Al Kaplan
Veteran
There's no way to stop down (diaphragm) the viewing lens on a TLR and they're usualy a simpler optical formula than the taking lens.
Homemade enlargers?
- Thread starter climbing_vine
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climbing_vine
Well-known
While I continue working on my diy enlarger, I decided for kicks to take a look at some cheap and free enlargers via craigslist and ebay... so far everything I've gotten my hands on has been outright broken, or missing parts (like the lid for the lamphouse). I'm curious if I'm just having bad luck or if this is the way it is.
Pherdinand
the snow must go on
i picked up an LPL 7700 6x7 perfectly working, for 25 euro.
Also, there was a free package of a durst m300 + small darkroom tids and bits - i got them for a bottle of wine.
BUT, if you want to build your own, i guess it might be a fun project!
ABout lenses, a macro could work okay but i'd still suggest to get a cheap enlareger lens. If you don't want apochromatic versions, they are really really cheap.
Also, there was a free package of a durst m300 + small darkroom tids and bits - i got them for a bottle of wine.
BUT, if you want to build your own, i guess it might be a fun project!
ABout lenses, a macro could work okay but i'd still suggest to get a cheap enlareger lens. If you don't want apochromatic versions, they are really really cheap.
Papa Smurf
Established
where are such bargains
where are such bargains
Boy, you guys really are good at finding bargains. When I was looking for a 35mm B&W enlarger for use in my bathroom sometimes darkroom, they were all going for what I estimated as their new purchase price. Nowhere near a bargain. I just gave up and bought a scanner and a fairly good photo ink jet printer. Not the best solution, but my solution and it fit my budget. :bang:
Besides, the OP might just want the satisfaction of creating his own gear. Back in the 60's, there were many articles about people that had made some fairly sophisticated enlargers in the home workshop. 😀
where are such bargains
Boy, you guys really are good at finding bargains. When I was looking for a 35mm B&W enlarger for use in my bathroom sometimes darkroom, they were all going for what I estimated as their new purchase price. Nowhere near a bargain. I just gave up and bought a scanner and a fairly good photo ink jet printer. Not the best solution, but my solution and it fit my budget. :bang:
Besides, the OP might just want the satisfaction of creating his own gear. Back in the 60's, there were many articles about people that had made some fairly sophisticated enlargers in the home workshop. 😀
Pherdinand
the snow must go on
really, making something like this can be very much fun and relaxing. So i can understand the OP's motivation.
It is a "waste" of time and $. But... If you are fascinated by such things, it's like ahobby for you, then it's fine 🙂
It is a "waste" of time and $. But... If you are fascinated by such things, it's like ahobby for you, then it's fine 🙂
climbing_vine
Well-known
In fact, the project I want it for a series of prints for my wife's birthday of a trip to Yellowstone. She's extremely excited about it, particularly the homemade enlarger part. She, like me, often prefers things that have the individual character of a DIY project. I like all the walls in my metaphorical "cabin" to keep out the rain, but I don't need them to have the same dimensions and drywall that the contractor uses for everyone else.
I repair cameras as a hobby, I've rehabbed boats and houses, I used to make furniture by hand for rent money when I was unemployed after 9/11. I understand everything you're saying, but it's entirely beside the point. If my enlarger is a little out of whack, I'll just shim it... it won't fall over and kill someone. I want it to be perfect *for me right now*, not Platonically perfect. That's the point. 🙂
(Incidentally, any dedicated enlarger will inherently take up more space than something that, when taken apart, is pieces of things that I already had going back into their cubbyholes. This busted Durst M600 I have in front of me currently-- that someone passed off as "perfectly working"--is supposedly one of the more compact units and it's still a pain in the ass.)
-Brian
Muggins
Junk magnet
For the Brits, what Brian is describing is known as "Blue Peter" - a long-running kids TV programme where the presenters regularly make things from ordinary household items - most famously, making Tracy Island from Thunderbirds!
In other news, I've got a very elderly (c1910) Kodak guide to making better pictures with a diagram in it of how to set up your folding Brownie as an enlarger. I don't think the binding will let me scan it but if I get a mo (and can find it...) I'll see if I can post a photo.
Adrian
In other news, I've got a very elderly (c1910) Kodak guide to making better pictures with a diagram in it of how to set up your folding Brownie as an enlarger. I don't think the binding will let me scan it but if I get a mo (and can find it...) I'll see if I can post a photo.
Adrian
shadowfox
Darkroom printing lives
Or you can do contact printing and/or alt. processes like cyanotype, ziatype, etc.
You don't need an enlarger, but you do need to DIY a UV light box (simpler than building an enlarger).
Another matter, if it were myself, I'd put off dabbling with chemicals with a baby around. Wait until he/she is a little bit tougher (a toddler perhaps 🙂 ).
You don't need an enlarger, but you do need to DIY a UV light box (simpler than building an enlarger).
Another matter, if it were myself, I'd put off dabbling with chemicals with a baby around. Wait until he/she is a little bit tougher (a toddler perhaps 🙂 ).
