How do I load film and work my besser enlarger

[Sarahsarahsarah]

I have a bessler enlarger...i have no idea where to put film to make an image appear...i even cut some film to get it to fit on glass tray...what do I do?

 

[Sarahsarahsarah]

Wil this forum inform my phone when there's a reply?

 

[Gary A.]

Typically, there is a negative carrier, a hinged sandwich thing which fits between the enlarger head (where the light hangs out) and the focusing bellows.

 

[compur]

See manual here:
http://www.jollinger.com/photo/cam-coll/manuals/enlargers/beseler/Beseler_45M.pdf

 

[Dave442]

Hey, that's my enlarger! Actually that looks like the big 45MCRX and I had the smaller 23C II.

You need to put the film in a negative carrier and that then goes in that gap you opened up by pulling the lever on the side. The Beseler negative carriers are round and there are versions for each film size. I had the 35mm carriers in the basic and the negatrans models.

Buy these used. You can easily pick up 4 or 5 used ones for the price of one new one. The basic holder for 35mm film will hold a typical film strip with just one frame exposed to the light path.

The upper tray with the hinged cover is where you can put a contrast filter. You can also put a contrast filter in the same holder that currently has the red filter located below the lens. When using filters below the lens I usually just hold by hand and move it around so any imperfections are not focused on one part of the image.

Check what lenses you have, you want a lens that is for the size of film you are enlarging. I had two lenses and just one lensboard, but if you expect to frequently change between negative sizes then a lensboard for each lens is nice to have.

There are two sets of bellows, one is to adjust for the size of negative you are enlarging and the other is the one you will use all the time and is to focus the image after you have set the size of enlargement by raising and lowering the unit along the frame rails.

Might need to do some maintenance, oil the rails, check and adjust alignment, clean the condenser. It looks like you have the head off to one side of the frame. In normal use it should be in the middle, between the two side rails. You could then slide the head horizontally to change the crop of the image without moving the paper holder and then move it back to the center for the next negative.