Alignment

[Kevin J. Kolosky]

Absent purchasing a very expensive tool, what is a good way to align a Beseler 4 x 5 enlarger.

[Paul Ron]

i use the mirrors to align mine. here is a write up i found describing how to use the mirrors. i made a small morror i alsp use for the lens stage. it fits exactly in the lens board holder.

you can use a razor to scrape the silvering for a view hole.


link here....


http://enlarger-align.blogspot.com

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[Kevin J. Kolosky]

anybody have anything a bit more simple?

[Luis-F-S]

Buying the tool

[Jim Jones]

Using mirrors and lasers is an indirect way of aligning enlargers. The simple direct way is to adjust the film stage (or whatever should be adjusted on your specific enlarger) until all four corners of the image are perfectly sharp. With a condenser enlarger I sand a sheet or strip of clear film lightly with both course and fine sandpaper. The scratches show up clearly on the easel. Alignment should be done with the lens wide open. If the enlarger does not have adjustments, the negative carrier can usually be shimmed with tape until all image corners are sharp. Some photographers sand a normally processed negative, which might work better in diffusion enlargers. I haven't tested this since I have no diffusion enlarger.

[Greg Y]

Also worth making sure that your baseboard & easel are level.....

[Bob Salomon]

Also worth making sure that your baseboard & easel are level.....

And the lens plane.

[Bob Salomon]

Not to hijack the thread, but those of you with the zig align, is it a regular mirror or a front surface mirror?

Front surface

[Kevin J. Kolosky]

A bubble level and patience works, but Beseler did not make a direct alignment method available for moving the lens stage front to back, only side to side.

So what to do if the front to back is not aligned?

[Paul Ron]

Beseler did not make a direct alignment method available for moving the lens stage front to back, only side to side.

to do that you losen the screw for the side to side and shim it for front to back. once you have it aligned... dont use the side to side feature which i never use anyway.