What about using more than one enlarger?

[Bob Carnie]

An enlarger is only as good at the person operating it.

Some here would have better prints using a coke bottle as a lens than others that talk about but never make good prints.

[dpurdy]

To me storage space or cabinets are more important than saving setup time. I have two enlargers but one is permanently parked under the stairs behind the furnace. I am constantly wishing I had more cabinet space. Maybe humidity controlled archival storage.

When doing color at the rental lab I always rent the room with 2 and use both. A little harder to totally concentrate on one image that way.. but I am paying for time.
Dennis

[grahamp]

I have two Beseler 4x5 enlargers in my 8' x 9' space. One is set up with the 6x7 mixing chamber in the 45S head, and the other has the 4x5 mixing chamber. The 11x14 masking frame usually lives on the medium format setup, and the 20x16 frame on the 4x5. This sames a little time in locating the correct lens and carrier, especially if I am working on multiple formats. Since the 45s heads can be exchanged, or a condenser head swapped in, I have enough redundancy.

Though I still have a Durst M605 and F30 broken down and in storage!

Graham

[MartinP]

You may find it convenient for variable-contrast printing to have an under-lens filter-holder fitted on one enlarger, then you can burn in with varying filtration very consistently, without worrying about the dichroic heads not matching between enlargers and also without twiddling dials a lot. Handy for split-grade too if you like that.

[raucousimages]

Keep them. You will find a use. If nothing else you can dedicate them to specific formats.
Saves swapping lenses.

This is my setup

Elwood for 5X7 and 8X10
Saunders for medium format and 4X5
Vivitar for just 35mm
Besseler MX45 condenser and cold light 110-4X5 for guests
Small Omega and Durst for teaching kids
Besseler with 3 heads in storage.

[graywolf]

A pair of enlargers for your largest format is the bee's knees. Smaller enlargers seem more convenient, but the bigger ones are more stable. There are always the trade offs of space, weight, cost, etc. If you have a portable darkroom, a floor standing 8x10 enlarger is not going to work well. In my bathroom/darkroom I have to be able to lift the enlarger onto the sink counter, also I have to be able to walk between it and the toilet, those are kind of real limitations.

Of course if you have a large dedicated darkroom, you do not have those limitations. You may, however, have a height limitation. You also run into tradeoffs of how large a print you can do, it takes a lot of space to do large prints.

On the other hand, if you are working entirely by yourself, having to expose the paper, develop it, hang it to dry, then start another, there really is no need for more than one enlarger. When you are just doing the printing; and handing off the processing to someone else, or a daylight feed processing machine, then having more than one enlarger will increase your throughput quite a lot.

[Bertil]

I started my printing long back with an Opemus Axiomat II, condensor, for 6x6 to 35mm (took some time to learn how to deal with uneven light for 6x6, but I managed in the end, it was OK for 35mm).

Then I got a more modern one, a LPL C770 MX with colour head for 6x7 and less, and put the Opemus in a wardrobe (where it still is!).

Got into 4x5 and managed to get a DeVere 504 (colour head) - great machine! But also a Durst Laborarator 138 S (condensor (and also spot light)).
Since in fact I could use the Durst for all my formats (save my 8x10 which will go as contact prints) I thougt to get rid of all the others. But I didn't, and I'm glad for that!

It's great, as many now has pointed out in this thread, to have several enlargers going, and thus the possibility to work with several negatives at the same time, and for different negs choosing different enlargers with different kinds of light systems. For a long time I put the LPL in the wardrobe (together with my Opemus), but was Very happy when I saw the possibility of rearranging the darkroom to get it back into my darkroom, made a lot of things easier and saved time.

Most of the time I use the LPL for 6x6 and 35 mm, the DeVere for 4x5 and middle format up to 6x9 (roughly the same type of light system), and the Durst for 5x7 and others that profit from the condensor light. Would be nice to have the coldhead insert for the Durst, but don't know how to get one.

If you have space, have as many enlargers as possible!

BTW, you don't, necessarily, need an enlarger for contact prints (Weston and many other just used a hanging lamp above the contact frame).

/Bertil