enlargers a question

[Tballphoto]

Saw on emulsive website an article by a man who built his own enlarger system. The only thing that wasnt built into it was a spot for a grain focuser or filter set.

He used a regular camera lens to do it. That makes me ask a simple question.

What genuinely would be hindrances in making basic prints of bw negatives if i simply took an ugly functional 20$ 35mm camera off of fleabuy and tossed it on a tripod, flipped it to point down, popped the back open, and threw my scanners film holder on it with a light source in a box on top?

Versus spending 400$ plus shipping on a beselar cadet II and trying to modify a lens board to use a longer lens when i want to try 120 film in it?

 

[Ysarex]

Saw on emulsive website an article by a man who built his own enlarger system. The only thing that wasnt built into it was a spot for a grain focuser or filter set.

He used a regular camera lens to do it. That makes me ask a simple question.

What genuinely would be hindrances in making basic prints of bw negatives if i simply took an ugly functional 20$ 35mm camera off of fleabuy and tossed it on a tripod, flipped it to point down, popped the back open, and threw my scanners film holder on it with a light source in a box on top?

Versus spending 400$ plus shipping on a beselar cadet II and trying to modify a lens board to use a longer lens when i want to try 120 film in it?

Back in the good old days cameras often served double duty as enlargers. Think about old bellows style cameras. When I was a starving artist I built my first view camera from old enlarger parts. When my finances allowed me to move on I gave the "joedorf" to a friend who turned it into an enlarger.

 

[Rickbb]

Worst kept secret in photography is that an enlarger is just a camera with the light projected in reverse.

 

[Tballphoto]

Worst kept secret in photography is that an enlarger is just a camera with the light projected in reverse.

worst kept secret in photography is actually that being in focus matters

 

[dxqcanada]

Enlarger lenses are designed for flat field focus.
Many macro lenses are also optically designed this way.