Re: Durst L1840 Enlarger 8x10 10x10--Everything you wanted to know...
Hi - Just the other day I printed a couple of masked pyro-stained 8x10 negs with my VC blue-green cold light + blue filter for boosted contrast on VC paper. The two sheet method with my new ScanTech anti-newton glass worked great - no visible texture even with that high contrast and an Apo Nikkor lens (very high micro-textural rendition - like I said, better than any regular enlarging lens). But I don't know how the same glass would perform with small negatives and other light sources; probably just fine. But since I already have Durst AN glass for my colorhead enlargers, and Focal Point AN glass for the really big one, it's not a test I'm likely to undertake. My cold light unit isn't practical for small negs. Scan Tech also has regular non-AN high-quality glass too, if you want a top vs bottom option.
Slightly different topic - One reason I still keep on hand regular as well as Apo enlarging lenses it that sometimes I simply don't want that over-the-top micro-contrast, esp in certain color printing applications. Or, very complex mask or color separation neg setups are prone to grain exagerration, and a tad dial back is welcome. With large format, overall sharpness isn't affected much either way because the degree of magnification is modest. With little MF stuff I tend to lean toward Apo lenses routinely because the enlargement factor is greater. Ironically, not 35mm, however, since I use that more as a gritty fast-film snapshot device, and print 35mm images quite small, on those rare occasions I actually print 35mm film.
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Re: Durst L1840 Enlarger 8x10 10x10--Everything you wanted to know...
This COVID is relentless, now on 3rd wave so I have so many things that have been put off for months and months. However, I did get the day off today and I was doing some cleaning and rotating power units in and out of service. I noticed an error in hookup I made in 2010 when I got the CLS2000 head. I plugged it into the AUX output on the back of the EPU1000. Turns out that output only is supposed to support 1000W and the CLS2000 is 2000W. I had the fuse on the AUX outlet blow.
So, I re-wired it to have the CLS2000 plug directy into a 20A 240V outlet, rather than the back of the EPU1000. '
The EPU1000 is the box that sits between the legs of the enlarger.
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Re: Durst L1840 Enlarger 8x10 10x10--Everything you wanted to know...
Inspecting the EPU with blown fuse.
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Re: Durst L1840 Enlarger 8x10 10x10--Everything you wanted to know...
Swapping components in and out of service:
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Re: Durst L1840 Enlarger 8x10 10x10--Everything you wanted to know...
New 240V outlet, next to the existing one for the enlarger. I also needed to change the plug on the cord to the CLS2000 so it can plug into the new outlet. I did not install European outlets. This is a standard USA style 240v 20A outlet with horizontal blades. In the breaker box the 20A breaker straddles both rails and delivers 240V.
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Re: Durst L1840 Enlarger 8x10 10x10--Everything you wanted to know...
New hookup works great. Of course, reading the instructions helps. The CLS2000 manual indicates to plug the CLS2000 head into 240V, and nowhere does it indicated one is to do that on the back of the EPU1000 as one can do for the 1000W CLS1840 head.
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Re: Durst L1840 Enlarger 8x10 10x10--Everything you wanted to know...
Remembering things ten years ago. This PSU that I just put into service was purchased in 2009 as a spare. Here is a picture of it as I found it in a photolab:
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Re: Durst L1840 Enlarger 8x10 10x10--Everything you wanted to know...
I restored it back to its original condition. This is the list of repairs to the unit:
Re-do the wiring to the outlets in the back of unit
Replace one blown resistor
Repair the cable between the timer and the unit. The enlarger had run over the cable and the 60hz signal was inturrupted as the 60hz signal was carried by the flat cable strand at the far edge of the cable.
Replace 2 blown transistors
Those repairs got it back to perfect working condition.
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Re: Durst L1840 Enlarger 8x10 10x10--Everything you wanted to know...
Not sure what's the best way to mount shorter focal lenses such as 105mm or 80mm. It looks like for 50-80mm you use the Laratub recessed lensboard, while for 100-105mm you can mount the lens on the right Lapla which can go into a Unipla or a Tripla. How easy is to focus a 100mm lens without a recessed lensboards? I can't try it now on my enlarger which is in deep storage, but can imagine some bellows compression. Not planning to use the L184 for anything smaller than 6x7 though. Any experience? thanks
Re: Durst L1840 Enlarger 8x10 10x10--Everything you wanted to know...
You certainly don't want to put your 184 bellows through that kind of torture. Go recessed. But if I want to enlarge something as tiny as 6X7 on my 184 rig (instead of a smaller enlarger), I simply use my 150 Apo Rodagon N lens, just like I routinely do with my 138 system. There's plenty of headroom unless you're enlarging big. I can't give a specific Durst recessed product designation, however, because my own recessed accessory was custom machined.