Share your experience with Elwood 8x10 enlarger please

[Ilford4ever]

I am looking into buying used 8x10 Elwood enlarger, but would like to know more about it. Please share your experience, if any. Both good or bad. Thanks!

[Bob Chambers]

I bought mine in 1982 and it's been in my darkroom ever since. Still using the dome head with filters for multi contrast. It will produce a print that I like in both 8x10 and 5x7. Make sure you get the frosted glass pieces above the neg and the original neg carrier is excellent. To sum up they are rugged affordable large format enlargers that last forever.

[Ilford4ever]

Thank you, Bob! Any problems with alignment over these years? Thanks

[Bob Chambers]

Thank you, Bob! Any problems with alignment over these years? Thanks

It is easy to align, I built a 2x8" frame to hold the enlarger and a seperate plywood table to hold the easel. The manual has alignment instructions. I make lens boards from plywood.

[Pawlowski6132]

I have one I use with an Aristo Cold Light Head. I also cut a 4x5 mask to enlarge 4x5 negatives. It's big, heavy. It's notot precise and never bothered with alignment. It's awkward to focus, especially if you're making a print 16x20 and up. You have to have long arms or, an assistant. Mine did not come with an base. The previous owner had it bolted to the floor. I bolted it to an old desktop and put casters on it so I can move it around. There's a small table that I put my easel on. I have a copy of the original manual around. If you need me to - and I can remember to - I can make a copy of it and emal it to you.

In short, it's the next best thing to getting one of those HUGE Durst or other rediculously large 8x10 printers. If you can get it for less than $300, go for it.

I'm also trying to figure out how to use it for 35mm printing so I can use the cold light.

[Ilford4ever]

Thanks, I'd appreciate the copy of the manual. The guy wants like $550 for it plus it is total of 5-6 hour drive. Just want to make sure it's worth the investment and hard work. This one comes with the original metal stand. Do you think it will fit into one of those little u-Haul vans? Are you happy with the prints it is producing? Thanks!

[36cm2]

I don't have one, but at that price I wouldn't be looking at it. Granted, I'm spoiled living in close proximity to NYC and Philadelphia, so I see a lot of better equipment come by at better prices. I've seen Elwood's sell for $75 here. If you can get them to come down, then maybe. I've generally heard decent things about them if you're looking for a relatively inexpensive 8x10 option. Best of luck.

Leo

[Bob Chambers]

Thanks, I'd appreciate the copy of the manual. The guy wants like $550 for it plus it is total of 5-6 hour drive. Just want to make sure it's worth the investment and hard work. This one comes with the original metal stand. Do you think it will fit into one of those little u-Haul vans? Are you happy with the prints it is producing? Thanks!

Because of their age, these things come in every condition from junk to excellent. Price sounds high and I would make sure of not making a long drive for nothing, any lenses included? Mine is the model with hinged column and was easy to haul in a suv

[Robert Langham]

Someone gave me one of those hinged models. I've never set it up. Looks like a corroded disaster but must have been a good thing at one time. If anyone wants it, they are welcome to it. All original with negative carrier. Tyler, Texas.

[ic-racer]

Thanks, I'd appreciate the copy of the manual. The guy wants like $550 for it plus it is total of 5-6 hour drive. Just want to make sure it's worth the investment and hard work. This one comes with the original metal stand. Do you think it will fit into one of those little u-Haul vans? Are you happy with the prints it is producing? Thanks!
I'd drive to Texas and get the free one. Or keep looking for something more modern. It took me a year to find any 8x10 enlarger close enough to get in an afternoon.

[Keith Fleming]

I have a very old model of the 5X7 enlarger, and I strongly urge anyone using an Elwood to thoroughly disassemble the light unit and check the wiring very closely. Today I started to replace the power plug, and noticed how brittle and cracked the wires were. That led me to disassemble the light head. I found that many decades of high heat from the 300 watt enlarging bulb had caused all the wiring to become dangerous. The insulation around each wire was quite hard and brittle--where it had not cracked and fallen away. The danger of electric shock or a fire was very high. It will take a full rewiring to make that light unit safe to operate. If you have an Elwood, please check it out.

Keith

[Ilford4ever]

Because of their age, these things come in every condition from junk to excellent. Price sounds high and I would make sure of not making a long drive for nothing, any lenses included? Mine is the model with hinged column and was easy to haul in a suv

No, no lenses included :-(, just an original negative carrier. It comes with original heavy metal 40x44 stand/table. Seems if I scrap the table, I could get my money back. Haha.

[Ilford4ever]

It is easy to align, I built a 2x8" frame to hold the enlarger and a seperate plywood table to hold the easel. The manual has alignment instructions. I make lens boards from plywood.

I thought about it too. Once started with LF I can't picture my life without table saw and a router. Good to know that I am not alone! Now I need to explain my rationale to my wife!

