Elwood 8x10 enlarger and Aristo cold light

I'm brand new to LF forum, having just registered minutes ago. I

actually have questions concerning three topics, but I believe they

are all related.

I have been using a Beseler 45mx with a 45 dichro colorhead for

printing on Ilford MG IV paper. I am making the switch to 8x10 and

have recently acquired an Elwood 8x10 enlarger (metal, not wood) that

has an Aristo 1212 cold light head. There is no negative carrier for

the Elwood.

My questions are:

1. Is the Elwood a pretty decent enlarger? (the price was very low)

2. If I cannot find a negative carrier, I'll need to make one for it.

Does anyone have one they can take a nice jpeg of and email it to me?

3. What is the heater for in the cold light, how do you print with it

vs. a diffused light source as in the Beseler dichro. I relize I'll

have to start using VC filters.

Thanks in advance.

David, I can't comment on the Ilford MG or the Aristo cold light head, but Elwood Enlargers are great fun! I've got a wood 8x10 and for the price it is probably the cheapest way to enlarge 8x10 negatives. They were professional grade machines and most have seen considerable usage, but as long as everything locks and is in moderate alignment it will do a credible job. One criticism I've heard is that the old Elwoods are impossible to get into alignment, but perfect alignment in 8x10 is IMHO not critical, or at least not as critical in the smaller formats since you really don't "enlarge' all that much when you start out with a big ol' honkin' negative in the first place. For negative carriers you might try Photo-Graphic Systems www.pgsys.com for a start. If you don't have a lens, I bought a new 229mm Copy Paragon there quite reasonably, they might have others. Other sources for Elwood negative carriers and Elwood parts are Midwest Photo Exchange and www.photomall.com. I don't know what the metal negative carriers look like, but mine is wood and is really an 8x10 picture frame thats thick enough to slide into the slot without letting too much light leak out. The negative is sandwiched between two pieces of glass and you'll have to experiment with what works best. I use anti-newton-ring glass for the top of the "sandwich." Some don't and at least one poster put I think ruby lith tape along the edges of the top glass to create an airspace between the surface of the negative and the glass, thereby eliminating the occurance of the dreaded newton rings. If you go the Newton glass route, there was a recent post on sources for newton glass on this forum. Part of the fun of Elwoods is that you can easily experiment, modify, or repair. Of course you need a darkroom with a tall cieling and will spend a lot of time on your knees printing, but enlarging 8x10 negs is a blast! Have fun and good luck!

I wonder if it's possible to upgrade the 1212 with one of the new light sources that Aristo makes for VC printing? I understand they are excellent.

 

One of the problems I've encountered with my 8x10 enlarger is finding below the lens filters. The largest I've found are 2" in diameter (the frames are 2.5" square). I suppose that one can get gels or polyesters, but they're expensive. Check out Steve Anchell's book "The Variable Contrast Pringing Manual". He has suggestions by Howard Bond and Joe Englander for reasonably priced above the lens filters. (Like Rosco's.) Ilford sells huge filters for above the lens filtration for about $15 per filter. (Again, expensive.)

 

Another possibility is to use graded paper and develop in two baths of Selectol Soft and Dektol to have some control over contrast, a little less than 1/2 grade. (See Ansel Adams, The Print.) There are some beautiful graded papers out there.

 

As for enlarging lenses, consider an old Componon 240mm. I found one for a very reasonable price. Watch out for fungus, though. Another possibility is a G-Claron 250mm, which can double as a wide-field 8x10 lens. Or, an Apo-Gerogon. But, I hear these aren't as good for enlarging as for copying. But, I've also heard that people get good results with these for 8x10 enlarging.

 

The heater for the Aristo helps to stabilize the consistency of the light source. Cold-lites are notorious for unstable light output. Contact Alan, the Technician at Aristo. He will have a lot of helpful suggestions. Best would be to get either a Metrolux or Zone VI compensating enlarging timer. But, they're a little spendy new. I found one used for $125.

 

You might see if you can find a negative carrier for an Omega, Beseler, Zone VI, etc., and adapt it for use on your Elwood?

 

Good luck. I had an old Elwood, metal 8x10 enlarger, and I sold it without ever having the chance to use it. At the time, I wasn't able to build a darkroom.

I use this combination. The Elwood works OK but it does make my 23C seem like a precision machine. I used graded papers for years and recently switched to VC. I changed the 1212 lamp to the newer V54 bulb. This is better with VC and cost is around $200. When I did this I modified the head mounting to add a filter drawer for 12x12 VC filters and bought a few Ilford ones from Calumet. I mount the filters on a black foamboard with about a 9x11 hole cut out. This makes it easier to change filters in the dark and keeps my fingers off of them. Another, and probably better, option is to just get the hardest and softest filters and learn to print using different exposures through each to vary contrast. If you did this you could skip the filter drawer and find two optically good under lens filters for hard and soft. I think these are 58 and 47. I installed a Zone VI photocell and use their compensating metronome for timing.

 

I can send you a picture of the carrier but it's a one piece casting. So will be hard to duplicate directly. I have built a masking carrier out of aluminum hardware. Nothing fancy. I would get some good glass from someplace like Focal Point and then build a carrier around that. Also I hope you're looking on Ebay as parts do show up. Also look there for lenses as you can probably get one pretty cheap. I use a 240 but this is also my 4x5 enlarger. I would get a 300 if you're only using it for 8x10.

 

I mounted mine on a large, but low, homebuilt stand. I sit in a chair when printing. I sized everything so I could fit the 8 ft ceiling. Lot's of 2x12's and 3/4" plywood so this stand is very heavy. Probably overkill. Also unless you have very long arms you will need some sort of device to turn the focus when looking into a magnifier. I use the old trick of a 1"x3" piece of wood about 3 ft long. Make a hole the size of the focus knob at one end and then cut a small slot out from the hole bottom to the board end. Squeezing the bottom clamps down on the focus knob and lets you adjust it.

 

Let me know if you have any other questions.

Thanks John, Neil, and Chuck. I've been enlightened by your comments

and will be pursuing the avenues suggested. I've already found a negative carrier at pegasys.com (if they still have it) and am in the process of finding the right lens and filters, and also the two-bath developer. I'll need to decide where I'll be mounting it, whether to the floor or on a small raised platform. I really liked the idea of the focusing extension....much easier than fashioning an extension "cable" like Beseler offers for their enlargers.

I am enjoying the forum, wishing I had found it years ago.

David

I have an Aristo on my D2 and have had it for about 12+ years. They are great! The heater cord is to be plugged into a 110 wall outlet about 5-10 minutes before printing to warm the bulb up. With this you will have no fluctuations when printing at any speed due to the bulb. The other plug gets plugged into your timer. I find my head, without filters, prints at a grade 3. Alot of the time this is fine giving me rich prints (due to the density of my negatives ect.) As stated above, someone mentioned Selectol/Dektol, you can also use Dr. Beers 2 part developer to chemically tweak the contrast or you can use the filters. I usually develop my negs according to my system (Zone) and I print without filters but there are times when I need to filter something. If you want to do split printing, I recommend starting with the "below the lens" filters so you don't have to move anything other than a small filter holder under the lens.

HELP! HELP! HELP! While at a metal salvage yard, I found a Elwood 8X10 metal enlarger. The bellows, negative carrier and lens board were missing, as well as the light source. But for $5.00 I felt I should try and resurrect it. They had to use a forklift to get it into my truck, and I immediately scurried home with my prize.

Does anyone know of a source for spare parts - lamphouse, carriers and lensboards?

I'm also looking for some photos and a copy of the instruction manual. Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Charles Foster

wdragon@crosslink.net