Beseler 45 MXT with 8x10 Conversion Alignment Problems

[jeroldharter]

I posted this on APUG verbatim because I doubt too many people would be able to help with this. Sorry for the redundancy.

I am finally trying to enlarge some 8x10 negatives. I converted my enlarger with the Beseler kit and went through the recommended alignment procedure for the 45MXT. First, I aligned left to right which required a slight shim of the upper assembly which includes the negative carrier and light source. Then I aligned front to back. Then I attached the lens and repeated the procedure for the lens plane. I used a Versalab laser which had previously aligned my 4x5 enlarger with no problem.

The result is that the very center of the projected image is sharp but the rest of the image is not. It looks like field curvature. I checked this with both the glass and glassless negative carriers without difference. Also, I could never get the edges sharp, even when tilting the easel or attempting to focus on the edges. The negative is tack sharp edge to edge with a loupe and is a photo of a wall which was flat to begin with.

I tried to focus on the easel and on just the baseboard with the same result so it is not an easel problem.

I have never used this lens before. It is a Beseler 240mm HD lens that I bought used but appears to be in excellent condition. The problem happens from wide open at f9 all the way to f64 so stopping down does not help.

Any ideas? Thanks.

[dsphotog]

Jerold,
I'd try a different lens. Sounds like it's not alignment.
Maybe someone in your area would be willing to bring their lens.

[jeroldharter]

You are right. Someone on APUG was helping also and that makes sense. Although not ideal, I was able to mount a 150 mm Rodagon that I know is sharp and it made a sharp print. This is the first dud enlarging lens I have run across.

[dsphotog]

The lens may not be worthless....
Any sign of the lens having been disasembled?
Perhaps an element re-installed wrong....

[tgtaylor]

Check the lens board. I had a similar situation with a 180mm Schnider Componon-S which I paid a local camera repair shop to mount on a beseler board which needed to be drilled out to accomodate the lens. It turned out that the drilling wasn't plumb and the problem wasn't corrected until I replaced the board with the correct Beseler board for that lens which I found new at a camera swap for $7.

[jeroldharter]

Unfortunately, I have checked the lens board, mounting, etc. I have fiddled with the lens elements trying to move them to and fro in relation to one another and the lens simply does not work. Other lenses on the same enlarger work OK.

[phillip2446]

i know i am jumping late into this conversation. has your problem been resolved? i am looking for an 8x10 conversion kit for the beseler
and wanted to make sure this system will work for me.

thanks

phil

[Cletus]

Anyone ever heard of a conversion kit, or design adaptable to an Omega D5-XL? Maybe something - I mean something proven, that's actually been done before - using an old 8x10 camera?

[ic-racer]

Why convert a 4x5 when 8x10 enlargers are being given away.

[Sal Santamaura]

Why convert a 4x5 when 8x10 enlargers are being given away.Because not everyone has the space for a floor-standing 8x10 enlarger.

[gth]

Why convert a 4x5 when 8x10 enlargers are being given away.

That time might have come and gone... a lot of the free offers on Google are from 2006 etc.

I just searched ALL of Craigs List and the first couple of results are WTB 8x10's.

They are available though, but seems to be in the $4,000+ range.

Where do you buy the 8x10 upgrade kit for the Beseler 45?

[Scott Walker]

That time might have come and gone... a lot of the free offers on Google are from 2006 etc.

I just searched ALL of Craigs List and the first couple of results are WTB 8x10's.

They are available though, but seems to be in the $4,000+ range.

Where do you buy the 8x10 upgrade kit for the Beseler 45?

When I bought my Beseler 8x10 conversion I chased a few on the bay to over $1,500 and it took over a year to buy one but finally did manage to buy one from the classified adds here.
Within a couple weeks of buying the Beseler I found a Durst 10x10 locally for $2,000 so now I have a collection of 8x10s. :)
They do come up but you have to be ready with cash in hand or room on the credit card because they don't seem to last long and you have to check the classified adds regularly.

The Beseler conversion makes a great compact, tabletop 8x10 enlarger.

[Tin Can]

I am in a big market, Chicago and the surrounding 500 miles, I don't ever see any free or even cheap 8x10 enlargers. I do think that time has passed. All you forum members that think this stuff is forever going down in price are simply wrong and most likely have everything YOU need.

I am new to LF as are many, and I see 8X10 prices going up.

If I am wrong, please give me your unwanted junk. My van is running. I cover a 500 mile radius. Spring cleaning is here.

[ic-racer]

I am in a big market, Chicago and the surrounding 500 miles, I don't ever see any free or even cheap 8x10 enlargers. I do think that time has passed. All you forum members that think this stuff is forever going down in price are simply wrong and most likely have everything YOU need.

I am new to LF as are many, and I see 8X10 prices going up.

If I am wrong, please give me your unwanted junk. My van is running. I cover a 500 mile radius. Spring cleaning is here.

So 500mi radius is 1000mi diameter, so if you start at the half way point you can get to Texas...
http://www.largeformatphotography.info/forum/showthread.php?101843-Free-8X10-enlarger

New York is even closer: http://www.largeformatphotography.info/forum/showthread.php?100996-Free-Saltzman-8x10-Enlarger

[Tin Can]

Bad math. Chicago is the center of my universe, not half way to Texas or NYC.

I saw those both.

no heads, the heads have become the issue...

let me know about all the free heads you find

thanks



So 500mi radius is 1000mi diameter, so if you start at the half way point you can get to Texas...
http://www.largeformatphotography.info/forum/showthread.php?101843-Free-8X10-enlarger

New York is even closer: http://www.largeformatphotography.info/forum/showthread.php?100996-Free-Saltzman-8x10-Enlarger

[Kodachrome25]

I do think that time has passed. All you forum members that think this stuff is forever going down in price are simply wrong and most likely have everything YOU need.

I gotta agree with this and not just for 8x10 either but any of the top of the line stuff that was pretty much being given away just after the economic crash of 2008. It's funny in how when people have what they need, they wax poetic about the good ol' days of cheap and easy when those days are clearly over and ebay flippers are snatching this stuff up and sending the prices back up.

This is one of the reasons I am sticking with 4x5 max, in order to do the same level of professional and consistent production that I can now do with 4x5 in 8x10, my investment and material costs would have to quadruple.

[Tin Can]

I think the vintage stuff, like Elwood's are all becoming lamps.

Some nice vintage stuff is trashed because it is not worth selling for $100 and packing it up for shipping.

The trick is to wait. I was looking for a local Craigslist Beseler 23C II with a Dichro Head and prices were ranging from $200 to $500 for a lot of junky ones, one NIB...High price. I finally got a deal from a film enthusiast who simply wanted his basement back. He was moving to all scanning. I carried, no he carried, it all out of his basement and loaded my van 2 feet deep, in good stuff. I had wanted only the like new enlarger, but I left with far far more for way under other prices. Well worth a 150 mile round trip. Actually the trip was a wash, cost wise, as in the same suburb, an hour earlier, I sold a very expensive copy stand to a member for a very low price. Everybody was happy. Timing.

[Kevin Crisp]

You might try changing the extension of the upper bellows below the head. It has to be in a certain narrow range to work well with full coverage.