Beseler 23 C

J

jpa66

Jan as in "Jan and Dean"
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I've been looking for an enlarger, and have found that a lot of 23 C's seem to pop up. I was wondering if anyone has any thoughts on the 23 line? I know that the 23 C is older than the 23 CII, etc., but not much more. I've read conflicting reports about build quality and reliability, as well ( the newest ones seem to be of lesser quality then the older models... ).

If anybody has any experiences to share about these enlargers, it'd be appreciated.

Thanks,
Jan
 
They are excellent enlargers, BUT they are very large and heavy. Make sure you have room for one, and are willing to pay the shipping to get it to you. Aligning the things can be a pain as well, but a properly set up 23C is a fine machine. The negative carriers are expensive, so it would be wise to buy one w/ the carriers that you'd want to use already w/ it. This is true for all enlargers. The odds and ends can often cost you many times what the enlarger costs. If you need to go up to 4x5 a Durst would be considerably more compact, and if you only need a 35mm and 120 enlarger there are a lot of nice ones around.

Again, the main thing is to find one that suits your negative size needs, can enlarge to the print sizes you want, and has readily available negative carriers and bulbs. Do your research before buying anything, as enlargers are often difficult to sell later on.
 
I have one
It's a sturdy beast. Not very refined.
I had a Dunco which was much more fun to use, with a much higher finish quality. I have switched when I thought I would use a Fuji 6x9 that was sold down the road.
If you have a good one with all the accessories you need, pick it up. But if 6x7 is enough, I would try to find something else...
 
I have a 23C II...not too sure of it's vintage but I can tell there's a lot of blue paint under all that black...the colorhead is blue...
It's a great enlarger and you can get most if not all parts for it from Beseler if needed...
Parts also show up on ebay...
I found mine at a garage sale and it came with a ton of extras...I did have to stock up on bulbs...
Check out Craig's List for your area as picking it up yourself will save a wad of money instead of having it shipped and you can inspect it before buying...
As far as aligning it...it's a bit of a pain BUT worth it...
The one I have is well built and solid...I also have a Vivitar VI enlarger and that will also go up to 6x7...so depending on my mood I could grab either one and turn out very nice prints...
One last item...inspect the bellow for leaks...also when storing it compress the bellows to prevent possible tearing...
 
Yeah - I'll definitely get it locally. While I don't currently shoot larger than 6 X 6, I was thinking that I may shoot larger formats in the future, so that may be the limiting factor there.
 
Although I have never owned a Beseler, I have known many people who do use them and I have never heard anyone complain. They have a reputation for high quality. As for reliability, there really isn't a lot to go wrong. Check to make sure that the thing focuses smoothly. If you don't have the room for a permanent set up, check out Durst enlargers. They are modular in design and the M600 line is very high quality and does up to 6x6. The most important thing on any enlarger is actually the lense. El Nikkors, Schneider Componons and Rodenstock Rodagons are the best. If you keep your eyes open, you will eventually see an enlarger for sale that comes with a high quality lense.
 
I used to use 23's a lot, with both condenser and cold light heads. The comments above completely agree with my own experiences. Especially the bits about them being solid (a.k.a. heavy!) and temperamental to align. Once dialed in, they're fantastic.
 
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