lightweight or compact enlarger

[Tim Meisburger]

I live in Bangkok, and have limited access to photographic equipment. Currently I am using a Graflarger, which I bought primarily because I could afford the shipping from the US. Although this enlarger makes nice 5x8 prints, at 8x10 the corners start fading. I'm not sure if that is because I am using a small aperture (often f11), but I suspect that it is because the light is simply not powerful enough.

Anyway, I am going to spend a month in the US in June, and thought I would see if I could find a 4x5 enlarger that (broken down) would fit in a suitcase. I have no experience of normal enlargers, so not sure if any fit the bill. Is it possible?

Tim

[Gem Singer]

The corners of your 8X10's are vignetting because your lens does not cover the format. Closing down increases the size of the image circle. Insufficient light would increase the printing time, not decrease the covering power of the lens.

Perhaps you can solve your problem with a suitable enlarging lens.

I've never seen a collapsable 4X5 enlarger. An enlarger for 4X5 negatives requires a large size column and baseboard. However, I suppose if you had a big enough suitcase----------

[Tim Meisburger]

Thanks Gem. Its not vignetting, as its fine if I make a 5x8 enlargement. Also, it appears in enlargements done with my pinhole camera, so I am sure it is either in the development process, or enlargement itself. Perhaps its because I am using a taking lens instead of a dedicated enlarging lens (127mm raptar) and I have light falling off around the outside of the projection?

About the enlarger, thats what I was worried about. From pictures, the head looks like it would easily fit in a suitcase, but the stand looks long. I don't know why it should be so long, as with the graflarger I don't ever seem to shift the camera more than a foot. Maybe I can just get the head, and build a stand here.

[Gem Singer]

The removable head of an enlarger usually consists of the lamp house. The negative stage, bellows, and lens stage are part of the chassis. The column and base board are separate pieces.

You'll need a larger suitcase. How about a shipping crate?

BTW, that 127 Raptar barely covers 4X5. It was meant to be used as a taking lens. Pick up a dedicated enlarging lens while you're in the states. They're going for extremely low prices nowadays.

[wfwhitaker]

Falloff usually occurs because the lens doesn't cover the format or the light source doesn't cover the negative. But if you're getting good corners at the 5x8 size, your problem is most likely not the light source. For an 8x10 enlargement (unless I've got it backwards) the lens is closer to the negative than it is for a 5x8 enlargement. That puts a greater demand on the coverage of the lens. You would do well to get a good enlarging lens as Gem suggested. It really is a buyer's market these days; no need to settle for a mediocre lens.

I can't think of a 4x5 enlarger I've ever seen which could fit into a suitcase, even knocked down. Lots of enlargers out there, but you're either going to have to ship one or continue to work with the Graflarger. I'd try the lens route first.

[Bill_1856]

I used a Graflarger on my GVII for a couple of years in high school, it was a PITA to use but there was no problem with light falloff, (I had an uncoated 15cm Heilar). Your best bet might be to purchase a genuine enlarger lens of at least 15cm focal length.

[Tim Meisburger]

Okay. I'll try that. Also, I have a 135mm here that I can try as well. Guess I'll have to give up on a real enlarger till I can find one here.

[rfesk]

The only possibility that I have found so far for a compact enlarger is to convert an old Federal 450 series enlarger.

But the upright is 36" long. So if you could find a Federal (not so easy but they are cheap when found) you may be able to modify it to filll your requirements. An Aristo cold light head is smaller than the condensor head and the cold light model designed for the Omega D2 fits perfectly in my Federal.

Also, you would have to fabricate a base board to replace the heavy metal Federal original - but that could double as part of the case.

[Tim Meisburger]

Thanks Bob! That sounds like a possibility, as 36" I can deal with fairly easily. No worries about the base, as I can fabricate something here no problem. But you seem to suggest a problem with the light head. Why would I need to change it?

My graflarger uses an old cold light head and when I bought it I was advised to either replace it with a modern light (too expensive), or filter the light with a yellow filter, as the old cold lights were designed to use with graded papers, and would be too contrasty with VC papers (something I did notice). I put a yellow gel filter on top of the glass diffuser and that does seem to have had an affect on contrast. Is that the problem with the Federal light?

[rfesk]

The Federal enlarger that I own came with a standard condenser head. It will work fine with filters but the Aristo head (with a modern light bulb suitable for variable contrast papers) is more compact and somewhat brighter.

Federal enlargers also were sold with cold light heads similar to your Graflarger's head.

By the way, the negative carrier has a convenient place to put filters above the negative.