4x5 enlarger for bathroom darkroom

[Bill Poole]

Thanks to all for any advice on a 4x5 enlarger I could store in my office and set up in my bathroom for printing sessions. I got back into film a few years ago and am now shooting everything from 35mm to 5x7, which I have been tray-developing in my bathroom and contact printing the larger negative sizes. I do a lot scanning and digital printing. But I would love to make silver prints from my 6x6, 6x9 and 4x5 negs. I am lucky to live in San Francisco, where rental darkrooms are available, but if can do this at home, I would like to consider it. Is this out of the question--lifting and setting up such an item every week? Are there some enlargers that would work better than others for this purpose? And if the upper limit for this plan is 6x9, do you have recommendations for a 6x9 enlarger that would be easier to set up and take down? Years ago I did something similar in 35mm to illustrate a newspaper column I was writing, but that was a dainty Durst that broke down nicely into three pieces. Thanks for your help. Bill

[Jon Shiu]

The Omega D2V (or DII) 4x5 is a pretty compact enlarger and not too heavy. Saunders LPL 4500 was a lighter weight version of their 4x5 enlarger, but rarely seen. Beseler 45HC (hand crank) is also kind of rare.

Jon

[John Kasaian]

I had one of those llittle Dursts---it was a swell machine! I miss it.
A D-2/D-II is pretty easy to move around although the column can be unwieldy. Of course since you can get them for nothing (or next to nothing) that is an issue I can live with. For a much smaller, more convenient package you might look for a Graflarger which attaches to a camera with a Grafloc back, converting it into an enlarger. Probably the ultimate in a 4x5 space saver enlarger. Read more about it at www.graflex.org

[Bill Poole]

Thanks, gents. That helps. John's mention of the Graflarger reminds me that I had one of those for a Century Graphic in the 1970s. Was happy with it, too. Why am I always looking for photo stuff that I once owned and sold? Thanks again -
Bill

[Roger Thoms]

How big is you bathroom? Is it possible to have an enlarger on a rolling stand. Also I have a D2V and a Saunders 4550 VCCE if you want to check them out for size and weight. You could actually borrow the D2V if you wanted to try it out. PM me if you like.

Roger

[AnselAdamsX]

That's what I'm going to do with an Omega D5 XL. I'm going to bolt mine to the cart and wheel it in and out of the bathroom.

Chris

How big is you bathroom? Is it possible to have an enlarger on a rolling stand. Also I have a D2V and a Saunders 4550 VCCE if you want to check them out for size and weight. You could actually borrow the D2V if you wanted to try it out. PM me if you like.

Roger

[tgtaylor]

I would strongly advise not to put the enlarger in the bathroom. The bathroom is the most humid room in the house (you usually take a bath/shower in it daily as well as use the toilet several times) and one of the smallest. Moreover with the enlarger and tray set-up both in the bathroom you will be constantly exposed to fumes from the developing trays without break. A citric acid stop and Formulary TF5 fix are essentially odorless but the Dektol is strong.

Instead consider putting the enlarger in another room and setting up the trays in the bathroom. For example put the developing trays in the bathroom, where there is running water, and light that room with a Thomas Safe-light. Put the enlarger in another but close-by room that can be shielded from outside light and lit with a small safe-light. When you expose the paper put it in a paper safe and walk it across to the bathroom, close the door and develop it leave the bathroom door open when your're not in there. That's what I do and I'm only exposed to the open developer for 3 minutes at a time but the odor is only slight because the door is left open between sessions and the ventilation fan is kept running.

Incidentially my enlarger is a Beseler 45MXT and I print both color and B&W. For color I put the exposed sheet in a Jobo tank and walk it out to the kitchen where the CPA2 is sitting on a counter top.

Thomas

[Lynn Jones]

Protect yourself, your wife will, no doubt, kill you.

Lynn

[Bill Poole]

Thanks, folks -- helpful input. I like the cart idea, although I am not sure it would fit through the BR doorway in my 1896 building. Unfortunately, the whole condo is less than 1,000 square feet, so space is tight in general. I understand the concern about chemicals etc. in a small space -- I am going to have an exhaust system installed. Roger: thanks for the kind offer -- I may well PM you. Lynn: as luck would have it my long-suffering wife has been cheerfully putting up with with photo-prompted displacements for more than 30 years. Thanks again! Bill

[Brian C. Miller]

I use a cart for my enlarger, an Omega D3. On my to-do list is a cart for another enlarger, a D5XL. My sink is to the right, where I put my trays. The tub is where I put my Jobo CPP-2 on a plank. I can also set my CPE-2+ on the sink as well. The photo doesn't show the two red safelights, one clipped on the fluorescent light fixture, and the other on the towel rack. As you see in the back, the bathroom window has a board clamped over it with thumb screws hooked into the sliding window tracks.

I made the cart myself from carefully measured 2x4s. It's very sturdy and I can set stuff underneath it.