Collin,
I picked up my Durst L184 10x10 enlarger from my local lab in their dusty
storage area for $600.
The wanted it gone but too stingy to give it away!!
Contact some of your local pro labs as most are putting their excess big
enlargers out to pasture and just use one or two conventional big (8x10)
enlargers. The digital printing onslaught!!
J Burke

"Collin Brendemuehl" wrote in message
m...
Progress is being made.
I'm fixing up an old Korona 8x10.
It'll be a bit lighter than the 2-D and a little prettier.

One reason I stopped 8x10 earlier but am now willing to restart was
the issue of enlarging. 8x10 enlargers are either very expensive or
very large. (Midwest Photo has one of each, a very nice Beseler
that's reasonably compact and a 6 ft+ condenser unit.) But @ the
Dayton Hamvention I picked up a Kaiser copy stand that will be perfect
for mounting the 8x10 body onto, allowing me to do reasonable
enlargements with relative ease.

For an enlarging lens I purchased one of those barrels for sale by
Dagor77 on eBay. They look very practical for enlarging b&w. He
sells some pretty old stuff and some nice, reasonably modern stuff as
well. Some even goes cheap, which is always nice.

For a taking lens I'm looking at one of the APO Nikkor units that will
be either (a) mounted in a #3 shutter or (b) used as a barrel lens.
At least it has a diaphram.

And since Midwest has the desired film ... this should be a fun Fall.
It'll take me that long to finish putting everything together. The
hard part will be finding a working copal/compur #3 shutter for the
APO Nikkor.

Does this sound like a reasonable approach to getting started? (Other
people's insights are always appreciated.) Anyone here use those APO
Nikkors for shooting?

Collin