Bright circle from enlarger lens

[ic-racer]

Now you have my curiosity, if you have the 4x5 mixing chamber in the Beseler head, where are the condensers going?

[Andre Noble]

I bet it is a relief you figured things out. Yeah, my gut reaction was to say the condensers. But then since its a diffusion enlarger, I did not think it had condensers so I didn't say anything.

Looks like a great enlarger though.

Getting into traditional darkroom photography will help develop your problem solving skills and give you confidence.

[Luis-F-S]

Now you have my curiosity, if you have the 4x5 mixing chamber in the Beseler head, where are the condensers going?

Not familiar with that head. Is it possible it has condensers instead of a mixing chamber? L

[ic-racer]

Not familiar with that head. Is it possible it has condensers instead of a mixing chamber? L

No picture in the manual but it indicates that instead (or addition??) to the mixing chambers, a condenser is available. My curiosity lies in rare "Dichroic Condenser" enlargers, as I have one, and wondered how Beseler manages the inherent issues with dichroic filters and focused light.

[Bob Salomon]

No picture in the manual but it indicates that instead (or addition??) to the mixing chambers, a condenser is available. My curiosity lies in rare "Dichroic Condenser" enlargers, as I have one, and wondered how Beseler manages the inherent issues with dichroic filters and focused light.

Dichroic condenser enlargers are not really all that rare. Kaiser still makes them in color head, VC and straight condenser head versions.

[LabRat]

I think dichroic condenser enlarger heads are GREAT!!!! I loved printing Type C and R on them professionally... They had a greater "snap" and saturation for color, and made easy printing for "microcontrast" on B/W routine... They seem to be a bridge between a condenser and a diffusion head (confusion???) with the best of both worlds...

For an improvement over a condenser head, I think it might have to do with the bulb itself... Let's say with an enlarger with an old Edison based PH212/150W bulb, the bulb is thought to be an even diffuse source over a condenser... But if you look at that surface, you can see a little uneven "hot spot" that can vary bulb to bulb due to manufacture... (And the bulb is spherical???) The condenser is focused to this area, but this will lead to the condenser "seeing" this area and projecting this unevenness...

Now if one replaces that bulb with a mixing box/diffuser (at the same height as bulb), the condenser focus (at the former bulb height) will be less critical as the condenser "sees" a more even, larger source, so problems of "fringing" and other off-axis effects are minimized... And it seems to introduce a little diffusion into the system... (So the image seems to have a stronger "bone structure" due to the condensers, and a pretty tonal/color scale that seems to "weave" through that "bone structure" due to the diffusion...

But I have been using these heads mostly for smaller format Leitz enlargers that I have restored/upgraded (1a/1c/ValoyII/2c)... I plan on adding a dichroic condenser system to my (modified) Beseler 45 to see what happens, and if it will make such a big difference as the small format enlargers did...


Steve K

[ic-racer]

Dichroic condenser enlargers are not really all that rare. Kaiser still makes them in color head, VC and straight condenser head versions.

Thanks for mentioning that. I checked out the Kaiser and see it is very similar to the Philips PCS that I have. In fact it looks like some parts may be interchangeable. I see the technique is similar to the Philips in that the dichoric head projects to a translucent disk and the disk is projected by the condensers.

[StoneNYC]

This is fascinating to me, one of the reasons I prefer a condenser head is the sharpness and micro contrast that seems, as another said "snappier" and I've read that this is often the perspective but the ease of cold head / diffused heads seem to outweigh the benefits of the condenser, so I'm very curious to know more about these, are they made in 10x10 size for 8x10 enlargers? Anyone have a picture? I'll research more but if anyone has more info to direct me that would be great (and OP I hope you don't mind me budding in since you seem to have solved your initial problem).

[Bob Salomon]

Thanks for mentioning that. I checked out the Kaiser and see it is very similar to the Philips PCS that I have. In fact it looks like some parts may be interchangeable. I see the technique is similar to the Philips in that the dichoric head projects to a translucent disk and the disk is projected by the condensers.

Other then the fact that they both look like enlargers there is no other similarity between them. One is an additive type color head and the other is subtractive.

[ic-racer]

Other then the fact that they both look like enlargers there is no other similarity between them. .

Bob, do you know if the lenspanels, negative carrier, and filter holder are incompatible between the Kaiser and Philips, as I am seeking those things for my Philips? Thanks in advance.