Condenser Enlarger Vs. regular Enlarger

what's the difference between a condenser enlarger and a regular

enlarger? Also Im thinking of starting a darkroom in my dad's

storage room in the backyard... There are about two complete darkroom

kits that Beseler is selling, one is nearly

$500 http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bh5.sph/FrameWork.class?

FNC=ProductActivator__Aproductlist_html___249029___BEPM67VCYKQ___REG__

_CatID=546___SID=F361E984DF0

and the cadet one for a mere

$219 http://www.bhphotovideo.com/bh5.sph/FrameWork.class?

FNC=ProductActivator__Aproductlist_html___128650___BEC2K___REG___CatID

=546___SID=F361E984DF0

what would be the difference with the two enlargers?

Some folks would say the condenser enlarger *is* a regular enlarger. I would, since that's what I learned on. I tend to consider color head/diffusion and cold light enlargers the alternatives.

 

Rather than reinvent the wheel in this thread I'd suggest you research the extensive archives here on photo.net regarding enlargers. It's not that I don't want to answer your question, but this very question has been asked and answered dozens of times within the past year and possibly hundreds of times in the history of photo.net, all of which are carefully archived for reference.

 

You can use either the search utility built into photo.net (accessible at the top of the page) or try Google.com. With Google you have more extensive search options to narrow your search. If you wish to confine a Google search to a specific website, say, photo.net, you can enter "photo.net" in the domain section of the advanced search option. Or leave that blank and search the entire web.

 

Best wishes and do feel free to ask more specific questions that you can't find answers for in the archives. There may be more experienced people per square kilobyte on photo.net than anywhere else on the web.

I don't think one can cut and paste product info from the B&H Web site. I would avoid any Beseler "cadet" or "printmaker" enlarger. They have very weak columns. Check out ebay for a good used enlarger. There are many threads about which ones are good in this forum.

Lex,

 

I am curious as to the reasons you changed from a condenser enlarger to a difusion enlarger.

I generally like the look of an enlargement made from a condenser enlarger. May just be my imagination, but immages just seem a bit more sharp than the same negative enlarged with a diffusion enlarger. The diffusion enlargements show fewer dust specks, and imperfections.

 

That being said, I use the difusion/cold light head almost exclusively, even though I have both for my D2. I shoot anything from 35mm through 4x5 for enlargement, but the condenser set is only for 4x5. Even if I had the sets for 35mm, med format and 4x5, I'd stay with the cold light.

 

I can switch from format to format, lens to lens without the headache of changing condenser lenses.

Hi, Ian - The change from condenser to diffuser was more serendipity than choice. Before last year the last time I had darkroom access was 20 years ago when I was a photojournalist. All the darkrooms I worked in used condenser enlargers. When I was a kid starting out I had a condenser enlarger.

 

After the long hiatus I was itching to gain control of my b&w work again. I wanted to buy locally and the first really good enlarger I ran across at a good price was a Durst M605 with color head. Seemed like a good time to try something different since I was starting anew anyway.

 

Now I'd prefer a diffusion enlarger for most of my work, tho' I can see the benefits of a condenser for larger prints and specific characteristics. However since my darkroom is set up in a spare bathroom that doubles as the laundry room dust from clothing is a continual problem. A diffusion enlarger really helps minimize the dust problems - minor specks go unnoticed. I actually have to spend more time brushing off my paper just before printing than dusting negatives and my glass carrier.

 

The only trick was learning to adjust my film exposure and processing to suit the diffusion head. It's been a year and I'm still tweaking certain films, tho' others do just fine as-is. For example, TMX in 35mm and MF works best for me when nominally rated and developed. But just last week I tried a combination for FP4+ that works better than the negs I was getting exposed and processed nominally: exposing at EI 64 and shorting development around 15% of the recommended time. Prints beautifully with little effort, while I've struggled with FP4+ in the past.

 

If I got a condenser chances are I'd have to rethink certain films yet again. Just part of the fun.

Lex,

 

Thanks for your answer.

 

I am relatively new to "serious" B&W and am restarting my darkroom after a 1 year absence. I hope to experiment with different film/developer combinations, but in a logical fashion so that I can learn from it. Part of my restarting exercise is to decide whether to continue using my condenser enlarger or switch to a difusion. Although the appeal of dust being less of an issue with a difusion enlarger is attractive, I am also expecting that with increased development times for a difusion enlarger I will be on different set of characteristic curves which may give me results that I may find more to my liking.

