Saunders VT are the best IMO, tanks and adjusting the blades is smooth. I've used both Bessler and Saunders easels and the Saunders VT are far superior... As stated above the Bessler isn't smooth, also I've noticed the print
dimension is smaller with a 20x24 easel of each... I can easily print 17"x22" with the Saunders where the Bessler is around 16"x20" image size...
Oh wow...I participated earlier in this discussion and I have a fairly decent easel. I came back because I just priced a similar 16x20 enlarger. I expected them to be more, but I didn't expect them to be just shy of 1-grand!
Has anybody else used this easel? I wouldn't necessarily need "borderless" as I would be mounting and matting the photograph.
I'm armed with a Wisner 4x5 Technical Field and a lot of hope. I got this. Oh, and my name's Andrew.
Photon Beard 4blade easels
Barring that, the Saunders V Track
But good luck trying to find them especially the Photons. You can try the UK Ebay for better luck if the seller ships intl.
Either way, I always use strips of refrigerator door seal magnets to press down the blades and I check to mke sure the corners are square with a piece of square laser cut acrylic, because "measure twice/expose once."
A bad, cheap, lightweight easel with saggy crooked blades that moves areound everytime you open it, can make life really miserable
I'm very happy with my Saunders VT1400.
I never owned a Saltzman easel, but these were legendary, if an easel can be legendary.
Perhaps the best are vacuum easels.
I don't like the bladed easels and don't understand why people use them. I use the fixed, one size easels.Anybody care to comment on 4 blade easels currently available new thru usual source of equipment such as Freestyle or B and H--LPL, Beseler, Kaiser?
Personally, I think there are easels that work better with certain enlarger types (and not with others), and better for certain printing sizes (and not for others). Beware that not necessarily the most expensive ones have to be the most practical or better to use ones.
About four bladed, e.g., I also find the Saunders VT series to be high quality ones (I currently use a VT2000 amongst others), but they are not perfect. They are made in soft steel, so they easily bent the base. I`ve had to align mine (bought new). If you want a perfectly flat base, my experience goes for chipboard easels. The tabs to fit the papers are too coarse, it is my main issue with Saunders easels, so with double weight FB papers they are a bit of a pain for such expensive easel.
They are great as they allow to frame with the four blades, and with straight column enlargers. Same apply to most quality four blade easels (=expensive), but beware of the centering method, there are some MUCH BETTER than others.
(Never used the Kaiser, but it looks quite interesting interesting, looks like the base is chipboard and with practical centering pins. I wonder if the blades are adjustable. Beselers looks like Saunders, maybe they are the same made?).
Three bladed ones are the most practical to my taste, specially with smaller paper sizes, and with sloped column enlargers. There are very good european ones on a chipboard base, which I highly recommend. Some use to have hidden spring loaded tabs under the blades to center the papers, which is IMHO the BETTER centering system. I here like to use a 11x14" AHEL, but they are sold under many different brands.
The issue with three bladed easels is that you cannot center a wide border, cropped image on the paper (beyond to a certain limits, say around 1-2 inches). With a 4-bladed film holder, not an issue at all.
Two bladed easels are cheaper, good for budget darkrooms, but not so interesting to my taste. Also, on the ones I used to use, the blades are not great to flatten FB papers, but aided with a couple of strong magnets, they work. Good enough for RC. I`m thinking on the LPL ones and others, well made, full metal, and very cheap.
Alavergh, "borderless" easels are the cheapest and easiest if you don`t need borders, that`s all. With FB papers they could be problematic unless you waste the borders of the paper, so they "loose" the borderless "feature". Great with RC papers.
(BTW, I also have a similar magnetic "easel" made by Delta, and never use it as a priming easel, simply because I prefer any other "real" easel. The one you mention doesn't have even rulers, so it`s almost useless to my taste).
Vacuum easels are great, but maybe not interesting for most users.
Personally, I prefer speed easels. I currently have one at 16x20 and I love it. My smaller easels are 2 blade types and I will soon replace then with speed easels. If I start printing bigger than 16x20, I will purchase larger speed easels. They are simple and easy to use.
You use Speed Easels for fine prints? It doesn't matter to you that the edges of the paper are not flush against the base, and you cannot easily crop to other aspect ratios? Simple and easy yes, for beginners and proof prints, I thought. (For the uninitiated, paper slides into these contraptions.)
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