Highest quality enlarger

[Ron Spencer]

Hi to everyone.

I would like your help making a decision. I am just getting into large format photography and need to buy an enlarger.
I just bought a 4x5 large format camera and I have a keen interest at some point in possibly buying a 6x17 camera as well,
so I may have to go for a 5x7 enlarger. The only thing that would stop me in doing so, would be if it were way too expensive
or way too big. In that case, I would go for a 4x5 enlarger only (and not buy the 6x17 camera). I understand from all the info
I've received via the internet that Durst would be the top contender in the high quality enlarger category. I've used Devere in my
local rental darkroom and found that there is a wheel for the head and another for the lens stage, but there is no fine focuse adjustment
possible as there is on the Saunders 4x5 enlargers (I used to have the Saunders 4x5 enlarger). The enlarger I'm looking for should
have the fine focusing ability, the ability to easily align everything (head. lens stage and base). I've read that the Zone VI 5x7 enlargers
are rock sturdy and have everything I"m looking for. I am only interested in Durst, Devere, Saunders and Zone VI. Can you shed light
on all these enlargers strengths and weaknesses? I liked the Saunders, but you can only align by using shims - I think that's rather
a poor way to do that. I would like an enlarger that has that engineered in. Thank you so much in advance.

Ron

[Craig Wactor]

An 8x10 Durst just sold for $800 on ebay. But they are very big. I think your printing skills are going to make a bigger difference than the enlarger, as long as it is not a dog. Shimming enlargers and lenses is not a big deal to me. Once you do it, you don't have to change it for years, unless you are abusive to it. I use an Omega D5XL with an Aristo cold light head. On it, you can align the lens plane and head, but the lens has one axis that is hard to align. I rarely ever have to shim, though.

[John Cook]

Oddly enough, my experience is that mechanical quality is not necessarily the most important characteristic in an enlarger.

For instance, think of someone who plows snow for a living, who purchases a $200,000 Ferrari with a plow attached to do the job. Great quality. Hand-built. Unsurpassed engineering. But totally unsuitable for the task.

The Durst I owned during the 1970's was the best built machine I ever used. Like a swiss watch. But awkward to use. A real dog. Also, it was at least one paper grade more contrasty than the Besseler or Omega condensers. Today as the market shrinks dramatically, parts must be a major problem.

The VW Beetle of professional enlargers has always been the Omega D series. Their major claim to fame has always been the speed with which you can use one. This used to be important when the market price for a 5x7 print was 25 cents. Real simple, fast and smooth to operate. No struggles.

Perhaps the Omega D metal parts are sheet metal where the Durst has cast aluminum. But there are so many around that spare parts will never be a problem. Especially now, as 99% of the public never even heard of an enlarger.

I'm not trying to sell you a particular enlarger. Just making the point that the "best" may not actually be best in the long run. Ever heard of the LED enlarger from Salthill. We all fell in love with it at the annual national trade show at Javitts in NYC in 1991. Very expensive, but definitely the best. Then the company disappeared.

By the way, aside from an old Leica (pre-1970), I dislike everything about all enlargers smaller than 4x5.

[Jorge Gasteazoro]

I think what John is trying to say is that the most expensive does not necessarily translate into the best.
For my money I would buy a Saunders LPL They are great enlargers, going very cheap on e bay and even if you want new, they are not too expensive compared to other brands like Zone VI, Durst, etc, etc.

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[Robert A. Zeichner]

I can't speak as a long time owner of the Durst, but just a couple of weeks ago, I finally put my L138S into service. It was the tallest 5x7 enlarger that would physically fit under my low basement ceiling. I bought this from a used equipment dealer in Chicago and had to drive there to pick it up. It's large and heavy, but comes apart and I was able to get it back in good order and down to the basement and in the darkroom by myself. I did need to purchase some glass for the NEGA138 carrier and a LAPLA53 lensboard both of which I got from Jens Jensen out west. I outfitted it with an Aristo VCL57 head minus controller, which I had from my VCL4500 that sits on the other side of the room on my Beseler 45MXII. I ordered the Aristo with a 12' cord so I could run it along a ceiling beam to the other side and now I just have to swap cables to use one or the other enlarger. The Durst is the first enlarger I've ever owned that is perfectly aligned! Sharp from corner to corner wide open. It is not the newest or the most mint piece of gear I own, but I'm now a believer. I suppose there is some element of luck involved in buying any used equipment, but I've got far more in the cost of the light source, the two parts I bought and the modifications to my darkroom to make floorspace available for its installation than I have in the enlarger, so I also feel I lucked out, which is fitting considering the mint 210mm El-Nikkor that's mounted to the turret only cost me $100 on e**y. I hope you are as lucky in your quest.

[Brian C. Miller]

Personally, I think that the highest quality stuff is what you have in your posession and performs well. I have two Omega enlargers, a D-II and a D-3. These are monsters, and both are rigid and I get excellent prints from them. I have no complaints. They don't have fine focus, but I can focus finely with the knob just fine. The D-II doesn't have a crank to move the head on the column, but that doesn't bother me.

I honestly think that the person operating the equipment is the largest factor. There is so much that an ingenious person can make do with it isn't funny. Remember, Ed Weston's darkroom print technique consisted of a lightbulb and a contact frame.

It is better to get something well built and produce prints than have a pie-in-the-sky dream and have nothing in your hands.

[Bill_1856]

There's no such thing as a bad post-WW2 4x5 enlarger. But get the best, latest glass that you can afford. I'm a D2 man, myself, but the Negatrans carrier for Bessler is very tempting.

[jose angel]

Hi Ron; Do you want to start shooting 6x17 right now? It is easier to find a good&cheap 4x5" enlarger, smaller, more confortable to use, etc. The 5x7" enlargers I have seen are very expensive, if not, they are usually very old, without or with useless or obsolete light heads. I found years ago one of this old monsters, "rock solid" type; I spent some years (and some money, I must say) to put it in a real optimum working condition. My advice is to buy a modern 4x5" color head enlarger, and then search for a cheap bigger one to be used with a cold light head.
In my opinion "... the ability to easily align everything (head. lens stage and base)..." is a must. Even if the enlarger lacks an alignment system you can adjust it with some tricks.

"... I liked the Saunders, but you can only align by using shims... " Not all all. Saunders enlargers can be adjusted on the lens stage (mine does). You must align a four bladed easel (shimming it is the easiest way; I have installed on mine four screws -like four feet- to adjust it) with the negative stage. Then, align the lens stage. In this way column&base and negative stage doesn´t need to be shimmed. If you wall mount the enlarger (IMO the best option), you could adjust the column (aligning the negative stage) without the need of shimming the easel or anything. The right way.

I like very much The Durst L1200, but like John says, it is like a Ferrari (Ferrari priced, I mean). I go so comfortably with my "Toyota" saunders...

[jose angel]

About fine focus on Saunders: don´t be worried about it. After years of use (not so much years!) the fine focus wheel of my enlarger have lost its tightness, although it works with an unpleasant play. I have also a Beseler enlarger with a rude but tight friction knob. My vintage 5x7" have the best focusing knob I have ever seen, works like it was absolutely new, way more precise and easier to focus than Saunders and Beseler.

[bob carnie]

I own three different models, durst,deveere and omega.
As John stated and others , application is the most important. For 4x5 a Omega has the most readily available parts and flexibility . Alignment of this unit is easy and precise, as well for split printing it is the easiest by far. Some of the models do not have fine focus but most do. If you are going to 8x10 I would then recommend Durst first then Deveere.