Least expensive large format camera and enlarger for home use

[tearcut1]

I'm a student and I want to set up a large format camera and enlarger in a room.

What's the least expensive/cheapest large format camera and enlarger i can buy?

Also what is most suitable for shooting artwork/ graphic design stuff that is also very affordable?

Regarding enlarger the smaller the better.

[Jon Shiu]

For US, Omega D2V (or DII) is a good small and inexpensive enlarger. Calumet CC400 is an inexpensive rail camera. These are available on the used market, ie craigslist.org, ebay.

Jon

[nolindan]

Speed or Crown Graphic and the Graphlarger attachment should be the cheapest. The Graphlarger is hands-down the smallest 4x5 enlarger...

However, with enlarger prices falling to the point that there are stories of people picking up 4x5 Beselers for $10 a Graphlarger may cost a lot more for a lot less enlarger.

Speed/Crown Graphic, Graphic Vue (try and get the Vue II), Calumet and Burke & James are the low price brands. Wollensak Raptars are possibly the cheapest lenses but look out as QC was absent at the Wolly lens factory and there are some real 'coke bottle bottom' Raptars out there.

What do you mean by 'artwork/graphic design'? Copying paintings or doing lithography? If you are doing graphic arts where multiple images have to line up when stacked then you need a graphic arts camera - a 14x17 vertical nuArc can usually be had for the price of hauling it away. The negatives from a graphic arts camera are not enlarged but contact printed.

[cyrus]

The least expensive camera is a pinhole camera especially if home-made. Some very wonderfully creative things can be done with one.

[Greg Lockrey]

The least expensive camera is a pinhole camera especially if home-made. Some very wonderfully creative things can be done with one.

Some really good "store bought" pinhole cameras can cost more than a Speed Graphic.

[Wayne Crider]

Enlargers can be had at all price ranges and as cheap as free. There was just a thread the other day that I was reading where someone was getting them for as little as $10 from people he knew. The trick is to meet someone who has no use for it and needs to get rid of it just to clear it out of the house or garage. On the other hand, I've picked up Omega D2's for $99 and which came with accessories such as negative carriers. I found mine thru Craigslist or ads in the paper.
Realize that if your work is in color your costs go up. Perhaps you might be better off in such circumstances using outside services or even going the digital route instead? There are photographers still doing color lab work and perhaps they will speak up. If you do need to do color work, start reading up on the chemicals needed and associated costs, whether for E6 or C41. You should buy a color head enlarger for such work and they are more expensive.

Camera wise the Graphic's can be the low cost leader, but in your case I'd probably look for a rail otherwise known as a view camera. Your expense will probably be more for a good lens then the camera. Make sure to check that the bellows is light tight and the knobs work. Also make sure the tripod block which attaches the camera to the tripod is good and not cracked. BOL

[Bill_1856]

Nolindan has got it right.
Crown Graphic or Graphic View II with Graflarger (or cheap/free Omega D2 enlarger).

[John Kasaian]

I've seen Calumet CC 400s at about $100 and thats a lot less than any useable Crown. The Graphic View I s go for about the same while the Graphic View II s seem to require a few extra bucks(very few---IIRC mine cost $120) A lens you may want to look for is a Kodak or Wollensak 207mm, which if you luck out may add another $100 orso to the tab.
Probably the cheapest 4x5 enlarger you could buy (as said earlier it's not unheard of to get one for free--a friend of mine fished his Omega out of a dumpster) would be something like a Solar, though you can certainly find Omega D-IIs for a little (or a lot)more depending on what accesories they come with. A graflarger is a sweet deal though, IMHO.

[tearcut1]

Thanks guys. Where i live all the enlargers that need to be thrown out are at least $350-400 and then tend to be durst color ones

a 14x17 vertical nuArc ? couldn't find it anywhere can you post some links?

Does term graphic in these cameras relate to "graphics arts" camera?(i'm still an amateur)

I might make another post for graphic cameras as well.


Do you know any thifty sites where i can find large format and enlargers for this cheap?

[Jon Shiu]

Where are you located? Someone on the forum might have one or know of one for sale.

Jon