I have a Beseler 45M that I have equipped with an Ilford MG500 head. It is a great setup apart from a few small issues. Another MG500 head came up on eBay recently and I decided to buy it for spare parts. It came with a Durst L1200 chassis and a couple of Femoneg carriers, one with a 35mm mask and the other with glass (and two spare pieces of glass).
A bit of googling showed that the L1200 is highly regarded. The L1200 would overcome the issues with the Beseler but I'm wondering whether I'm going to land myself with some more issues with the Durst. The most obvious one is that Durst accessories are a lot rarer than Beseler ones. I've only got one lensboard and I don't have a 6x7 or 6x9 mask for the carrier. The lensboards and mask do look relatively simple to make, but probably require more tools than I possess. It also looks like I could modify the lensboard panel to use the Beseler boards.
Is the 4x5 glass carrier suitable for 35 and 120 negs? It only has plain glass, but AN glass doesn't look too expensive. It is the slightly smaller version, not the Femoneg AM.
Are there any other potential traps with the L1200 chassis?
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