Building my own darkroom questions!

[KateTurpin]

Hi!

I'm a commercial photographer and have been out of the darkroom for 8 years but I have inherited a Beseler 45mxII enlarger and I am very excited to finally get back to the analog world. But my darkroom knowledge is a bit rusty. The enlarger did not come with an enlarger lens, lensboard, or timer. I will be mainly developing and printing 6x6 film from my Hasselblad and some 35mm film every now and then. Is there a lens you would suggest that could do a good job of printing both? I've been looking at the Beseler 75mm f/3.5 and the Rodenstock 75mm f/4.5 Rogonar-S. What lensboard do I get? Timer recommendations? Thank you!

 

[webestang64]

I use nothing but Rodenstock lenses. 50mm for 35mm film, 80mm and 105mm for 120 film and 135mm for 4x5. All my lenses use the 4x4 inch board with 39mm screw mount.

 

[480sparky]

A good rule of thumb for any film format is to use what is considered a 'standard' lens for the camera shooting that format. If your enlarger has the ability to raise the head (or tilt so you can project the image across the room), then use something slightly longer.

Which timer depends a lot on what you want to do. If you're just going to have it turn the lamp on then off, then the cheapest timer will suffice. But if you're going to be doing a lot of dodging & burning, using contrast filters etc, then go with a better digital model.

 

[webestang64]

But if you're going to be doing a lot of dodging & burning, using contrast filters etc, then go with a better digital model.

While my Beseler uses a Ilford 500 head and I use a GraLab 450 digital timer for my other enlarger. It's a nice little piece that has lasted for over 30 years of use.

 

[Bill The Lurker]

75mm lens should be fine for your uses, will slightly limit the size of the largest print you can make from 35mm, but your enlarger should go up a good long ways so you might find that it's fine

the beseler lens is probably a rebranded something else (quite likely a rodenstock, in fact). the rogonar-s is from rodenstock's "second tier" lenses, better than the plain rogonar and not as good as the rodagon and rodagon-s. both are probably pretty OK lenses, but not brilliant.

look on ebay for stuff, including lenses. really good enlarging lenses are crazy cheap often. i see a bunch of apo rodagons, really superb lenses, for a couple hundred bucks. the rogonar-s's go for under 100 bucks in the shorter lengths you're looking at. also lens boards and all that crap.

practically any timer will be fine, i have never noted anything being "way better" than anything else. you can also just count.

 

[timor]

Hi!

I'm a commercial photographer and have been out of the darkroom for 8 years but I have inherited a Beseler 45mxII enlarger and I am very excited to finally get back to the analog world. But my darkroom knowledge is a bit rusty. The enlarger did not come with an enlarger lens, lensboard, or timer. I will be mainly developing and printing 6x6 film from my Hasselblad and some 35mm film every now and then. Is there a lens you would suggest that could do a good job of printing both? I've been looking at the Beseler 75mm f/3.5 and the Rodenstock 75mm f/4.5 Rogonar-S. What lensboard do I get? Timer recommendations? Thank you!

Very nice ! Is the interest in darkroom motivated commercially ? Or your own interest ?
In any case beseler is serious stuff. I think this is an official website
Enlargers | Beseler Photography

 

[Dave Colangelo]

@KateTurpin if you are anywhere near the Philly area I just got a load of timers from my local lab that was chucking stuff. I have an extra one that I'm happy to pass along to help you out.

As for lenses, I have just gotten into dark room stuff as well. As others have mentioned using the "standard lens" for the format is generally the way to go. I have been doing some medium format printing (from my hasselblad) with a Nikon 75mm enlarger lens yielding really good results.

You can find the manual for your enlarger here