philips pcs 2000 negative carrier

[nehril]

I have a Philips PCS 2000 enlarger, and I would like to start making

my own b&w prints from 6x6 negatives. The negative carrier that I got

with the enlarger is for 35mm, so I need a new carrier. The carrier

consists of two parts, two metal pieces that actually sandwich the

negative, which snap into a larger plastic cartridge-like thingie

that in turn gets inserted into the enlarger.

 

Are negative carriers fairly generic, in that I can get any 6x6

carrier to snap into the cartridge? Or am I stuck looking for a

Philips-specific carrier system? Google has no information on this

subject.

[kent_schilling2]

You might try this site http://members.aol.com/Centuri98/philips.html

It has the most information regarding Philips enlargers on the web. It also has a bulletin board where you can post a request and maybe someone will have an extra negative carrier for you. Philips are great enlargers but parts are very difficult to find. Good luck.

[derek_simpson]

Parts are very rare - the enlarger is no longer produced but has a bunch of devotees inc myself. Interchangeable ? no - though someone will assuredly contradict and say that such and such will fit - which would be fine. The carrier would be fairly easy to cobble together out of metal sheet or perhaps easier a glass/acrylic sandwich. I use one sheet of acrylic cut to size to press 6x6 slides flat from above and it works fine. Not hard to cut a couple of pieces which sandwich by taping along one edge. For those frozen in horror at what they have just read there is no problem keeping the acrylic clean and it doesn't melt under the light and it is much easier to engineer at home than glass. More of a problem is that you may need a different set of condenser lenses above the slide/neg (or is the 2000 the one without condenser ?)- without that the illumination across the print will be very uneven and frustration will ensue. Don Lindich at the site mentioned above knows all there is to and when he has time quite often answers message board questions hisself privately. Good guy - good site.

[vartan_grigorian]

This is exactly the reason for avoiding obsolete, unsupported used products. I made a similar mistake by buying a used Omega enlarger in the UK where parts are available, but only from one source and at a very high price. Maybe the 'devotee' would like to buy your enlarger for spare parts? You can then use the money for an enlarger for which you can get what you need.

[david_goldfarb]

From the "better late than never" department: I just acquired a PCS 2500 enlarger, and the literature that came with it has some info on the 2000. It looks like the standard neg carrier is the same as the one I have: a universal negative carrier with four adjustable blades and interchangeable masks. In the place of the fixed masks that fit into the negative carrier, Philips offered two glass inserts--anti-newton glass on top and plain glass on the bottom--to convert the negative carrier into a glass negative carrier, and then the adjustable masking blades can be used to mask the negative. I have the glass inserts, and they would be very easy to fabricate. The glass needs to be cut to size and beveled at the edges to fit the negative carrier.

 

The 2000 is a diffusion enlarger, so condensers are not a problem, but Philips did make a 6x6 mixing chamber as an add-on accessory, so if the enlarger didn't come with it, I think you would be stuck.

 

The 2500 is a nicely made enlarger with many advanced features, like a tilting lens stage and column alignment capabilities, but indeed, find one with all the accessories you think you'll need, because you won't find them easily down the road. Fortunately, mine was a fairly complete set with all the available condenser neg mask options and other upgrades.