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

[tearcut1]

Not in north america

[Greg Lockrey]

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


No they aren't graphic arts cameras. Just the company name. The ones used for graphic art are very large horizontal cameras with process lens, built in lighting and an adjustable bed for copying flat artwork. They occupy entire rooms. Actually two, the film side and work side. I doubt that there are very many of those still around since most graphic art is now generated in computers.

[Wayne Crider]

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?

Graphic relates to the Graflex camera co. Go to Ebay and search under the Cameras and Photo category and do a 4x5 "Graphic" search and you'll see all sorts. They are also known as "Press" cameras and were used by the newspapers in the 30's and 40's. They don't have much in movements compared to a view camera.

[Alan Gales]

Watch Craigslist for an enlarger. They practically give them away on there. Just make sure that it can handle 4x5. An Omega D2 is an excellent choice. They are quality enlargers and there are tons of them out there used if you ever need a part.

Cambo/Calumet cameras go really cheap. Extras like bag bellows, lens boards, lens shades, etc. also go cheap for those cameras.

Sinars are nicer but a bit pricier. Also their extras are a bit more costly.

[tearcut1]

Not in North America

[Alan Gales]

Sorry about that. I missed it earlier. Maybe you could check your local newspaper. I bought my first enlarger that way. The poor guy's wife was screaming at him to get rid of it so I bought everything he had real cheap.

[tearcut1]

No they aren't graphic arts cameras. Just the company name. The ones used for graphic art are very large horizontal cameras with process lens, built in lighting and an adjustable bed for copying flat artwork. They occupy entire rooms. Actually two, the film side and work side. I doubt that there are very many of those still around since most graphic art is now generated in computers.


I've seen those in some stores problem is the guys either don't want to bother with them or the print is too expensive

But can't a large format do the job for artwork, graphic stuff and illustration that doesn't go through the process of being digitally scanned as well?

thats what i understood

[Greg Lockrey]

I've seen those in some stores problem is the guys either don't want to bother with them or the print is too expensive

But can't a large format do the job for artwork, graphic stuff and illustration that doesn't go through the process of being digitally scanned as well?

thats what i understood

Graphic art and photography while similar are two different processes. For one thing the film is different while photography uses continuous tone film, graphic art use a high contrast monolith film that each color is photographed separately with suitable filtration to get the four color needed to make an image. You can do graphic art on a very small scale with a large format camera and paste all of your negatives together to make one large mechanical to use to make your plate and go from there. But all of that is now done inside a computer and outputted to a digital printer. Hand made graphics are now scanned on large flatbed scanners and digitized. Process cameras aren't needed. If your intent is to do graphic art, then your wasting your time doigng it with a camera when a scanner is what you really need.

[tearcut1]

I already own a new mac, a decent a3 scanner and your right most places it goes from computer to plate.

I'm not after the reproduction plate process rather just obtaining single fine self developed print for graphic art and artwork/illustration on some selective things I want. Much like scanning and then printing on laser or glossy paper.


The added value is the fine photographic quality of image on certain things more than others ( when competing with scanners), embracing the original method of pre-digital printing and the artisic integrity (personal thing) of not using computers.

I thought the large format would be best and also for other things (that include close up, and slides/negative that i can alter/manipulate with large size of the negative/transparency).



What do you recommend is the best small and affordable enlarger for developing/printing for graphic arts?

Are the films too expensive? liquids etc.. as well? Are some that are affordable?

[nolindan]

Sorry, that's a nuArc VV 1418.

Just google images for 'nuarc camera'...

[tearcut1]

They seem way too big. Would you know of any smaller ones?