each color to create the exposure. It also has an integral analyzer/controller and automated "ring arounds" to determine exposure and color balance. I've seen both positive and negative reactions written about it. When I get back into color printing I'm going to give mine a try.

[swmcl]

OK,

So it fits onto the top of a vertical enlarger somewhere and acts as a light source... it isn't some sort of analyser to be used at the baseboard end of things...

I was thinking it might analyse the colour of the light from the enlarger or something.

Thanks!

[domaz]

How is the printing speed with these things? My Beseler Dichro 45 color head (original recipe) printing speed seems kind of slow. 20-32 seconds for a typical 11x14 or maybe I'm just not being patient enough.

[jbenedict]

I have one of these with an analyzer. These can be used with a 45 series Beseler enlarger in exchange with the condenser lamp house (or cold light for that matter) It is used to print color negatives. I haven't read the literature with it yet but it should be possible to set the filters for VC printing with B&W. I received mine as a gift from a professional who was going digital and was getting rid of his darkroom. I have the analyzer which goes with it but don't know if it was part of the price of the head or purchased separately.

I haven't done anything with it and it is still in the box it came in. Not sure of what I might do with it. Optical prints are great but scanning and having them printed isn't as much work on my side. Not sure of the difference in cost because I would be a very low volume printer either way...

[Leigh]

The analyzer that came with (?some/all?) of the 45A heads is not a general-purpose color analyzer.

It's a component of that exposure control system.

- Leigh

[brucetaylor]

Yes, the analyzer is also the controller. The head and controller/analyzer cannot be disconnected, there is a fiber optic cable that runs from the head to controller.

[EdSawyer]

These are great heads. I have at least 5 or 6 of them (gotta have spares! ;-) The flash tubes are a bit tricky to find, usually $10-30/ea when you do find them but they last a long while. Print speeds for 11x14 with fresh tubes should be in the 7-15 second range as I recall, a lot depends on aperture of course. Generally it will try to keep printing times reasonable, using it's internal logic. This was a $2500+ system when new back in the 90s. IMNSHO the best color head available for the Beseler 45, and perhaps best in general in many ways. It's an additive head, which has it's own advantages. I have the manuals and service manuals available online if anyone needs them.

[al olson]

I have one, sitting on the floor in my loft, with the analyzer puck. I am not aware that any were available without the puck. The head contains seven flash tubes, two each for RGB and one for composing and focusing.

The flicker of the focusing tube is somewhat annoying, but the analyzer and color flashes deliver the exact amount of light. When the flash tubes for this head were available they were priced around $50 each, which is why I was not carrying an inventory.

My 45A head still contains a good set of tubes, but since they have been discontinued I decided to retire it when the opportunity for a free D5500 arose. (Several years ago I did a posting on this forum that asked if any members knew of any sources for tubes. They only have the Besler markings which are not standard. There were suggestions to use other tubes, but I have not attempted to do so.)

Except for the focusing flash I enjoyed the convenience of the 45A, especially for doing the ring-arounds as mentioned earlier. If anyone knows of a source for comparable tubes I would appreciate the information.

[mbsimg]

I had some old profoto flash units that had impossible-to-find, discontinued flash bulbs. I contacted the folks at https://www.strobelamps.com/ sent them a working flash lamp, they measured and analyzed it, and they custom made me brand new flash bulbs for my strobes. If I ever need any more they have the "recipe" and can make more. It's worth giving them a call. Hope this helps. Let me know if it works out!

[Drew Wiley]

I was an interesting innovation, but too weak a colorhead for many applications, and a bit tricky to consistently dodge and burn with without risk of color fringing. I had a friend who used one for small RA4 prints, but eventually went back to his more conventional Beseler halogen colorhead.

Serious xenon flash enlargement systems existed well before, but involving very powerful SEQUENTIAL RGB exposure for graphics industry applications. Some were so hot they required water jackets to cool them. Big truly expensive things. But these were apparently the inspiration for a baby brother SIMULTANEOUS RGB exposure system flashtube system Beseler came up with.

After its inevitable extinction, Beseler marketed a more serious simultaneous RGB 4x5 additive head based on standard halogen EVW bulbs, which itself suffered from certain design flaws, and which Beseler basically refused to correct even under warranty. Not a good way to make friends. But some of us figured out how to iron out the problems ourselves, and eventually ended up with some pretty deluxe systems. I, at least, ended up with something way better than what Beseler engineered to begin with. But I give them credit for getting the football to the 50 yard line.