Converting a 6x9 enlarger to (approx) 4x5 enlarger

[Steve Goldstein]

Found it! The first part of the article discusses the physical conversion of the 23C, the second is about an LED head the poster developed for it. The Wayback Machine didn't snag the photos, but the text description of the conversion is pretty good.

https://web.archive.org/web/20120607...rumbs/23c.html

Even better, I found that I'd saved off the entire web page including photos. It's about a dozen files, all of which are quite small. Send me an email with your email address and I'll be happy to send it along.

[pdh]

Brilliant, thank you - why didn't I think of that!!!!!!
I've got a Calumet monorail, so as you've said I have the majority of the system.
regards
Tony

also have a google for "graflarger" - in fact there's a couple on ebay.com at the moment, and though from the US they are "relatively inexpensive" and you might get away with paying < £100 even if you get hit with VAT&Import Duty.

[tonyowen]

Steve,
Absolutely fantastic
thank you very much
regards
Tony

[tonyowen]

[/B] with your email address and I'll be happy to send it along.

vtowen@btinternet.com
regards
Tony

[Drew Wiley]

I'd be worried about how stable and vibration-free a conversion would be. It's just so much easier starting out with something bigger. 4x5 enlargers are way more
common than 6x9 versions anyway. But whatever. If this is an excuse for a fun project, then best of luck!

[William Whitaker]

As I have done many times in the past, I would ask myself, "Do I want to be an engineer or a photographer?" The answer is almost always clear.

I would imagine shipping an enlarger from the States would be expensive, but would it really be unrealistic? So many old enlargers go wanting here that you may be able to find something serviceable for about the cost of shipping if you're patient. On the other hand, don't look for a DeVere here. They seem to be much more common in your corner of the globe. Best wishes with your search.

[Tin Can]

Look at Beseler 45MX as they have an easy to remove main unit, which is the light source,condenser head, negative stage, focus parts, bellows and lens stage. The whole thing can be shipped in smaller box and mounted with one bolt to anything that can be adjusted up and down for elevation and sizing the print.

These are thrown away in USA, most likely dozens every day.

I bought Linhof Kardan Color from EU and did not find shipping impossible or too expensive. It is bigger and weighs more than what I am talking about.

That said,

DeVere 504 is the best chassis ever made.

[Drew Wiley]

Heck. They've got plenty of vintage Durst in the EU, and not just here. I'd just aim for a 138 and be done with it. But that's me.

[tonyowen]

I heard you all and cannot disagree,
In terms of the Beseler conversion the enlarger's construction offers a lot of space to enable change - however ........
I'm still at the beginning stage of 4x5 (5x4) photography so there is a lot of time to consider the fundamentals of whether I go the enlarger or scanner routes.
Engineer versus photographer??? - as an engineer (now retired) I love and appreciate the old(???) mechanical (cameras, microscopes etc) devices. Digital is now a fact of life, but you can't muck around with them.
IN many ways consider cars - years ago it was a rite of passage to dismantle and rebuild a car - nowadays it is almost impossible to do anything with a car except change the tyre (tires) and fill up with gas.
However I'm rambling
Thank you all for your comments.
regards
Tony

[Drew Wiley]

You'd love a classic old Durst. While my neighbors down the street wear working on speedboats and hotrods, I was refurbishing enlargers made our of machined
stainless steel and diecast parts. Now everything is CNC aluminum and plastic. For the same reason I'm coveting a 60's or 70's vintage Letiz microscope. Maybe
lens technology has improved a bit since then; but the mechanical build peaked awhile back and will probably never be the same again.