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Making a very quick & cheap diffusion enlarger?
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PostPosted: Sat Sep 27, 2014 12:42 pm    Post subject: Making a very quick & cheap diffusion enlarger? Reply with quote

I have an extra Beseler 67 enlarger. The lamphouse is completely empty aside from the bulb. Condensers were sold separately so there's nothing of value inside. An empty lamphouse + stand is pretty much worthless. Full set-ups don't even sell for that much.

Is there a way to convert it into a diffusion enlarger? I'm thinking painting the inside white and making some ground-glass to put in the bottom. Easily less than $15. Even illumination may be difficult to achieve so are there other, better ways to go about this?

I already have all the additional beseler accessories that would be needed. Filters, heat-absorbing glass, negative carriers, lenses, lens boards. That's some of the reason I thought it would be fun to experiment instead of just buying a diffusion head. It's also that it's of no use as it sits. If the conversion makes it somewhat useful, even if the results are not technically perfect, I consider that a win.

Thoughts or advise welcome!
Thanks everyone!
~Marc


PostPosted: Sun Oct 05, 2014 6:35 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

While I don't know much about it, sounds like a good idea to me. I wonder is crinkled aluminium foil might bounce the light around better than white paint.

Phil


PostPosted: Sun Oct 05, 2014 11:04 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

PWhite214 wrote:
While I don't know much about it, sounds like a good idea to me. I wonder is crinkled aluminium foil might bounce the light around better than white paint.

Phil


That can cause uneven lighting. I suggest a bunch of LED's, you can get 160 LED lamps from ebay for about £15. Diffuse it with a piece of translucent plastic, 2 layers of white plastic milk bottle will do the job.

EDIT: put as much distance as you can between the leds and the plastic for better diffusion. Dont use apertures smaller than f8 when enlarging because depth of focus may cause the texture of the plastic to show through. Translucent perspex (plexiglass) would be ideal.

Search this number on ebay for the type of light i reccomend: 121252158439

The forum won't allow my link. Its been a PITA this last couple of days.


PostPosted: Sat Oct 11, 2014 12:07 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Ah, sorry I didn't realize anyone had commented on this.

I like the idea of the LED conversion. Maybe if I was starting from scratch but retrofitting it into the top of the box would probably be difficult. Plus it's battery powered so I can't link it to the darkroom timer.

I have an old Federal enlarger that's a diffusion system. I hated working with it because of the carrier. I know it has two pieces of ground-glass. The top one looks sandblasted in the center only. Maybe I'll take a few notes from that.


PostPosted: Sat Oct 11, 2014 9:14 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

themoleman342 wrote:
Ah, sorry I didn't realize anyone had commented on this.

I like the idea of the LED conversion. Maybe if I was starting from scratch but retrofitting it into the top of the box would probably be difficult. Plus it's battery powered so I can't link it to the darkroom timer.

I have an old Federal enlarger that's a diffusion system. I hated working with it because of the carrier. I know it has two pieces of ground-glass. The top one looks sandblasted in the center only. Maybe I'll take a few notes from that.


I never used an enlarger timer. I can count manually using a seconds timer


PostPosted: Thu Nov 13, 2014 12:57 pm    Post subject: Reply with quote

Is there such a thing?


PostPosted: Fri Nov 14, 2014 10:32 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

Quote:
Is there such a thing?


Question


PostPosted: Fri Nov 14, 2014 10:51 am    Post subject: Reply with quote

I worked a bit on a diffuse large format enlarger head ~15 years ago. With one tube it is hard or dark to get good diffuse light with homogeneous illumination.
A Ulbricht sphere layout would be great for homogenity - no light direct on the ulbricht sphere output hole, all light must be reflected in the difusse white sphere. But much light is lost.

Today with cheap LED panel I would try to get a panel much bigger than the largest film format as lightsource. And some diffusing material in front of it. Probably mirror box around it.