Muggins
Junk magnet
Here goes, if we are really lucky they might even be in the right order...
Adrian
Adrian
climbing_vine
Well-known
That is MOST excellent. I thank you and salute you.
ddutchison
Well-known
climbing_vine;1175737[SIZE=3 said:
That's a pretty worthwhile project, I'd say. If you have access to good libraries in your town, check out photography books from the turn of the last century, up to the 40's - home built enlargers and cameras (and really, an enlarger is just an inside-out camera) were more popular back then. The Focal Encyclopedia of Photography has an article in how to make bellows, and I see some other good examples have been posted by Adrian.
Home-made field and view cameras are not uncommon, even today. If you're going to take the trouble, why not make a 4X5 camera with a detachable light source ( like the Graflarger attachment for the Graflex camera) and have both?
Regardless of how you proceed, I hope you'll post pictures of the machine when you finish it.
Actually those clever Soviets built a portable enlarger that fit neatly into an attache case, the Zenith UPA5M (http://www.submin.com/general/manuals/zenith/upa5m/zenith_upa5m_2.jpg)
batterytypehah!
Lord of the Dings
Glad climbing_vine eventually did get the information he was looking for. Sometimes you have to persevere to get through the well-meaning but OT responses here...
Just one more tip, as much for him as for others in the thread who are/were looking and don't live in strong Craigslist areas: Try church sales. There's this one in my town where I swear for the last three years I've seen one or two enlargers every time. (And not the same kit three years in a row, either.)
Just one more tip, as much for him as for others in the thread who are/were looking and don't live in strong Craigslist areas: Try church sales. There's this one in my town where I swear for the last three years I've seen one or two enlargers every time. (And not the same kit three years in a row, either.)
climbing_vine
Well-known
Yeah, that' a good consideration. There's a spare bathroom, no windows, in the basement (for workmen, etc) that the landlord is going to let me use, and I'm storing the chemistry in our little storage locker on-site (making room for them by getting rid of a small boxful of parts spotmatics that I'm realistically not going to do anything with anytime soon). So the chemistry will be external to the apartment.
ChrisN
Striving
I have a book called "Build your own enlarger" by A. C. Stevenson, Fountain Press, second ed. 1942. One of the chapters is A simple enlarger for Leica Lenses. 🙂
Building is certainly possible, and fun if that's your bent, but as suggested above I've collected three excellent enlarges up to 4x5 for no more than $50 each, from flea markets.
Building is certainly possible, and fun if that's your bent, but as suggested above I've collected three excellent enlarges up to 4x5 for no more than $50 each, from flea markets.
Pherdinand
the snow must go on
crawdiddy
qu'est-ce que c'est?
You know, you can purchase glass blanks and grind your own lenses also.
climbing_vine
Well-known
A person certainly could, but it doesn't meet any of the objectives I was talking about in the original post (or subsequently).
Particular
a.k.a. CNNY, disassembler
12 years ago I had an exhibition for which I produced big enlargements from negatives that I made in a self built/modified panoramic camera. I had access to a school darkroom without suitable enlargers for the format and size. I managed to use a 4x5" camera mounted on a tripod projecting onto the wall. I made a film holder from a piece of black acrylic/plastic with an aperture cut into. I filed down the edges, painted it black and fixed the negative in place with photographic tape. Using tape for the negative is probably superior to the clamping systems most enlargers have, it is just more cumbersome. My light source was a 5x7" lightbox, the flat kind which were newish then. I blinded the top and bottom with black paper and then strapped it to the back with elastics. The lens was a good enlarging lens mounted on an improvised board. The building and preparation took an afternoon (after a week of planning). The printing of the whole project took a whole morning. The developing, washing and drying were comparatively larger nightmares, given that the sheets were 50cm x 2m. After the first rinse, I took them home (while wet) and washed them in my bathtub, and then dried them by running clothes lines through out the apartment. My flat mates were a little surprised. The prints turned out great. The fact that I managed to do very clean splices proved that I succeeded in getting everything aligned well.
Since you are enlarging 35mm and you seem to have done some camera repair, why not use a 'dead' body that takes your chosen lens (the pentax?). Open/remove the shutter, remove the back, and you are half way there. You will just need to improvise the light source, and a support system.
Sounds like fun.
Since you are enlarging 35mm and you seem to have done some camera repair, why not use a 'dead' body that takes your chosen lens (the pentax?). Open/remove the shutter, remove the back, and you are half way there. You will just need to improvise the light source, and a support system.
Sounds like fun.
batterytypehah!
Lord of the Dings
I think my contribution was more on-topic than yours is well-meaning.
climbing_vine
Well-known
Yes indeed! That's what I've started working with now for this project.
In the future, when I have a proper workshop and space again, I'm thinking of trying something like this:
http://blog.makezine.com/archive/2008/02/kitchen_utensils_make_pro.html
and/or the Kodak example above. Good times 🙂