I have looked thru alot of the previous posts but am still confused. This is my first darkroom and I had finally settled on a used Beseler 45 series. I will be starting with mostley 35mm B&W but one day will go up to 4x5 and color printing.. Is there a problem with using the 45 series enlarger to do 35mm? I have seen some posts here where it appears so. I just cant see spending $300 for a 23C then later trading up when I can just start now with the 45 and "grow" with it. Is this false economy? Is it "best" to use the smaller beseler for 35mm? Are there serious problems using the Beseler 45's for 35mm? Thanks for putting up with yet another enlarger question.

-- bill zelinski (willy226@yahoo.com), June 22, 1999

Answers

There is no particular problem using a 4x5 enlarger for 35mm. Depending on which light source you use, however, you might need some type of additional condenser (for a condenser setup) or special 35mm mixing chamber (for dichroic head) to concentrate the light more efficiently.

I would like to take this opportunity to caution you and other readers away from the Beseler 23C with the Dichro II color head. (I cannot comment on the 4x5 version, which I have never tried.) Mine has a terrible hot spot (which is definitely a function of the head, not a problem with using the wrong lens, as some have suggested), which requires a 50% edge burn when printing anything over 35mm. I have struggled to correct this problem, trying absolutely everything in the book, everything I have learned in nearly 40 years of experience, but to no avail. I finally came to the rather astonishing conclusion that it was simply a design flaw of the head, which throws light directly from the bulb down onto a diffusion disc, rather than reflecting it, at a 90 degree angle, into a mixing chamber as Omegas do. Add to that the chronic alignment problem caused by having a tiltable lens board, surely one of the most utterly useless and troublesome features ever built into an enlarger, and you have one big pain in the ass. I worked in professional color labs in NYC for more years than I care to admit, including Time/Life, Duggal, Berkey K&L, and Tartaros (all but the last manure factories, but thats another story), and I NEVER ONCE saw a Beseler enlarger in use ANYWHERE. There was nothing but Omega D-series and a handful of Dursts. Most professional printers I knew would rather have chewed on barbed wire and broken glass than have been forced to use a Beseler. A word to the wise.

I have seen Omega D2s with condenser heads for sale for as little as $200 to $250, $300 to $400 with a cold light, $500 to $600 with a color head. This is one of the great used bargains in photography today. Boards, carriers and spare parts are easily available at reasonable prices. If I hadnt been such an idiot and bought this f**king Beseler, thats what I would have.

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-- Peter Hughes (leonine@redshift.com), June 22, 1999.

I can't comment on Beseler, because I use a DeVere 54. (I wouldn't particularly recommend it, but it works, and is cheap.) Using my 54 with a cold head for 35mm certainly works, without hot spots, but the enlarging times are quite long because most of the light is lost. This is only a problem with dense (overexposed) negatives and split- grade printing, when total exposures of 5 minutes and greater are common. It would probably be fine with a colour head.

-- Alan Gibson (Alan.Gibson@technologist.com), June 23, 1999.

I have a Beseler 45 with a Zone VI cold light head and it works just fine for 35mm.

-- Ed Buffaloe (edbuffaloe@earthlink.net), June 23, 1999.

No problems with the Beseler 23CIII I use at work for 35mm and 6x6. I like the tilting lens board, perspective control is handy for the architectural work I do there.

-- Tim Brown (brownt@ase.com), June 24, 1999.

Bill - I have used a variety of enlargers over the years foe 35mm black & white work and the Bessler 45 is my all-time favorite. It is rock solid. The ones I used had condensers with an simple adjusting knob to set the coverage from 35mm to 4x5 inches. You will need a good 50mm lens for your 35mm work. I don't have any experience with Bessler color heads. I have also used the 23C with condenser for 35mm work, It was fine. But I recommend the 45, at least for B&W.

-- Greg Fight (fight@gate.net), July 10, 1999.