Elwood 5X7 Enlarger diffuser - Help Please

[Henry Ambrose]

I've been experimenting with this Elwood now for a couple of days and at this po int I wonder what is even illumination on the baseboard? I've tried pieces of gr ound glass, sandblasted a center filter effect on clear glass and a white diffus ion glass. The white glass alone seems best so far. Its still a bit hot in the m iddle - about .5 to .7 stops brighter than the corners. This over an area roughl y equal to a 16X20 using a 4X5 negative. It seems to fall off quite a bit more i n the far reaches - it won't cover 5X7 evenly. So what -is- even enough illumina tion? I'm starting to think that an Aristo cold light head is the real answer. O r a different enlarger. Comments please.

[Bob Eskridge]

My Elwood came with a diffusion glass that looks like it was sandblasted at the center. Unfortunately I haven't gotten the enlarger set up yet and haven't checked the light evenness.

My suggestion is to try your various set ups. You may find that the light fall off matches/complensates for the fall off in your negatives and is little desirable.

[John Kasaian]

Henry, sounds despirate! Here Is a $2.95 experiment. I just picked up a 100 watt Satco Silver Crown bulb I'm going to try in my Elwood. The tip of the bulb is silvered inside and out, so light isn't emitted out of the top(bottom when installed) of the bulb. All the light goes into the reflective dome, which in turn will be reflected off the silvered exterior of the bulb's tip. This should reduce your hotspot. It has a much smaller wattage than I normally use in my 8x10 but it might be closer to the wattage you use in 5x7. Good luck!

[Emile J Schwarz]

I have a 5x7 Elwood also. Where do youall get replacement lightbulbs?

On hotspots... Has any tried raising or lowering the light in their condencer. I saw an article years ago on adjusting the focus of the domed condencer by adjusting the light source placement.... just a thought...

[John Kasaian]

Beau, There is an enlarger lamp list at The Darkroom Guy at Photomall.com that says what lamp goes with which enlarger---even Elwoods---if you can't find your lamp locally I'd give The Darkroom Guy, Terry Seaman, a try......John

[Jim Hutchison]

Hi all, This might sound rediculuos, but I think it will work. I have a 5x7 enlarger (not sure of brand), but I am having the same peoblem with uneven light. The first thing I did was get one of those light bulbs with the reflective tip. Didn't get much better. Then I thought about diffusion material. I thought...maybe fabric softener??? After 3 pieces, (between the ground glass and a clear piece of glass), the light looks very even. I won't be testing this until tomorrow and I am not sure if the fabric will get too hot, but at this point anything is worth a shot.

[Al Kaplan]

I used an Elwood in the early 1960's. My dad had bought it back in '36 or '37. It was equipped with a BIG enlarging bulb, #311 or #312 if memory serves, with a mogul base. My dad had it fitted with a single opal glass diffuser. It did hot-spot a bit, but nothing you couldn't correct with a bit of dodging.

[Guilherme Maranh?o]

I just got one Elwood Pattern Works enlarger last week. A guy here in Kitchener, Ontario, was getting rid of a bunch of stuff in his darkroom, and I stopped by to see what he had. It came for free, as long as I took it away! It's a 5x7, can't really tell which model, I have no reference.

It had 4 pieces of rectangular glass on top of the negative stage: one frosted ("center-weighted frosting") and 3 plain ones. I just finished cleaning the whole thing and replacing the lens that came with it by one I had already. I placed a piece of acrylic sheet (from the garbage bin behind a plastics shop) in the place of all that glass. Haven't tried on paper, but looks nice and even. I'll keep my eyes on the effects of the heat on the acrylic piece.

Good luck to you all, Take care, Gui

[Bob Shimmon]

I found that by purchasing one of those "add a socket" bulb extention adapters from the local hardware store for about $1.99 and inserting it between the bulb (I used a enlarger bulb from adorama)and the lamp socket, I was able to get the correct extention to bring the bulb into good focus so there were no hot spots at all. You will find that there are extra sets of screw holes to allow more extention of the socket for the extra adjustment needed.

[Emmett W. Francois]

I will be in the process of trying to get an Elwood 5x7 enlarger up over the Summer. I need to know what the dimentions are for the negative carrier. The enlarger did not have one and I will also have to replace the light socket and bulb. It looks like the answer for the bulb is to replace the socket, add the extention and use a standard 4x5 enlarger bulb. Any photos of the negative carrier would be appreciated.