5x7 Darkroom

[C_Remington]

There's always Elwoods. An enlarger named Elwood just has to bring a smile to your face! Elwood is a golden oldie that go for a pittance if not given away gratis, but they work!

I have an 8x10 Elwood with an Aristo 10x10 cold light head. I use it for 5x7 too.

Getting rid of it.

The down side is, they're cast iron and big and heavy. Also, not very precise. But, once dialed in, pretty solid.

[Lffbug]

Where are you located? I have an Omega E that needs a new home. It's not modern, and needs a bit of clean up. It used to have the Omege cold light head, which I took the guts out of and converted to white LEDs. Has a filter drawer for filters, which need to be 5x7, so they are hard to find (and I don't have a set). So I used it with under the lens filters. Worked very well. I replaced it with a Durst 138, so I have no need for it.

I'm in southern NH if you want to pick it up.

I wish I were closer. Texas is just a bit far from NH. If I ever make it up that way I'll check in with you to see if you still have it!

I'm sure shipping costs would be crazy?...

[Larry Gebhardt]

I wish I were closer. Texas is just a bit far from NH. If I ever make it up that way I'll check in with you to see if you still have it!

I'm sure shipping costs would be crazy?...

I think it would need to be shipped in three boxes, two of which would be quite large, but not that heavy. My guess is shipping costs would exceed the value of the enlarger. I'm also not looking forward to the work that packing it will entail. It's probably several hours of materials gathering and labor to get it packed up securely.

[John Kasaian]

An Omega C would be a very nice enlarger----certainly a good excuse for a road trip to Texas as if the B-B-Q and Mexican food and all the great photo ops along the way weren't enough.
I mentioned Elwoods because of the OP's budget concerns.
Yes, sometimes parts are missing but you can make repairs easy enough---you can even swap out the lamp head for a cold light and negative carriers aren't hard to find, or you can fabricate your own. If necessary you can even shim the elevator with wood to put it in alignment---but the best part is barring some catastrophic failure like the column casting breaking, you'll have a darned good usable LF enlarger for not much $$. Mine(an 8x10) has the option of being used horizontally, which might be critical if your dark room ceiling is low. If I had the money, a Beseler M45 with the 8x10 conversion would sure be nice but for the $$ my elderly Elwood is likely all I'll ever need.
I find enlargers are sort of like pick-up trucks. A new one sure is a pleasure to drive but an old "beater" will get the job done just as well.

[Carl J]

Where are you located? I have an Omega E that needs a new home. It's not modern, and needs a bit of clean up. It used to have the Omege cold light head, which I took the guts out of and converted to white LEDs. Has a filter drawer for filters, which need to be 5x7, so they are hard to find (and I don't have a set). So I used it with under the lens filters. Worked very well. I replaced it with a Durst 138, so I have no need for it.

I'm in southern NH if you want to pick it up.

Larry, I'm West of Boston. Might be interested in the Omega. Was trying to find an image online of the Omega E but there's a lot to sift through. What are the dimensions, roughly?

Thanks.

[Larry Gebhardt]

Larry, I'm West of Boston. Might be interested in the Omega. Was trying to find an image online of the Omega E but there's a lot to sift through. What are the dimensions, roughly?

Thanks.

It's roughly the same footprint as the Omega D, but I don't have the original baseboard so the actual footprint is variable. The column is shorter than the Omega D with the XL column. Probably about the same height as the regular Omega D. The head is obviously bigger to handle the bigger negative size. It's out in storage in the attic of the garage so I can't readily measure it for you. If you want to come and look at it just let me know. And if you need the exact height I can get out there to measure it in a few days.

[jeroldharter]

After the holidays I will be posting an 8x10 enlarger that would be find for 5x7. I will shed a tear to be sure. If you like 5x7, at some point you will ant to try 8x10. It is inevitable. Enlarging an 8x10 negative is really something. Just a plug for my future post, but good luck with the 5x7 and happy holidays.

[Carl J]

It's roughly the same footprint as the Omega D, but I don't have the original baseboard so the actual footprint is variable. The column is shorter than the Omega D with the XL column. Probably about the same height as the regular Omega D. The head is obviously bigger to handle the bigger negative size. It's out in storage in the attic of the garage so I can't readily measure it for you. If you want to come and look at it just let me know. And if you need the exact height I can get out there to measure it in a few days.

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Hi Larry,

Thanks for the info about the E. I just came into a classic 4x5 D a few months ago (almost set up) but having 5x7 capability would be even better -- if it didn't take up too much more room. I was able to transport the D split between the trunk and the back seat of my car. Let me get you my measurements first as far as how much wiggle room I may have.

[Jerry Bodine]

Was trying to find an image online of the Omega E but there's a lot to sift through.

Here's a link to look at for the Omega E enlargers. There are four models, E3, E4, E5 and E6. I have the E6 with XL column, but I converted the lamphouse to LEDs to give it VC capability using Ilford under lens filters. There is adequate space in the Omegalite lamphouse for the conversion. My baseboard is 18x34".

[rjmeyer314]

So what are the downsides to Elwoods? Just being old doesn't make it a bad thing...

I have 2 Elwoods, an 8x10 that I brought about 30 years ago, and a 5x7 that I brought 15-20 years ago. I haven't found a downside, other than the fact that you can't buy parts, lensboards, or other size negative carriers. On the other hand I've never needed any parts. I've always made new lensboards from wood when I've wanted them. If your ground glass diffusion screen breaks it's easy to get a new one from a local glass shop. Light bulbs are somewhat hard to get supposedly, but there was a recent discussion on the net of where to get them, and there were (are?) several for sale on Ebay recently. I really like the quality of the prints my 2 Elwoods produce. I had brought a Omega F color head that I was going to modify and install on the 8x10 Elwood, but I hate to loose the Elwood diffusion head, and so the Omega head sits in the basement unused. By the way, I use a 130-something mm Repromaster lens on my 5x7 Elwood. It covers the format, is very sharp, and lets me get 20x24 prints on the baseboard.