is this a good enlarger?

[Benjamin Marks]

It was my first enlarger, if you don't count the Bessler 23-C's in my college darkroom. It is not as user-allignable as it should be. It will work, but with darkroom gear going for a song these days, I'd hold out for something sturdier.

Ben Marks

 

[JohnTF]

I just found this enlarger on craigslist. It is an Omega B22. I am in the process of building a darkroom space in my basement so I will obviously need an enlarger.

http://knoxville.craigslist.org/pho/1334698736.html

Is it worth buying?

Used one for years, sold them at the shop I worked at.

They came in a package with two Omega lenses on lens boards, of medium or less quality, in the old smaller diameter mount, so if you want to put a more recent hi quality lens on it, you will need to adjust the mounting board. Modern enlarging lenses I believe are Leica Thread Mount.

Also had film holders for 35mm and 6x6cm included.

APO is always a welcome mark on an enlarging lens. ;-)

The old coatings on the Omega lenses were soft, and would dissolve in alcohol-- I found out, when I cleaned the lens with "lens cleaner" .

Not much point in shooting with a Leica and printing with a cheap old tech. lens. A modern Nikkor el, or any APO will show a difference.

They also came with an auxiliary condenser that sat on top of the regular condenser, for use only with 35mm, it just drops in when you take off the top.

Sometimes the adjustment knob that locks the height broke, it was aluminum, a known defect, and Omega replaced them. If it is stripped or broken, it will not hold its height.

The normal base was just too small, but it was very easy to fabricate a larger one from a piece of counter top, it used standard mounting nuts.

The aluminum beam was nice, light, and the motions were smooth, make sure the counter balance spring is intact.

Still, it is a compact, decent unit, easy to use, but -- you want all the pieces that came with it, and any other stuff he has lying about to sweeten the deal, timers, trays, lenses, etc.

Price is not particularly good, a lot of these are given away or tossed. Without all the parts, not a good deal.

Vintage, -- 1960's, new price, $125.

With a good lens, larger board, you can make good prints with this.

Last I heard, Igor had an enlarger in the garage waiting for someone to take away, heck, there is one in my garage, ;-).

They really tend to last as long as you want them to, and the lenses easily cost more than my 45m Beselers.

Did you check Freecycle?

Regards, John

 

[dap]

Question: I'll need to acquire an easel and a timer, among other trinkets. Does the timer need to be matched to the enlarger, or are they generic devices? Also, darkroom clocks seem to be rather expensive. Why?

They are pretty generic. I am partial to kearsarge digital timers, but any will do (do yourself a favor and buy one with a foot switch - it makes dodging and burning much easier). As far as the easel goes I prefer 4 blade models, and I would be willing to pop for a good one. Working with a crappy easel is pretty frustrating.

 

[thomasw_]

If you need longer print development time, try Amidol.

Not to mention that you get the best blacks!

 

[JohnTF]

After starting a thread or two around here basically asking 'Can I put a darkroom in my bathroom?", I've ordered a B-22, so I hope it's a decent enlarger. I don't see myself shooting medium format, much less anything larger. Small and light cameras are good.

If it lasts me as long as Al's has lasted for him, I'll be doing prints when I'm 106. Not a bad thought. The boat would be nice, too.

Question: I'll need to acquire an easel and a timer, among other trinkets. Does the timer need to be matched to the enlarger, or are they generic devices? Also, darkroom clocks seem to be rather expensive. Why?

This enlarger is basically an on off enlarger, with an inline toggle, so any timer that is a switch will work.

I like the small time-o-lites for the enlarger, but the larger ones, and the Gra Labs are fine. I always have several of the larger ones for timing processing, washing, and film developing.

Over the years, they just seem to pop up at almost nothing prices, though my first one cost me an entire summer's work to buy.

For B&W, I develop the paper for a minimum of 2 minutes, and use two fixing baths, -- you do not want to over fix, so I reset the other timer hanging over the fix to make sure I do not, and yes, I use the third large timer on the dry side of the darkroom to time the washing time for fiber prints in the archival washer. The larger timers are also ideal for your agitation intervals in film processing. RC paper is easier, but it is RC. ;-)

You can get by with less, and keep an eye out for freebies and other deals as you see them.

I use a borderless easel, but would like a Saunders.

As stated in my other remarks, I found the B22 baseboard too small to move the easel around, so just cut a new one from some laminated counter stock, and drilled some holes to add the insert nuts to bolt it to its new home. It mounts with plastic knurled screws, probably 1/4 20, same as tripods?

Have fun, and do not clean the old Omega Lenses with Isopropanol lens cleaner -- I removed half the lens coating on my old Omega lenses.

You will want a good enlarging lens.

Regards, John