grain focuser

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Does anybody know where I can get a grain focuser with a very long neck? I read about it in a book by Tim Rudman called "Master Printing Course." The neck is extra long so that when you raise the enlarger head to make large prints, you don't have to stretch your arm out way over your head. Sometimes its impossible to lower your eye down to easel level and at the same time raise your arm up to enlarger head. Thanks very much, Enrique

-- enrique (gitblisters@hotmail.com), May 09, 2002

Answers

Sounds like the "Patterson Major Focus Finder", don't know if it's still produced. A better alternative would be to buy or rig-up an extension handle for focusing.

-- Wayne DeWitt (wdewitt@snip.net), May 09, 2002.

I've used some Beseler enlargers that had a focusing knob on a cable that hung down so you didn't have to reach far.

-- Dave Willis (willisd@medicine.wustl.edu), May 09, 2002.

I have this problem with my early Zone VI enlarger. You have to be an orangutan to focus the silly thing for enlargements of any size.

I finally went to purchasing an extra enlarger lens. For example, I would prefer to use my 150mm for 2 1/4. But, I finally bought a 105mm El-Nikkor.

Come to think of it, I can still get a motorized focus device, but this is the exceptions.

-- neil poulsen (neil.fg@att.net), May 10, 2002.


You can find extensions like another writer mentioned at a science store that sells telescopes. You should be able to find one that will fit over the shaft of your enlarger focusing knob, or you can drill out the bushing as I did. I tried one on my Besseler and didn't like it--it was hard to get used to the 'feel' of it, but it is an option for very big enlargements.

-- Jay wolfe (bigbad810@hotmail.com), May 10, 2002.

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