Enlarging lenses and boards therefor

[Richard Schlesinger]

I have an old Beseler MCR enlarger. I just obtained a lovely Rodenstock Apo Rodagon 50mm lens to replace my 25-year-old Nikkor. I have replaced the lower bellows on the Beseler with their new, current one which enables alignment. However it has a nice large, square focusing bellows (the same I think as on their vertical column machine (too tall for my ceiling). I have been using a Beseler recessed board for my 50mm Nikkor.

I tried to mount my nice Apo Rodagon and find that it won't go inside the recessed part of the lensboard. The Beseler tech guy, Steve, says they didn't allow for that when they changed from a tapered bellows to the current one. He also says I am the first person to have this problem. Beseler says they will do something so I can use my nice new Rodenstock lens. They have been making this setup for at least ten years. Rodenstock has been making their lenses with the protrusion for at least ten years.

From photographs it looks to me as if Schneider lenses also have a protruding lever, if anything more protruding than Rodenstock. Has anyone else had this problem? If so, do you have a work around?

[paulr]

I'm having trouble visualizing the problem. Why do you need to use a recessed lensboard?

That's a nice enlarger and a very nice lens. It's worth figuring something out.

[Richard Schlesinger]

Hi Paul -

The large square bellows on the 4X5 Beseler packs up so thick that without a recessed board I can't focus a 50mm lens. The older Beseler had a tapered bellows that allowed a 50 to focus. But there was no way to align the lensboard. I would send a picture but I don't do digital. At least not yet.

[Oren Grad]

Paulr, I'm guessing here, but the square bellows may not compress enough to allow a 50 on a flat board to achieve the required focus. This is an issue with the LPL 4x5 models, at least when the masking stage is being used. In that case, the solution is to invert the lens "board" (really a sort of cone) and use it as a recessed mount when printing with a 50.

[paulr]

Ah, I get it.

I know a solution, but it's not the one you probably want to hear after having replaced the bellows. With the original bellows and lens stage, it's possible to modify the enlarger so it can be aligned. You make an aligning lensboard, so it has to be done for each lens. Zone VI used to sell these; if you have access to a drill press and some taps and dies they're easy to make. I made mine for my old Beseler enlarger ... total cost of about $5, and it works with both a 50mm rodagon and a 150mm apo componon.

Another more costly solution would be to have a custom belows made. It's possible for a belows to be made that will fold up much more tightly. My camera (an old toyo) folds up unusually flat. When I had a replacement bellows made, it was so bulky that the camera wouldn't close. When I sent the whole camera to the company (western bellows or universal ... forget which) they told me they had to hand cut the dies to make it fit. I have no idea what this means or what they did, but the result was a much less bulky bellows.

It might also be possible to make your own recessed lens board, but design it to fit your lens.

[Mark_3899]

Here is the easy fix: Get a Beseler 3 lens turret. Not a new one as they are over $300.00. but a used one which can usually be found on Ebay for about $60.00. That will put the 50mm where you want it on this enlarger.

[Bob Salomon]

The problem with turrets is that they usually do not maintain proper alignment. This is easy to see if you have a Zigalign tool.

[Mark_3899]

yeah, I have the Parallel by Versalab, but I think a turret is the least of your worries in terms of alignment with this enlarger. I sold it for that reason and got a CB-7.

[Jonathan_5775]

Yes, I'd say the basic kit for a Beseler would be a zig-align and a hammer (21 oz. min!).