So Where's All These Cheap Enlargers When You Need One?

[Steve M.]

Been trying to buy a smallish enlarger for 35mm and 6x6 and it's like entering Dante's 3rd or 4th level of Hell. My first experience netted me a nice Durst for cheap, but then all the other stuff that one would think were part of an enlarger ran a small fortune!

And that's all I see on the auction site. Enlargers that always seem incomplete, or are being sold by people who normally sell dolls and clothes. So forget about asking a question (unless it's about your dress size). Craigslist looks even scarier. Buying a new enlarger sounds nuts, but at least it might be aligned and complete.

So, has anyone been able to actually buy a complete enlarger online that worked? I don't expect an enlarger to have a lens, but things like the proper condensers, negative carriers, and maybe a lens board should come w/ the thing.

 

[Pickett Wilson]

Dang, wish you had been looking back in November. Took to the dump an entire newspaper darkroom that we could not give away. Two Beseler 6x7's with dichroic heads and a 45MCRX plus top of the line lenses, timers, analyzers...the whole works. Tried every University and High School within 150 miles. Nobody did film anymore. None would accept it for free. We even had to pay extra for the dump to take the stuff!

(now, don't you feel better).

I think most of the working stuff has, as in our situation, has been dumped by now.

 

[Ronald_H]

That's a shame. What is also a shame is that I now have four (4) enlargers for which I basically paid... nothing.

No idea where you live but probably not in The Netherlands. I'd happily donate one.

Cheers,

Ronald

 

[gb hill]

Be patient & one will come your way. I got a Durst for free. Has a Nikon 50/4 lens that came with it. I have an old Bogon that I've had for years. I ran into an acquaintance on my job a while back & said he just trashed a enlarger & if he had known I could of had it for nothing. Bummer I missed it. BTW I got the Durst on Freecycle.

 

[newspaperguy]

Sorry Steve... wish you had said something earlier. Like Pickett, we trashed two good Omegas at our now out-of-business newspaper just a couple of weeks ago.

 

[DanOnRoute66]

It will take a bit of work, but scour the ads on your local Craigslist. Don't forget to look at the garage/yard/block sales. You'd want to buy one locally so you can look at the condition of the enlarger and not pay a small fortune for shipping.

 

[Landshark]

There a couple on the Chicago Craigslist. A national dingus for this is Craig(s)look

 

[mtargz]

I ran out of space in my room recently, so I just donated a working, folds-into-a-suitcase Russian 35mm enlarger to a local community project. I see 35mm enlargers up for grabs quite often, considering the tiny photo community here - but 6x6 enlargers, which is what I'd want, are quite rare indeed.

 

[tlitody]

The cheap and free have largely gone. You missed the boat on the great "Lets gid rid of our analogue darkroom" rush. Most of what of I see now are the S/H companies that bought all cheap stuff and trying to sell it at a profit and just an occasional decent enlarger appears on the auction site.
I have a Durst L1200 that i have toyed with selling but since no one is willing to pay a decent price or collect it cos it weighs a lot more than a cheap courier will carry, I've given up and might as well keep it for occasional use. I expect it'l get tossed eventually and its still like almost new.

 

[Chris101]

... Buying a new enlarger sounds nuts, but at least it might be aligned and complete. ...

Don't count on it. My school recently bought 25 LPLs brand new. The lens boards didn't fit the lenses we bought as part of the package, and 23 of the negative carriers arrived missing the screws that holds the two halves to the hinge!

 

[sykotec]

I can always find something cheap in my area (MD, just north of DC), but finding what you WANT, that's another matter. I just got lucky (my opinion at least!) and picked up a Saunders/LPL 670DXL in good working order. It came with carriers for 35mm, 645, and 6x7 - the first and last are what I need - and 2 lensboards. And a bunch of junk like a 50mm with crud growing in it.... Keeping my favorite 50/75/90 lenses, but everything else I've collected needs a new home, just because I don't have much space, and want to concentrate on ONE enlarger. This means a near-perfect Beseler 23CII and pretty good shape Beseler 67S and their accessories need new homes. Don't suppose you're in the DC area?

After hearing the horrors of complete darkrooms going to the dump here, I'll be placing a 'want to buy' ad! I'm happy with my 'new' LPL, but lenses, carriers, lens boards, easels, etc, are always on my list.

 

[Chriscrawfordphoto]

On APUG people often pay good money for enlargers others list on the classifieds there. I think that since so much good stuff's been trashed that little is left and prices are high when someone selling a good one does find someone actually wanting one. I have a lot of stuff I need to list on there. If you were close to me and could come get it, I'd sell you my stuff cheap.

 

[nikon_sam]

When you're not looking is when you'll find it...
I was on a bike ride and came across a yard sale where there was a (just about complete) darkroom set-up...Beseler 23c II with colorhead, two lenses, five or six neg holders, four or five lens boards, trays, MultiGrade filters, two Gralab 300 timers, a Unicolor motor base with two tanks, three grain focusers, two boarderless easels, some chemicals and a bunch of others darkroom related things...
I told them to please not tell me what's all there...I walked away (actually rode) and tried to convince myself that I wasn't interested in another enlarger (I already had a darkroom set-up)
By the time I got home I decided to go back to see if that stuff was still there and if it was I would buy it...well it was and I did...I really didn't find out what was in there until I got it home and unpacked it all...
I'll bet that's not that last deal out there...yours will come...

 

[Roger Hicks]

Sod the enlargers: they turn up often enough. A few years ago, an acquaintance (the ex-husband of a friend) scrapped a Crosfield drum scanner without telling me. Woe! Woe! Thrice woe!

Cheers,

R.

 

[dave lackey]

Why on earth is there not a sticky thread for free items like enlargers that are being tossed in the dump?😕 You would think that RFF members would do anything before just tossing it when so many could use the equipment....🙂

 

[nikon_sam]

Why on earth is there not a sticky thread for free items like enlargers that are being tossed in the dump?😕 You would think that RFF members would do anything before just tossing it when so many could use the equipment....🙂

Or something like "Pay the Postage & it's Yours"

I too have stuff I wouldn't mind getting rid of but don't really want anything for it...parts, junk lenses, camera parts, cameras in parts, old filters or things you know you'll never ever use...😀

 

[ChrisPlatt]

No good deed goes unpunished

No good deed goes unpunished

I have given away two perfectly good enlargers for free on Craigslist.
Believe it or not it took a long time to find takers and was a real PITA.
In both cases folks actually had the gall to ask for free delivery, too.

Chris

 

[bob338]

I tried to give away a Beseler 23CII here a few months ago. I had no takers. I tried all of the schools around here and no one wanted it. I ended up giving it to a film junkie friend of mine along with 4 bins of darkroom stuff and another Omega B22.

If you keep looking on CL like they mentioned above, you'll find one...

Bob

 

[rogerzilla]

I was lucky; a few years ago I managed to SELL my darkroom kit for 100 UKP. It had probably cost ten times that new, as there was a colour processor in there as well as a lightly-used 6x6 enlarger with a Nikkor lens.

I didn't even do it to go digital; just because I moved to a house where there was no prospect of setting up the darkroom again. At least I kept the film developing tank.

 

[Stuart John]

I picked up my 6x6 meopta at the local flea market around 7 years for about 20 euros. It's taken me 12 years to find a working FSU camera though. I could have bought one online but I like those flea market finds.