| Christopher-
you will not be happy with any attempt you might make to jury-rig your 35mm-only enlarger to do MF negatives. It's at best like putting lipstick on a pig- it's still a pig, and now it's annoyed. Keep an eye on Craigslist for a CHEAP medium-format enlarger. They can be had for very little. Even check with your local/regional camera stores- oftentimes folks will give/sell them enlargers that they will pass along at discount prices because they're hard to sell used. Heck, at that point, keep an eye out for a 4x5 enlarger. The same rule applies! Trying to mod the enlarger, unless you have access to a machine shop, will only lead to frustration and lots of wasted paper. You'll probably spend more on out-of-focus prints that waste paper than you would just buying a larger enlarger.
As to inexpensive paper, I'll put in another vote for doing your paper shopping at Freestyle. Try the Foma papers. For paper developer, although it is a little more challenging to mix up than Dektol, if you want inexpensive developer that lasts forever and consistently produces great results, Ansco 130 (made by Photographers' Formulary). The box SOUNDS expensive, but when you figure out how many prints you can run through it, it's not. |