mixing box

[BobRob]

I am looking for a 35mm light mixing box and plate for my Devere 504
that has an Ilford 500 mg head.

Bob Robertson....geetoo

[B&W Neil]

If you need one in a hurry try Odyssey as they are De Vere these days. Also watch the auction sites as De Vere items do come up from time to time.

Best of luck.

Neil.

[BobRob]

thanks everyone

Bob

[B&W Neil]

I have just had another idea on this one. Have you thought of using a larger mixing box instead of the dedicated one? With my 203 I use the 6x7 box for 6x7, 6x6 and 35mm. With my 504 I use the 5x4 box for 5x4, 6x7, 6x6 and 35mm. The 500 MG head has a very high output and the light source for 35mm work when using a larger mixing box is very even and strong. Never felt the need myself to acquire the other light boxes :-)

Neil.

[BobRob]

Hi Neil

well I have a 5 x 4 box and am lead to think I would get shorter exposure times on 35mm
with the correct size box ? Opinions seem to vary on this question

However, prompted by Bill Mar. Iv'e stripped the 5 x 4 box and fitted a new card-inner and given the whole box a good clean.
This has resulted in a 40 % gain in light intensity on the baseboard.

So progress has been made...many thanks to all for advice offered.

Bob

[Dave miller]

Hi Neil

well I have a 5 x 4 box and am lead to think I would get shorter exposure times on 35mm
with the correct size box ? Opinions seem to vary on this question

However, prompted by Bill Mar. Iv'e stripped the 5 x 4 box and fitted a new card-inner and given the whole box a good clean.
This has resulted in a 40 % gain in light intensity on the baseboard.

So progress has been made...many thanks to all for advice offered.

Bob

You will reduce exposure times by fitting the correct box, but it may not be worth the effort or expense if you are only occasionally printing the smaller sizes. On my Durst, for example, the exposure time jumps 5 fold if I try to print 35mm with the 5x4 box rather than the 6x7 box I normally employ for the smaller formats.

[B&W Neil]

I have never felt the need for lesser exposure times with the output from a De Vere with a MG Head fitted so have kept with the larger mixing box for all formats. De Veres at 35mm were mainly used commercially where lots of 10x8 were needed to be churned out (such as newspaper darkrooms etc) and exposure times of 5 secs or so would have been handy.

Neil.

[BobRob]

Thanks again for all your comments, I am thinking very hard about making a mock-up
light box to establish what gains there would be if any.

I have worked out the 35mm light box would be in the region of 60 mm wide when viewed from the front can anyone confirm this please or give me the width of the 6 x 7 box to
point me in the right direction.

many thanks.

Bob.

[BobRob]

Well It seems I was way off track with this one, superb information from Neil and help from Bill-Mar has enabled me to discover that my lightbox has been ''modified'' by the previous owner to include an extra dense diffusion window, Seems all I have to do is remove this and I solve my dimmness...the enlarger and maybe me as well ?

Anyway many thanks to all who helped, just shows the value of our comunity.

Bob

[B&W Neil]

Bob,
I am glad between us all we got to the bottom of this and solved the problem. Now it is onwards and upwards and get creative with your lovely De Vere :-)

Neil.

[BobRob]

And Finaly !!

sadly the removal of either of the diffusers created a most unwelcome loss of even lighting across the negative, so It's back to two sheets and just keeping the light box clean..I still have about a 10% increase compared to the V35 enlarger but I can live with that.

As dave said a while ago it's now no longer worth the effort of trying to get the last 10 %

thanks to all.

Bob.