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Thread: 5X7 enlarger woes- the saga continues

  1. #11

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    Re: 5X7 enlarger woes- the saga continues

    Quote Originally Posted by ic-racer View Post
    I'm not sure I understand the problem with the cone. Do you think they sent you the 5" 421-176 cone? Are there any markings on the cone? Is it printed with 421-174 anywhere? Did you measure it? Is it 6 1/8" long? Does it look like the pictures in the manual? 421-156 was a 5 1/8" cylinder for the D4, do you think they sent you that?

    What light source are you using. When they first made the E series, there were only 4x5" color heads made. You are sure it has a 5x7 head?
    here are pictures of my enlarger and what they sent

  2. #12

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    Re: 5X7 enlarger woes- the saga continues

    Quote Originally Posted by John Schneider View Post
    Have you tried talking to Harry "Mr. Omega" at http://www.classic-enlargers.com/ ? In my experience he knows as much as anybody living about Omegas.
    talked to him a year ago- no help for the E series

  3. #13

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    Re: 5X7 enlarger woes- the saga continues

    Quote Originally Posted by Allen in Montreal View Post
    I find I need both the 180 and the 210. Sometimes i just can't get the crop and size that I want with one or the other and need to swap up or down. Glass has never been cheaper than now, you may want to keep your eyes peeled for a good deal on a 180.
    which would require finding yet *another* lens cone.....

  4. #14

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    Re: 5X7 enlarger woes- the saga continues

    Did you try KHB photographics in Toronto? And there's member here who works for OmegaSatter and has helped people out recently- can't remeber his name though.

  5. #15

    Re: 5X7 enlarger woes- the saga continues

    Make a square cone out of cardboard, make a square bottom with a cutout for the lens and tape it to the bottom of the square cone, hold the lens under the cardboard cone, if it doesn't vignette you will know that the round cone is the wrong cone and the square cone is the one. It doesn't have to exact to the mm, you will know if it works or not. Costs nothing but some scrap cardboard and some tape. Good luck.

  6. #16

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    Re: 5X7 enlarger woes- the saga continues

    Quote Originally Posted by Turner Reich View Post
    Make a square cone out of cardboard, make a square bottom with a cutout for the lens and tape it to the bottom of the square cone, hold the lens under the cardboard cone, if it doesn't vignette you will know that the round cone is the wrong cone and the square cone is the one. It doesn't have to exact to the mm, you will know if it works or not. Costs nothing but some scrap cardboard and some tape. Good luck.
    That's a good idea, but hopefully it won't come to that. I have been talking to the one guy at B&H who still knows anything about enlargers and he referred me to a guy named Greg at Omega Satter. I sent him a bunch of photos of my set-up and he's going to hopefully help me get it all straightened out. He suspects that the lens I have (see previous post pictures) may need a shorter cone because it has no rear element that goes up into the cone.... Who knows.....

  7. #17

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    Re: 5X7 enlarger woes- the saga continues

    Well, things are going downhill fast. It turns out this lens cone was changed by OmegaSatter a few years ago but no description or item number change was made. They were even informed of this by someone else a while back but did nothing to rectify it. Not only is it no longer square, but it's also very heavy metal that slips and prevents fine focusing.You'd think this would be my salvation, but they are stating that if I modified the cone in any way, the return policy is null and void. Even if they took it back it would only be for store credit or to "modify the cone as they see fit to suit my needs" as it was sold by B&H (who has a no return policy for special order items).... A circular SNAFU. Soooooo, I have to figure out if the machinist changed the hole opening when they mounted the lens. What pisses me off is that even if they did, it was done to a cone that was falsely described and advertised to do what it should have done in the first place- accept a 210mm lens! Only by doing a modification could this have been discovered. It's a catch 22 and I am not in the least at fault and Omega Satter is abdicating responsibility. Hopefully B&H will have better customer service and just take it back. If not, I'm stuck with a set-up that only enlarges 5x7 up to about 8 1/2x12 *max* before I get unacceptable vingetting. They are saying that it's my lens and cone combo that's the problem- the cone is too long and too narrow a base opening for that particular 210 lens. I say Bullshit, and know it as such from the other source that found this problem in the past. If it will only accept "certain" 210 lenses, this should have been stated when they changed the cone, along with a new description and part number. This is a $450 paperweight now. Well, at least I can enlarge 5x7 to 8x10 now and not have to buy an 8x10 camera (other than for contact printing).....

  8. #18
    ic-racer's Avatar
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    Re: 5X7 enlarger woes- the saga continues

    I would not give up! You are close. That head and enlarger have the makings of a top notch system.

    Don't be too attached to that 210. Keep the present cone and get rid of that lens. The enlarger is worth double with that cone. Find out which lens the cone was made for. I suspect it is a lens with a differnt nodal point or a different flange-focal length. Get the lens for which the cone was designed.

    If you give up in defeat and sell the enlarger, the new owner will just chuck that 210 and go out and buy the proper lens for the cone and be up and running in no time.

    You have done all the hard work (getting the cone), don't give up.

  9. #19

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    Re: 5X7 enlarger woes- the saga continues

    Yes, that damned lens! And new cone design! I haven't given up, but I'm out of money to throw at it for a while now....

    Quote Originally Posted by ic-racer View Post
    I would not give up! You are close. That head and enlarger have the makings of a top notch system.

    Don't be too attached to that 210. Keep the present cone and get rid of that lens. The enlarger is worth double with that cone. Find out which lens the cone was made for. I suspect it is a lens with a differnt nodal point or a different flange-focal length. Get the lens for which the cone was designed.

    If you give up in defeat and sell the enlarger, the new owner will just chuck that 210 and go out and buy the proper lens for the cone and be up and running in no time.

    You have done all the hard work (getting the cone), don't give up.

  10. #20

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    Re: 5X7 enlarger woes- the saga continues

    Well, it's final- since the cone was altered, neither B&H or OmegaSatter will take it back. Greg at Omega won't even return my emails to tell me what 210 lens(es) this cone was designed around. Probably because they know that nothing will actually work....

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