Beseler 45MX -- cracked condenser stage, no neg carriers, no lensboard -- need parts

[ScoopLV]

Yes, I found the part.

My faith in the decency of people (particularly geeks) is once again justified. After sending money to a total stranger on the Internet, I received a bunch of darkroom stuff I was looking for, along with a replacement condenser stage.

I now need to source some negative carriers (yes I could make my own, but time really is money, and I'd rather spend those few hours shooting pictures rather than cobbling together a negative carrier).


Here's a likely stupid question: What's the difference between a cold light head (not a VC cold light head, just a basic, bare-bones fluorescent) and a condenser head with a high-quality, bright white LED bulb in it? (Not one of those "warm light" bulbs. Something more akin to an Ott light.) Seems to me I don't need the cold light head anymore because I can just use LED technology.

[James515]

Having used both I would never use anything but a cold light for 35mm film as it reduces a variety of blemishes. You do have to work out and test film exposure and development a bit, but you do that anyway. Having moved to digital I have to say the best thing about it is cleaning spots and lines as well as distractive elements in prints. I have scanned a few thousand of my negatives so far and clean up is so much easier. The cold light helped greatly when I had a darkroom.

http://www.largeformatphotography.in...t-vs-condenser

[ic-racer]

Here's a likely stupid question: What's the difference between a cold light head (not a VC cold light head, just a basic, bare-bones fluorescent) and a condenser head with a high-quality, bright white LED bulb in it? (Not one of those "warm light" bulbs. Something more akin to an Ott light.) Seems to me I don't need the cold light head anymore because I can just use LED technology.

Condenser head produces more focused light that prints with a little more contrast and shows defects more clearly. Placing a LED above the condensers does not convert it into a diffusion head, but diffusion material will.