Advice on buying an Enlarger (full kit)

[nicographicc]

Hi guys! I'm pretty comfortable with developing my own negatives (35mm) and I'm thinking of taking the next step and purchasing an enlarger and some papers.

I found someone selling this entire set consisting of:

Meopta 6a 6X6 enlarger with 80mm schneider lens mount on.
Meopta Anaret S 80 f/4.5 for 6X6
Rodenstock Rodagon 50mm f/2.8 for 135 printing

Accessories:
3 11x14 tray
1 16x20 tray
darkroom safelight
1 Ilford Multigrade filter
1 8x10 Ilford Multigrade RC (~70 sheets)
1 8x10 Ilford Multigrade 300 (~35 sheets)
1 3.5x5.5 Ilford Multigrade RC (~60 sheets)
1 small box (IPP brand) expired paper
1 16x20 Ilford Art 300 paper
2 20x24 expired paper

Asking price would be somewhere around 400 USD. Assuming workable condition for the enlarger, is this a good value? I'm working purely on B&W prints , 135 and possibly moving on to 120 format later on.

Thanks for your advice!

 

[slidesandthecity]

If you're patient and don't live in the middle of nowhere, sooner or later you're going to find someone locally willing to part with his Beseler and accessories for (next to) nothing. So I'd advise against buying it.

On a sidenote: The set is not yet complete. You still need a grain focuser.

 

[Ansel]

Thats a nice set. Probably worth about 60€. Go for it. I used to have that enlarger. Its very good.

 

[Rogrund]

$400 for this set sounds too much to me. I would wait for something else to turn up.

 

[nicographicc]

If you're patient and don't live in the middle of nowhere, sooner or later you're going to find someone locally willing to part with his Beseler and accessories for (next to) nothing. So I'd advise against buying it.

On a sidenote: The set is not yet complete. You still need a grain focuser.

Thanks for the tip! Unfortunately where I live in Asia (Singapore) there aren't many darkroom practitioners around. This was the only set I could find on the local forum listings.

 

[nicographicc]

I guess the price is high because of the highly specialised nature of it (and lack of a buyer/seller's market).

At the same time, I don't wish to overspend unnecessarily. $400 USD could get me loads of film to practice on!

 

[Ansel]

Enlargers are dirt cheap nowadays. The market is full of them with so many people ditching film for digital. Its a buyers market.

 

[Roger Hicks]

The problem here is that while there are plenty of people who will sell you an enlarger for far less, or even give you one, it's pure luck when and whether you find one, and if you want to start NOW, you want to start NOW, not when you get lucky.

Is there a local camera club? If so, go to it, and ask around. Likewise if there are any camera stores around. I'd look out for a 6x9 rather than 6x6. But with all that paper, $400 is just about believable in order to get started quickly. Or offer $200 and see what happens...

Cheers,

R.

 

[valdas]

Thats a nice set. Probably worth about 60€. Go for it. I used to have that enlarger. Its very good.

60€? are you serious? 50mm and 80mm enlarger lenses mentioned as a part of the set (shneider and rodagon) are probably worth more...

 

[k__43]

I paid 12€ plus shipping for the Anaret

The price seems a bit high but I'm in germany where a lot of people are selling their grandfathers home lab to clear the cellar. I guess for all that stuff in singapore the price is not bad. Lots of paper is good too. Try getting him down to 300 or less.
Is there a exposure timer in the set? That and the chemicals seem to be the only thing missing. And clamps to handle the paper

 

[nicographicc]

I paid 12€ plus shipping for the Anaret

The price seems a bit high but I'm in germany where a lot of people are selling their grandfathers home lab to clear the cellar. I guess for all that stuff in singapore the price is not bad. Lots of paper is good too. Try getting him down to 300 or less.
Is there a exposure timer in the set? That and the chemicals seem to be the only thing missing. And clamps to handle the paper

He's gonna throw in the developers too, but no exposure timers and clamps. It's not a very big market here and film processing equipment is a very niche, enthusiast's market. Accordingly the few businesses who sell these equipment charge a nice markup - for reference a 1L bottle of Ilfotec HC is approx USD$23. A roll of 400 TX (36exp) is USD$7!

I'll try to haggle down to $300. Hopefully he's in a hurry to get rid of them and free up space in his house! (Space is a premium in these parts of the world).

 

[Ko.Fe.]

If you look around you could get enlarger and lens for free or almost.