Printable View
Since I need to replace my ancient Omega, which won't do anything larger than 35mm, I have been hunting for a color enlarger to do 2-1/4 x 2-1/4, 6x4.5cm, and 4x5".
Being inherently cheap (understatement!) I have been watching ebay (narrowly missed a Beseler 45A at a good price @#$$#@$@#!!!).
Any recommendations on older LF color enlargers? What's good? What to avoid?
Thanks!
Hi Jane, Steer clear of the 45A . It is a great colorhead, but is no longer made or supported by Beseler. Try to find a used Beseler 45 enlarger and a Beseler 45S colorhead. It is still made and supported by Beseler and works just fine for both color and B&W VC paper. The Beseler 45 is a great enlarger and has stayed pretty much the same for over 50 years (they got it right the first time) There are a million of them out there and many accesories are available such as negative carriers and lens boards. This is a great time to be buying darkroom equipement as there is alot on the market and prices are cheap. You should be able to get a Beseler 45 enlarger and colorhead for a few hundred dollars if you are persistant. Good Luck.
The 45A is a great head for color only, not very good for black and white. When Beseler stopped making it they appointed Daryll Nicholas as the authorized parts and repair person. I don't know whether he still performs that function or not , he seems to be a digital guy now, but if you like the head, and you should if you plan to only do color work with it, you could ask him. I don't have his e mail address handy but he writes for Shutterbug all the time and you could probably get it from their web site. The 45A was made in three versions, the last of the three had no particular problems. It's the one that only says "Beseler" rather than "Beseler/Minolta"on it. If you get the last version there shouldn't be much to worry about in the way of repairs or parts but you would want to make sure that bulbs were available for it. They burn out fairly often and I think they were specific to this head.
Another head you might want to avoid is the Beseler Dichro 45 Computerized Color head. A wonderful head when working, but it uses plug-in circuit boards and I suspect the contacts tarnish and then the head is kaput (wiggling the boards around sometimes brings them back to life). If you find one of these cheap and working, it may run fine for years (mine has done so, although when the LED readouts refuse to come on, it is a sinking feeling), but it may also die any time. I suspect the newer 45S is a fine head, but they seem to be more money on eBay than 4X5 Chromega heads. There seem to be a lot more Chromegas for sale, I guess because many were sold new. The Chromega needs a seperate power supply, so be sure one is included with the head. It isn't unusual on eBay to find 4X5 enlargers listed- "pick up only, will not ship." Often these are really cheap, if you can find one in your area.
Jane, where are you located? I have an Omega D5XL with colorhead, but don't want to deal with shipping it.
Is there any problem with the Beseler Dichro 45 Computerized other than the PC board connectors? I make my living in the electronics field and can fix bad connectors - maybe a chance for me to save a few dollars on a color enlarger?
Thanks gang!
I found this post when doing a Google Groups search: http://groups-beta.google.com/group/rec.photo.darkroom/browse_thread/thread/7b51d208429eed4/1a90dd34223c6afd?q=beseler++color+head+problem&_done=%2Fgroups%3Fq%3Dbeseler++color+head+problem%26start%3D10%26hl%3Den%26&_doneTitle=Back+to+Search&&d#1a90dd34223c6afd
It indicates there are problems other than the plug in connectors, but are possibly fixable. I bought my Beseler head used working, but after sitting without being used for a year or so, the LEDs that give the filter settings wouldn't come on. I called Beseler and got a nice tech guy who suggested wiggling the plug-in circuit boards around (I recall there are two or three small boards that plug into the main board. The connectors must tarnish over time.) It worked fine to bring my head back to life, but I suspect one of these days it will die again. If you can find a Beseler Dichro 45 cheap, and enjoy tinkering with things like that, you might get a nice color head without spending much. However, if you have to get a couple of dead ones to get a fixable one, you might wish you'd put the money toward a newer head.
The 45A is an amazingly intuitive head for color, a very capable yet not so intuive B&W head and a color analyzer and densitometer. I have three, the one I use and two backups. I couldn't even go back to a 45S after being spoiled by my 45A. I plan on keeping it for the rest of my darkroom days, hence the 3 units, plus lots of tubes! True it's not supported by Beseler anymore, but you can still buy the focus and exposure tubes. Daryll Nicholas will repair them, but it's cheaper to buy another on Ebay. If you're an electronics person I wouldn't think twice about getting a 45A