Printing 8x10 negs, which lens

[ianrout]

Hi All,

I'm looking for some advice/opinion.

Attempting to convert a Durst 5x7 enlarger to print 8x10 negs. Have built a light source using LED and also a neg holder, now at the critical point of a lens.
Was going to use a 300mm, but the size would appear to be an issue mounting in the Durst lens holder; see link (http://www.ebay.com/itm/Durst-3-Lens...item51cc5f6d54)

Plan B - use a 240mm lens. Could this create issues if further down the line I start printing large??

Any thoughts much appreciated.

Cheers
Ian

[ic-racer]

Your are sure the turret is fixed to the enlarger and not the one that is removable, right? If you have the fixed turret, a 240 mounted like this should work.

[ic-racer]

That 240mm Componon-S comes in two different mounting configurations. Either mounted at the waist (for non-Durst enlargers) or at the rear element, for Durst enlargers. You need the one set up to mount from the rear element (otherwise it will protrude through the hole and the turret won't spin). I had to convert mine by swapping parts from two lenses. Try to get one with the correct Durst mount from the start.

[cowanw]

Do you know the difference between fixed turrets and removable turrets?
In any case I have been playing with a 300 mm lens for the 5x7 enlarger and find the uses are extremely limited.
And the shorter the lens the bigger the print; a 210 will do fine, as well.
While you need to be creative with threading, the 10 inch Kodak enlarging lens work well, within the limits of it's age.

[Drew Wiley]

I have a custom 8x10 cold light setup atop one of my Durst 138 5x7 chassis. I can comfortably make up to 20x24 prints on it with a 305 Apo Nikkor lens, which is compact and optically superb. Turrets might have been convenient for commercial labs, but I don't see any realistic use for them. Just one more way to get dust atop a lens. You can lock those rotating turrets with a simple screw.

[IanG]

In practice I much prefer a 240mm for enlarging 10x8 negatives, it's what the 240mm Componon S is designed for after-all. I have used my 300mm Componon S in the past but find it need to much column height as well as the need to drop the baseboard.

Ian

[Drew Wiley]

Componon S is OK, just OK. But for something like 16x20, that's only about a 2x enlargement from 8x10 anyway, so detail will still be quite good. Where true apo lenses will really shine, by comparison, is in the conspicuously better rendition of microtonality in the print - a much more nuanced look.

[axs810]

Do you know the difference between fixed turrets and removable turrets?
In any case I have been playing with a 300 mm lens for the 5x7 enlarger and find the uses are extremely limited.
And the shorter the lens the bigger the print; a 210 will do fine, as well.
While you need to be creative with threading, the 10 inch Kodak enlarging lens work well, within the limits of it's age.

For those who don't know..what's the difference?

[ic-racer]

For those who don't know..what's the difference?

The non-removable turret is permanently fixed to the enlarger and the small holes and limited clearance for protrusion toward the negative, make mounting many 8x10 lenses problematic. The removable turret is on an 8" plate that interchanges easily with the other 8" diameter plates which will accept just about any lens.

Drew, which one do you have on your 138?

[Drew Wiley]

One of my 138's has a non-removed turret which I've simply locked and never use anyway. But this has a custom colorhead on it intended for only up to 5x7 film, so fitting appropriate lenses with traditonal Durst rings is no issue. This rig is my hot-rod, and became the prototype before designing my big ground-up 8x10 color enlarger. That has a Sinar P front focus standard, so takes Sinar boards. But this actually in turns accept a larger system to mount really big lenses which won't even fit the Sinar board, like the El Nikkor 360 f/6. The whole rig is built like a tank, and even the damn colorhead takes a block and tackle to remove. So that puts things in perspective, so to speak. No back to your actual question. Around the same time I picked up a second 138 chassis for spare parts and gradually refurbished it for a custom hi-ouput 12X12 cold light system. Since this has a significant surplus of light, I simply locked the turret on this rig too and can easily use a compact f/9 305 Apo Nikkor on it for my 8x10 black and white printing. It even prints fast with the extra density of attached unsharp masks
or whatever.