De Vere 810H - Lens questions among other questions...

[ajp]

So I am jumping into this all in, headfirst. Lots of DR experience, however not in this format and not with this machine.

I just (somehow) scored a De Vere 810H horizontal enlarger for a really great price. I drive 10 hours to pick it up in the next day or two.

Sadly, the unit does not come with a lens. However it does come with 2 lens panels, 1 flat and 1 recessed panel, color head etc.. Presumably I am assuming each panel is used for different focal lengths. I ordered the manual as well, however I'd like to get user insight if possible.

Does anyone out there have recommendation for a nice lens? I am printing from 8x10 primarily. SO 300mm to 360mm would be ideal. My question is should I be looking for a specific thread size? or would any 300mm enlarging lens do the trick?

Also, regarding laser leveling, any insight for this process? Tools used, tricks. I am printing b&w mural size prints, using a trough style developing method (hopefully). Sizing will vary, but starting 80x50ish.

Thanks for the help!

~Ashlyn

[Luis-F-S]

For 8x10, I'd get a 240 Rodagon or Componon-S or a Nikkor. If you want to get a 300mm, go for it, the 240 will work just fine and allow greater magnification at a lesser distance.

[Keith Pitman]

Luis is right about the recommended lenses. Make sure the lens board hole is the right size. A too small hole can be enlarged by a competent machinist, but a too large hole will be a problem . Attached is a chart from an old Calumet catalog with the lens board hole sizes for several suitable lenses.

[Peter De Smidt]

I had one of these. It came with a 240mm Nikkor. Worked well. You'll have to look in the manual for the right board/lens combo. What lens you use will depend on your magnification and the space you have available.

Your going to be laying metal track on the floor. It needs to be level and perpendicular to the easel. Ideally, you'll fix the track to the floor.

[ic-racer]

You will probably want a 360mm lens, otherwise the enlarger may be too close for your body to get in between to do dodging and burning. I suspect the DeVere manual will let you know the correct alignment procedure for your enlarger, but for the Durst Horizontal, they recommend projecting a vertical line on your wall and sliding the negative stage back and forth to see that the projected vertical line stays the same length. If it gets bigger or smaller then the enlarger is not perpendicular to your wall. Move the back of the tracks and try again.

My enlarger is Vertical but will swing to the side and will run on tracks like a Horizontal (shown with the 360 Componon I use in this case.)
Since my negative carrier moves up-and-down, rather than side-to-side like the Durst Horizontal, I use a laser for alignment (take lens off and bounce it off the glass negative carrier).

[ic-racer]

Personally, I found making very large excellent prints to be extremely time and money consuming (I wish I had more of both). It is easy to be impressed or satisfied by a large less-than-perfect print when first doing this. After ten years I enlarge 90% of my 8x10 negatives to only 1.4x or 2x ( 11x14 or 16x20. )

Here is a great video showing the making of a large, horizontal projection print. (Durst L184 flipped to horizontal with rescessed lens board and condenser head).

[Luis-F-S]

Sure get the 360 and just hope that the light source is not too dim for reasonable print times. Get the Versalab Parallel laser for alignment.

[ajp]

Wonderful! Thx for all the advice! I’m really excited to pursue this project. The murals I’m making are for an art exhibit and I’m really eager/lucky to have even found such a beastly enlarger.

I’m thinking a 300mm will be a good balance between distance and enlargement size. I’m not as much of a technical photographer as I am more of an interpretive photographer. I’m printing on distressed fabric using liquid emulsion and so while sharpness and contrast will be important, it’s not the only component I’m considering. I’m hoping to be up and running in a couple of weeks! Thanks again for the help here, I’m sure I’ll be back soon with lots of questions.

[ic-racer]

Sure get the 360 and just hope that the light source is not too dim for reasonable print times. Get the Versalab Parallel laser for alignment.

Unless you are projecting in a smoke filled room or use a slower lens, the extra lens-to-print distance of a longer enlarging lens does not have any effect on exposure time. In fact cosign law shows the corners will be brighter with a longer lens.
Componon-S of two different focal lengths, red line is longer focal length, green is shorter.

[ic-racer]

Wonderful! Thx for all the advice! I’m really excited to pursue this project. The murals I’m making are for an art exhibit and I’m really eager/lucky to have even found such a beastly enlarger.

I’m thinking a 300mm will be a good balance between distance and enlargement size. I’m not as much of a technical photographer as I am more of an interpretive photographer. I’m printing on distressed fabric using liquid emulsion and so while sharpness and contrast will be important, it’s not the only component I’m considering. I’m hoping to be up and running in a couple of weeks! Thanks again for the help here, I’m sure I’ll be back soon with lots of questions.

This is a really good chart for your purposes. Finding a lens might be difficult these days. My enlarger came with a box of lenses (including 240, 300 and 360), but that was ten years ago.
http://www.durst-pro-usa.com/pdf/MAK...%20APENDIX.pdf