new to the darkroom forum....:>)

[pnkbabu]

hi im lisa i have posted a few times as you can see....i just reciently..like yesterday purchased a Beseler printmaker 35.......cheap from ebay....i have loved photography and also taken a few classes ...but just now got to where i can purchase stuff for my darkroom......is there any comments on this enlarger...good and bad....thank you

 

[voodoocat]

What kind of lens did you get?

 

[pnkbabu]

well i dont have a lens yet the guy i am buying the enlarger has alot of stuff for sale so i am hoping to luck up on a lens also.....do you have and sugestions on type of lens....ummmm i am new to this so ....is there a diffrent lens to do diffrent things??like a larger picture or smaller....should i get a few diffrent types of lens or what.....also can you tell me some other things i need to get....i can not remember everything from class

 

[voodoocat]

Well the size of the lens you get is dependant on the format of film you wish to enlarge. If you are only going to enlarge 35mm, you can use a 50mm lens. If you are going to print medium format you'll need at least a 75mm. I use an 80mm nikkor enlarging lens for both medium format and 35mm.

I recommend you get a Nikkor or Rodenstock enlarger lens. These aren't too expsensive on ebay (got my 80mm nikkor for $41). The cheap enlarging lenses aren't worth the trouble. Those two brands are the only good lenses I know of. Perhaps motcon or ksmattfish can recommend another good lens.

 

[pnkbabu]

this may be stupid but why dosent the enlarger come with a lens???...

 

[voodoocat]

this may be stupid but why dosent the enlarger come with a lens???...

depends on the seller. too bad you didn't say something.. i have an enlarger, lens and timer for sale

 

[oriecat]

I think, repeat think, that the beseler printmaker 35 only does 35, thus the 35 in the name... so you'd really only need a 50mm lens.

 

[oriecat]

Did the auction say that a lens wasn't included or was it just not mentioned? Give us a link and we can look at it...

 

[ksmattfish]

recommend another good lens.

I use Nikkors and Schneiders. Schneiders come in Componon and Componar; the Componon is higher quality.

You shouldn't have any problem finding a 50mm from any of the brands mentioned on Ebay for pretty cheap (under $30, maybe under $20).

The Printmaker 35 will get you started. You'll probably want something more if you really get into BW printing. But that's okay, because they'll be even cheaper then.

Maybe if you excitedly show around you prints, and blabber on and on about photography, someone will just offer you the old (but nice!) enlarger that's been sitting in their closet/attic/basement unused for decades. That's what happened to me; a nice old guy gave me his 4x5 enlarger (Omega DII).