I would like some info on this equipment or where to find the info: WHAT I HAVE IS A SIMMON OMEGA SUPER CHROMEGA C DIACHRONIC COLOR HEAD ENLARGER WITH THE POWER CONVERTER. IT INCLUDES A SCHNEIDER 50MM LENS, A RODENSTOCK 75MM LENS AND, A RODENSTOCK 135MM LENS. THE FILM CARRIERS THAT I HAVE FOR IT ARE FOR 135MM, 6X7 AND A 6X6. YOU WILL HOWEVER NEED TO FIND A TIMER FOR IT. THOSE ARE RELETIVELY INEXPENSIVE. B&W PRINTING IS CAPABLE ON THIS ENLARGER AS LONG AS YOU CREATE A NEUTRAL DENSITY ON THE COLOR HEAD SUCH AS 80-80-80 AND THEN YOU MAY FIND IT HELPFUL TO USE SOME B&W CONTRAST FILTERS ON TOP OF THAT. I am starting a new black & white darkroom and I can purchase this equipment for $450, can't find this enlarger anywhere. Randy

-- Randy Jones (bmweld1@hotmail.com), December 25, 2000

Answers

That is a good enlarger. And you don't need to use B&W contrast filters, you just add yellow to reduce contrast, and add magenta to increase contrast.

The prices seems a little high, but if the lenses are the better grade Schneider and Rodenstock lenses, it may be worth it. Rodenstock for one has made lower priced and performance lines of enlarger lenses, so without the exact model of each lens, it is hard to tell if it is worth anything at all.

-- Terry Carraway (TCarraway@compuserve.com), December 28, 2000.

Try www.classic_enlargers.com. This site specialises in all Omega Enlargers. It is run by Harry Taylor who is a retired Omega Tech. He my have an instruction book and will definitely be able to help you with info. BTW, the official Omega site is at www.satter.com. RO

-- Robert Orofino (rorofino@iopener.net), December 28, 2000.

Is that site still up?

I haven't been able to access it recently.

-- Terry Carraway (TCarraway@compuserve.com), December 29, 2000.

The enlarger, negative carriers, lens AND color head is a good buy! The 135mm is for 4x5 printing. You can also use it for making TINY prints. I work on 2 at work and do ALOT of printing. Email me and I'll send you a PDF file that you can print of the contrast conversions to dial into the head for all the contrast filters. Whoever told you 80-80-80, well, don't ask them for any more advise! The Dichro head is great for when you do want to get into color printing. The enlarger is one of the standards (rugged) of our industry. If you need parts, they are widely available because there are so many out there. Cheers

-- Scott Walton (scotlynn@shore.net), December 29, 2000.

I gave the wrong address for classic enlargers it should read www.classic-enlargers.com. Terry, it is still up. I checked just before posting this message and the Q&A forum has messages dated for 12/28. This is a very helpful site for thise of us who insist on using 1960's darkroom equipment. RO

-- Robert Orofino (rorofino@iopener.net), December 29, 2000.

Thanks Robert.

BTW with a dichroic head you don't need tables to convert. There is no reason to be locked into "grades". The nice thing is you can fine tune the contrast in very small steps. I make my large contrast changes at 30 units, and then fine tune if necessary.

-- Terry Carraway (TCarraway@compuserve.com), December 30, 2000.

Dear Randy,

Yes of course your can experience, as suggested earlier, but here is some guidance as mentioned in the Ilford documentation for your enlarger.

This first table should give you more or less constant values for f/time 00 162Y 0 90Y ½ 78Y/5M 1 68Y/10M 1 ½ 49Y/23M 2 41Y/32M 2 ½ 31Y/42M 3 23Y/56M 3 ½ 15Y/78M 4 6Y/102M 4 ½ 150M 5 171M

more simple but, less constant 00 199Y 0 90Y ½ 70Y 1 50Y 1 ½ 30Y 2 0 2 ½ 5M 3 25M 3 ½ 50M 4 80M 4 ½ 140M 5 171M

take care,

Andreas

-- Andreas Frijdal (frijdal@tin.it), December 30, 2000.

Thanks everyone the information is appreciated. Randy

-- Randy Jones (bmweld1@hotmail.com), January 01, 2001.