8 X 10 / 11 X 14 studio camera to enlarger converrsion

[Todd Watts]

Has any one converted a large studio camera into an horizontal enlarger? There are two of these on Ebay and it is suggested that they could be made into enlargers. Did Ansel Adams do this?

[lenser]

In the darkroom photos in "The Camera", it is apparent that Adams did exactly this. If memory serves, the camera/enlarger was stationary and the had a floor to ceiling ferrous metal sheet on a ceiling track that was his "base". Enlargement size was based on the distance of the metal sheet from the "enlarger" and the paper was held in place by small magnets.

You might also look into one of the old print shop copy cameras as a conversion. There were both horizontal and vertical versions. The horizontal type could fairly easily be converted with not much more than a light head and a negative carrier. The copy base may already be a vacuum system which would hold your print paper without concern for gravity.

The existing copy lens should be an excellent enlarging lens as it is already designed for flat field copy work. I've had three of these offered to me for free just to get them out of the way of the owners. Check around and see what you find.

[ic-racer]

My theory is that a horizontal enlarger to meet Ansel's specifications would have cost many tens of thousands of dollars back then.

Times have changed a lot. You can get an 8x10 enlarger for free on this forum.

It is interesting to note that the 10x10 Durst with Dichroic head that I use was designed, marketed and became obsolete in the time since Ansel's death.

[Shadowtracker]

My understanding is that the first enlargers, were cameras with the back taken off and a light put there - thus the "75mm lens taking picture = use 75mm lens to enlarge picture" My dad talks about having done this in his days when on the Pacific Islands during WWII - they used their cameras as enlargers; at least until an enlarger fell off the truck going through camp.... :) (He said that actually happened, and I doubt he was lying).

[Steven Tribe]

In the early days, there wasn't much to distinguish cameras, lantern slides, enlarging lanterns and enlargers/reducers. Makers like Lancaster had as many as 5 slightly different models. Some had the light source/condenser lens system, whilst other used daylight illumination of the negative.
These appear often as "old studio camera" but can be recognised by few, if any movements, a double bellows system and, often, a centrally mounted small lens. The base is designed to rest on a solid table.

[Todd Watts]

Thanks for all of the insights. I looked up the reference in Ansel's book "The Print" The conversion seems easy enough. A friend of mine is bidding on one of these big Deardorff's on Ebay. If he gets it I will be giving him a hand building the enlarger.

[TheDeardorffGuy]

Even a beat up old studio camera that has been squared up, locked down and aligned to the wall will work just fine. A couple of years ago I converted a Deardorff S11 to a horizontal enlarger. Total cost? The cold light and my labor to the customer. The customer was a engineer who built the sliding easel in the ceiling. It carries a roll of paper that gets pulled down to be exposed. A series of spray nozzles spray the print w/ deve stop and rapid fix. The chemicals are collected in a gutter and neutralized. The previous enlarger he ysed was a box in a box that slid
to focus. They were cardboard and lasted 8 years. The cardboard was coated with varithane. All very simple. Just get the alignment good.
Ken


QUOTE=ic-racer;703535]My theory is that a horizontal enlarger to meet Ansel's specifications would have cost many tens of thousands of dollars back then.

Times have changed a lot. You can get an 8x10 enlarger for free on this forum.

It is interesting to note that the 10x10 Durst with Dichroic head that I use was designed, marketed and became obsolete in the time since Ansel's death.[/QUOTE]

[toolbox]

I have a bunch of books and magazine from the 1930s to late 1940s, and making an enlarger from a camera was apparently a pretty common project. People also used to buy condenser lenses and build the rest of the enlarger from scratch.
It's really interesting looking back into photography then...seems like people in this country were fare more DIY oriented back then (probably as much out of necessity as much as anything else). I've got a photography handbook from 1950 that's full of DIY projects, some of which would still be useful today. The "dust repellent" machine that makes your negatives anti-static probably not so much...it used Radium to irradiate negatives passed through it (!). It warned to keep film and paper at least four feet from the machine, because Gamma rays would fog them...guess they weren't as concerned about the guy running the machine?
I think I'll stick to the plans for the wooden paper safe...

[Ron McElroy]

I think the conversion of a graphics camera to enlarger would be a much simpler. Something more like one of these small cameras on ebay

http://cgi.ebay.com/NuArc-Dark-Room-Camera-V-V-1418_W0QQitemZ130442230834QQcategoryZ29993QQcmdZViewItemQQ_trksidZp4340.m263QQ_trkparmsZalgo%3DSIC%26its%3DI%252BC%26itu%3DMRU-625%252BUCI%252BIA%252BUA%252BFICS%252BUFI%26otn%3D10%26pmod%3D230600631823%26ps%3D63%26clkid%3D8126206896908903643

http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=230600631823&ssPageName=STRK:MEWAX:IT