[Robert Langham]

Elwood enlarger on my studio floor photos:

85049 85050 85051

It's a monster. Not sure how you would ship it though I could be surprised. Free for the pick up. I think the enlarging table for it is also available, it it's in College Station, Texas. Got the most outrageous footswitch I have ever seen! As I said it's dirty, corroded but looks like it would clean up, rewire and be fine.

[jbphotos]

Eccentric questions on Elwood 8x10 enlarger:

I no longer have my Elwood Enlarger but upon cleaning the darkroom out I found the diffused glass and also glass I would consider neutral density or heat absorbing.

These came out of the enlarger as is – the opal glass was broken in half (we used it that way!)

I want to pass these along if anyone wants them for free-just pay shipping.

I have pictures, let me know on this site and I will send via email.

Janine

[jbphotos]

Photos of the glass.

Janine

[Graybeard]

I am looking into buying used 8x10 Elwood enlarger, but would like to know more about it. Please share your experience, if any. Both good or bad. Thanks!

Before you buy an Elwood you will want to be very sure about the availability, to you, of light bulbs for the enlarger.

My experience is with the 5x7 Elwood. The diffusion head uses a stack of sandblasted glass plates to provide even illumination. This is not very efficient and Elwoods typically used 300W and 500W photoflood bubs in order to put a useful amount of light through the negative.

There is the additional complication that the Elwood head uses a parabolic refector: the position of the bulb inside the head is important and this requires a large diameter bulb with an unusually long neck. The bulbs for which my Elwood was designed are no longer available with an opal coating (the one that is needed). Interestingly, bulbs of the needed glass envelope shape and and wattage are available from McMaster Carr but not with an opal coating (I understand they are used for lighting barns, BTW, perhaps the cows stay up all night reading).

I was able to squeek by using 150W G40 opal bulbs and socket extenders on my 5x7. I think the problems would be quite a bit worse with an 8x10 and, if anything, the OEM spec bulbs more difficult to find.

[John Kasaian]

Eccentric questions on Elwood 8x10 enlarger:

I no longer have my Elwood Enlarger but upon cleaning the darkroom out I found the diffused glass and also glass I would consider neutral density or heat absorbing.

These came out of the enlarger as is – the opal glass was broken in half (we used it that way!)

I want to pass these along if anyone wants them for free-just pay shipping.

I have pictures, let me know on this site and I will send via email.

Janine

PM sent

[boswald]

Farmtek has really big 'full spectrum' CFLs. A 100 watt has the light output of a 500w old tungsten, but obviously a little less heat than a tunsten 100w. A word about the lighting system. It is not really a difusion enlarger. The light is focused, but it is a reflector rather than a refractor, much as in telescopes. Do not try to clean the reflector by wiping if it is at all still good. Spray and rinse. It may need polishing. You achieve even lighting by adjusting the lamp position(the big cfls are about as long as the old 300s) with heat absorbers but not diffuser in place. Then add it back. If you are using the CFL, you may leave out the heat absorbers if you have any glass in the filter drawer.(I can't see if Robert's has a filter drawer- some don't)
Anyway, once you have it aligned it won't move. Aluminum castings are quite stable. Enjoy!

[John Kasaian]

I've got one. The biggest expense was shipping the thing. I think they are a hoot to use. These were professional machines and often used hard, but were well cared for. They are huge. If you don't have a high ceiling plan spending a lot of time printing on your knees, or loosen two bolts and rock the head back and project on the wall.
Honestly, I'd get a lot more use out of a Beseler 45 with the 8x10 conversion but those are terribly expensive even now. I can afford my Elwood and it makes me happy. What's not heavy aluminium castings are wood and quite easy to repair if damaged. In the worse case scenario, you can get a Aristo cold light for it.
It also does a splendid job of warming tortillas if you're hungry!

[rjmeyer314]

I didn't notice a discussion of the enlarger lens for your 8x10. When I got mine it came with a 10" Kodak Ektanon. I wasn't happy with the sharpness so I switched to a 210mm Fax Nikkor. This sounds like a 5x7 lens, but it actually covers 8x10 well, and is much sharper than the Ektanon. I'm now using a 180mm Repromaster. It also covers 8x10, is sharp, and allows me to get much bigger enlargements on the baseboard with the ceiling height I have.

[Chuck Pere]

Your glass must be from an older wooden Elwood. My parts list for the metal C-2 shows the glass as rectangular. Four pieces with three heat absorbing and one sand blasted. Mine didn't come with the glass so I've never seen it in person. I went straight to an Aristo head. I've been using mine for my main LF enlarger for many years with no problems. I've got a V54 lamp in my head and put in a filter drawer for Ilford 12x12 filters.

[rjmeyer314]

I have two Elwoods in my darkroom, a 5x7 and an 8x10. I paid around $200 for the 8x10 about thirty years ago at an auction in Pittsburg. I got the 5x7 for $5 from a guy near Ithaca NY after I brought a 4x5 Besler from him. I use them all. I've brought a Omega F color head with the intention of mounting it on the 8x10. I like the quality of the prints the original diffusion head makes, so I may never mount the color head on it.