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Author Topic: Durst enlarger 138  (Read 82562 times)

KevinA

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Durst enlarger 138
« on: January 31, 2015, 08:41:33 am »

Not a for sale as its for anyone that wants to come and get it, Norwich UK.
5x7 colour Durst CLS1000 floor standing enlarger that does wonderful B&W.
I've got two and just need one as its a very small darkroom, unusable with both enlargers in there or I would keep it. Bought a second newer model because it has loads of accessories with it.
« Last Edit: January 31, 2015, 09:24:43 am by KevinA »
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PeterAit

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Re: Durst enlarger 138
« Reply #1 on: January 31, 2015, 10:44:11 am »

I had to laugh at myself - when I first saw your post I misread the title as "Dust Enlarger." Just what every photographer needs!
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Eric Myrvaagnes

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Re: Durst enlarger 138
« Reply #2 on: January 31, 2015, 11:27:50 am »

That Durst is a wonderful enlarger. If I were still doing wet photography, and if I were on your side of the pond, I'd grab it in a minute.
My lowly Beseler still sits in my darkroom, unused.
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-Eric Myrvaagnes (visit my website: http://myrvaagnes.com)

KevinA

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Re: Durst enlarger 138
« Reply #3 on: February 01, 2015, 06:33:00 am »

If it was up to me I would have it standing as an ornament in the corner of a room.
I really only used it for B&W, the first time I used it I thought I had turned into Ansel Adams, the print quality went up several notches. Hard to say what this enlarger has that others I used did not have, probably incredibly even illumination.
It will break my heart to see it go for scrap, its still a brilliant machine, the like of which we may never see again.
Someone please come and get it!!!
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NancyP

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Re: Durst enlarger 138
« Reply #4 on: February 03, 2015, 09:58:16 am »

I am on the wrong side of the pond. Maybe there's a camera club or a school that would want it?
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Garnick

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Re: Durst enlarger 138
« Reply #5 on: May 10, 2015, 02:16:26 pm »

Hi Nancy,

Quite the opposite to Peters response, I actually came very close to shedding a tear or two when I read your post.  It was a sad day when I finally had to admit that the colour/B&W darkroom was no longer viable.  I had the same model Durst that you have described and it had been in use since 1975.  I was on my second power supply unit(twice repaired) and it was dying a slow death, so I knew the moment had arrived to push the OFF button for the last time.  I run a small custom lab here in Ontario, Canada and had been crossing over from analog to digital for almost a year before I pulled the plug on darkroom activities and started printing totally digital with Epson 4000s, 7600s, and since 2010 an SP9900 printer.  One Sunday afternoon I went to the lab to perform some general maintenance tasks.  At one point I decided that was the time.  I grabbed my wrenches and started disassembling the Durst and the floor standing 4x5 Devere enlarger as well.  By the time I was finished I had what amounted to a pile of metal, which was picked up the following day by the local Metal Recovery Guy.  I do sometimes miss the OLD darkroom days, but as time goes by those days fade like the old B&W prints from the turn of the century.  Prints that I am now restoring for my customers in a way that was not possible with analog procedures.  I still have some of my landscape silver prints hanging in my lab.  When someone looks closely at them they almost inevitably comment on the sharpness and detail therein.  They then ask if I had used the Unsharp Mask Filter to achieve such detail.  To their surprise I say that they were printed in the darkroom and that yes, indeed, with unsharp masks.  Of course at that point I'm prepared for the next question - how did you do that? So I settle in for a little lesson and sometimes we sit at the computer and I can show then how Phtotoshop uses the same process in a digital form to achieve the similar results.  It never ceases to amaze me how many "young" photographers have no idea where the processing procedures in such apps as Photoshop, Lightroom etc originated.  However, I guess the word "younger" says it all. 

So there you have it.  The Sunday afternoon ramblings of a vintage photographer still stuck, in my mind at least, in the silver era.  Not a bad place to be stuck, but I will freely admit that I love the Lightroom(no reference to the app in this case).  I wish you all good luck in finding a new home for the Durst Nancy.  Thanks for uncovering some fond memories as well.

Gary       



       
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Gary N.
"My memory isn't what it used to be. As a matter of fact it never was." (gan)

NancyP

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Re: Durst enlarger 138
« Reply #6 on: May 12, 2015, 08:40:40 pm »

I am not the owner. I have wished to set up a darkroom with salvaged 4 x 5 enlarger. I simply don't have space in my current one-tiny-bathroom flat. Film loading and developing in a light tight container are doable, simply with a dark tent.
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eyedear

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Re: Durst enlarger 138
« Reply #7 on: February 18, 2016, 11:44:25 am »

OMG i want this the only problem I am half a world away. Any chance it can be shipped. Thanks


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