I have not been able to temporarily setup the D5 to test if the 50mm EL-Nikkor with a spacer will focus on the baseboard with the head at max height. BUT, I now have a backup/alternative. I just picked up a 50mm Fujinon-EP that will work on the turret w/o needing a spacer. The back of the Fujinon does not go as far back as the EL-Nikkor. So if the EL-Nikkor won't focus, the Fujinon will. :-)
Once I obtained an adapter for my El Nikkor 150mm and turned an adapter for a 240mm Rodenstock I was finished. I have from 50mm to 240mm with all formats covered inbetween. Getting the "cones", "disks", "boards" together took way too long. Why go this route, turret, when a single board works? The answer is in the model I have. It is the Durst 138 with a fixed turret. The turret cannot be replaced with a single lens disk of the same diameter. The turret does come off by removing the center nut and spring washer assembly. Unless you are in an open lab setting or a commercial lab I do not see the necessity of a turret conversion. The one advantage in a school is the odd possibility of a lens being scratched or dropped by a student. Having a turret would be a plus and a time saver. As long as the turret disk is not warped and is securely held in place then it is a nice feature. Durst built equipment to to last and the precision of manufacturer was excellent.
With that said I intend to use it about 1% and the other 99% contact printing Carbon Transfer.
I have a lens turret on my Durst L138S and have found it extremelly convenient. The only nuisance is the need to find protuding lens board for the longer focal lenses like a 150mm/5.6 which I recently acquired. I could not find a lens board with 50mm hole and had to buy from Durst USA, but they just have the normal one, not the portruding. This means that now I cannot revolve the turret while that lens is placed since the rear element goes beyond the revolving panel.
On this thread several times has the question of alignment been placed. A few days ago I decided to buy a laser alignment tool. First I aligned the base panel to the negative carrier. Something very easy and rewarding to do on the 138S, a wonderful enlarger by the way. After I went on to verify the aligment of the lens to the base panel and noticed that there was a slight deviation of the laser. It's small but I would like to correct it. The trouble is I have not figured out how to align the turret in relation to the carrier. All I have to do is a small front/rear tilt with the front going down towards the base panel. There is no need for left/right swing.
Does anyone here know how to do this?
Thanks...
Just to let you know that I have found a way of achieving paralelism between film plane, lens plane and base panel. The Nega 138 has a knob that allows changing the tilt of the film plane. I aligned first the lens plane with the base plate and then adjusted the knob until it too became aligned. This is only possible because there was no need for rotational (left/right) adjustment since the Nega 138 does not allow left/right rotation. This solution is far from ideal since the knob moves each time it is taken out and placing a mark is not a very accurate solution. I looked carefully for another way of achieving this without having to temper with the negative carrier, but was not able to. If anyone has a better solution I would be very glad to hear. Thank you.
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