 

Normally it wouldn't be a hard decision to switch to a difusion enlarger. Right now I am in a temporaty state of negative cash flow so I either have to put up with a bit of short-term financial pain or continue my quest with my condenser enlarger.

Mark, I have been using a Cadet for several months, and bought it based mainly on price (it was on sale for $99 at Freestyle at the time). Price and reasonably compact size are the main advantages.

 

There are several disadvantages to it. It only goes up to an 8x10 photo size. If you want to print a full frame as an 8x10, this is okay, but you can't crop a negative down any and still make an 8x10 out of it. You can reverse the column and hang it off a table or shelf to go bigger, but this involves taking the screws out of the baseboard, releveling, etc. In other words, it's a pain.

 

It is a basic filter-drawer-type enlarger. You could theoretically use it for color, but it would be a pain to do it. If you ever plan to do any color work, get an enlarger intended for it. For black and white with variable contrast paper, you need a filter kit. Ilford has a package that comes with VC paper and a set of filters for a reasonable price (much cheaper than separately). You have to trim the 3"x3" filters down to 2.5"x2.5" for the Cadet. If you ever anticipate doing any medium-format work, the enlargers for that are not a whole lot more than those that only do 35mm.

 

The lens that comes with it seems to be of reasonable quality for the low price. However, it seems to have better sharpness around f/8 or so, as opposed to f/11 or f/16. However, my exposure times for 5x7 prints were running about 3 seconds at f/11, which makes it very hard to time consistently. I just finished rigging up a switch box with half-wave rectifier that acts as a "dimmer" switch and that has helped tremendously in this regard. The on-off switch that comes with the enlarger is on the cord, close to the enlarger, and it is easy to jiggle the enlarger when turning it on and off. The switch box cured this problem, also. I tried lower-wattage bulbs of similar size, but the ones I tried didn't give uniform lighting across the negative. The Kodak C41 process film ("Black and White", they call it) is much denser and prints slower, so it's easier to print from that standpoint.

 

The column is not extrememly rigid, as noted above. Not actually a lack of strength, but of rigidity. Just don't shake the worktable while you're enlarging, and this is not a problem.

 

I think Lex mentioned dust with condenser enlargers. The little cans of compressed air/freon took care of my dust problem.

 

I don't care much for the negative holder that comes with the Cadet, but haven't used other enlargers to see if they are better (I assume they are). Anyway, the negative holder is awkward.

 

This may all sound like I'm putting the Cadet down, but that's not my intent. It is a decent deal for the money, although you can certainly pay more and get more. I am having a lot of fun with it, making some good prints, and plan to use it for a good while yet. If I stay interested in darkroom work, I will probably upgrade to a bigger/better enlarger at some point (which would require a bigger/better darkroom!)

 

One of the frustrations of buying an enlarger is lack of knowledge. Digital is coming on strong, and there should be some wonderful bargains available in used and new darkroom equipment. But if you've never used it, you don't know a good enlarger from a bad one, don't know if all the parts are there on a used one, etc., and that makes it awkward to get cranked up on your own. I have seen used enlargers that look like they are from before WW II, so there's a tremendous variety out there.

 

Be careful about working in a storage shed. Your chemicals need to be kept about 68 degrees F while you're working. If that shed is not heated or air-conditioned, you will have a terrible time holding proper temperatures at the wrong time of year (in addition to personal discomfort!)

 

You mention your dad's storage shed, so it sounds like you might be still in school? If so, check if the journalism people have a darkroom set up. It might help to visit with them and see the ins and outs of some actual machines before buying.

One additional benefit of a condenser enlarger, besides the added joy of continually using canned air and a dusting brush, is that the collimated light cast by the enlarger is really ideal for use as a light source while doing large format contact prints. Even paper negatives contact print a bit sharper under condensor light. And if you want the look of diffusion enlarging, throw a 1/8" thick sheet of translucent white plexiglass directly over the negative carrier. Viola, instant diffusion enlarger, which can easily be converted back to condensor mode.

this thread might already be dead, but i just thought i'd throw in a thought, that

if you want to just start out and are looking for a cheap enlarger, go second

hand. chances are that whatever you get will be better than the cadet and it

will be a lot cheaper. i started in the dark room last year and thought about

getting the cadet at b&h for 100 bucks, but then i looked in the loot and found

a girl looking to get rid of her printmaker 35 plus all her accessories (trays,

bottles, timer, easels, safe lights, processing cannisters, film spools,

everything, and more) for $150. it was a really inexpensive and easy way to

get up and running.