Can you convert an enlarger to a large format camera?

[LabRat]

I agree, there are many more LF cameras around before hacking into enlargers... Possible, but probably more difficult to use in the field than a working dedicated camera...

You can mount the enlarger onto a strong copy stand and add a light source and make it enlarge again, or make a vertical enlarger for a tabletop, but have to find a way to hold printing paper flat/vertical...

Some enlargers had camera parts adapter that turned enlarger into a vertical copy camera (large & small format) but the kits usually seemed like a kluge that might work somehow, but seemed more trouble than they worth...

Steve K

[Kino]

Calumet CC 400, 4x5 monorail cameras start at about $100 on Ebay.

Unless it's just the challenge of the conversion, I highly doubt you can make a camera for less money.

[jnantz]

<...> It wasn't until I got it home that I discovered it was actually an enlarger, and that it's missing a lot of parts. <...>

IDK the enlarger is incomplete and missing parts ( which might be hard to come by, or fabricate) . parts is parts, might as well repurpose the beast to do something fun and different (and maybe impractical to some ). if it was me, I'd use it to make some sort of wacky 19th photo apparatus like a solar enlarger/camera or a "viewer" of celluloid, glass or waxed paper images. and then sell it, and a whole bunch of reproduction images to a like minded kook or collector .. there's someone currently mass marketing Lucidas and Obscuras, 1 offs seem to be less of a cookie cutter design ..