Omega D VC Head

[Gene Crumpler]

When I bought my new(to me) Omega D enlarger, the fellow I bought if from throw in a VC head.
The VC head uses a Photo Dan 250 watt bulb. I've been told that the Photo Dan bulb is no longer made and there is no suitable replacement. I checked the bulbman.com and other dealers already and also e-mailed with the Omega Man, Harry.

Any one have one of these and have you developed a work around for the bulb?

[Dan Jolicoeur]

250 watt bulb sounds way high high to me. From memory my DIIVC Takes a 75 -100 watt bulb? I can verify this tonight with the correct number. It is a Philips bulb no. if my memory serves me right. The make of the bulb should not matter and the wattage should be printed on the tag on the side of the enlarger.

[Gene Crumpler]

Dan;

The instructions for the head(60's vintage) specify the 250 watt Photo DAN bulb. The bulb is a standard screw in socket and the bulb looks like a small spot light bulb.

Gene

[Dan Jolicoeur]

What model, is it a D2? If you have no other luck I have a spare head for a D2 that you are welcome to.

[Gene Crumpler]

Thnaks for the offer. I already have two heads for the enlarger. I'm working on a work around this morning. Looks like it will work. I need to make a couple of prints to determine if exposure times with the VC head are not too long.

[Nick Morris]

Hello,
I have a DII VC (variable condenser) enlarger. The recommended bulb is 75 watts and also 150 watts. The opal bulbs are manufactured by GE that I believe are identified as P210 (75 watt) and P212 (100 watt) . They typicaly cost under $5.00, and should be available at most photo shops that carry darkroom supplies. The instructions also refer to a 250 watt bulb, but I don't recall much about it, except caution about overheating from the higher wattage bulbs. I use the 150 watt bulb.

[Gem Singer]

Now, I'm really confused. Are we talking about a VC (variable contrast) head, or a VC (variable condenser) head? I have a VC (variable contrast) head on my D-2.

[Dan Jolicoeur]

I am talking about a variable condenser head. Not sure what Gene has?

[Dan Jolicoeur]

By the way I was wrong they are Ge bulbs not phillips as previously mentioned by Nick, and the PH213 is a 250 watt bulb. I would think you would have rather short times with that strong of a light though.

Good luck

[Gene Crumpler]

Sorry guys. I'm talking about a variable contrast head. I don't think there were a lot made. Harry the Omega guy(can't think of his last name right now) said "Omega was ahead of it's time with this head". Sounds like it didn't sell very well. It has a cooling fan in the head, so I don 't know if vibration might be a problem.

I've found some screws to hold the head on and I currently have the 250 watt PH212 in the head. I've not printed with it yet. The regular head with the 212 bulb does put out a lot of light. The two filters in the head are most likely set up for Dupont Varagam (sp?) paper. After I work with it for a while, I may need to change the filters to Multigrade filters 00 and 5.

I've made a couple 16x20's with the regular head and the PH212 from 4x5 negatives, I was able to stop down to f-22 and have 20-30 second print times. I figured I didn't need a glass carrier with this f-stop:>)

So I'll see which head makes the grade. I checked and 6x6 filters are fairly expensive. I've used my smaller filters under the lens for the couple of prints I've made.

[Gene Crumpler]

From one Eugene to another Eugene.

I was looking through some old threads about lenses, and saw your post about flash bulb's , soleinods(sp?) on press shutters and your graduation date. God, you are older than I am!!!

I also saw the post about your number of post's here and thought at first the poster was talking about me. Not too long ago I had about 1,900 posts on photo.net and was #9 in total posts at that time. I have hero status over there. Hero status and $2.50 can get you a cup of Starbucks coffee:>) Maybe it is $3.00 now. I'm retired and I can't afford Starbucks any more.

FWIW

Eugene(gene) Crumpler

[Gem Singer]

Gene,

I cringe every time I think about the price of a cup of coffee at Starbucks today. A cup of coffee, and all the refills you could drink, were five cents when I was a kid.

I purchased my Omega D-2 when I got out of school, in 1956. It's been modified a few times, had the bellows replaced, has a Zone VI variable contrast head, as well as an anti-Newton glass negative carrier, but it still gets regular use in my darkroom.

Advice fron an experienced old timer: toss that VC head and stay with the original D-2 condenser head. Harry Taylor will probably tell you the same thing.

[Gene Crumpler]

Eugene;

You are probably right, but I'm an engineer and I love the challange to make stuff work. I got two heads with the Omega for $200 with a pristine 135 el-nikkor thrown in.
I'm just getting my feet wet with 4x5 and wanted to get started on the cheap. The guy I got it from needed some cash real fast and let it go at what I think was a good price. Plus he is local, so no shipment charges involved.

I'm currently into MF a whole lot and have several MF cameras that I use with some frequency.
If I really get excited about LF, I'll probably get a Saunders LPP with the VCCE head. Most of the guys in our B&W club use the Saunders. Only two of us in the club do not use 4x5.
John Sexton currently has 4 of these in his darkroom. I'd most likely keep the 135 lens as all I plan to do with 4x5 is B&W. Color is done on the computer.

I got the toyo CF as a starter camera.
I'd been looking on ebay and the going price is a little over $500. I got mine for $450, so resale value entered into decision. In fact I stayed up last night reading many of the threads comparing 4 x5's until 1:00 am. There are a lot of choices out there.

Another interesting point, I'm preparing for an exhibit the 15th and I was going through a lot of my prints. I looked at 16x20's made with my pentax 67 and I was thinking that 6x7 image quality is excellent.

I learned photography using 4x5 and 2x3 sheet film, so I'm not a total newby to 4x5. I'm old enough to remember when a photographer started using a Rollieflex to shoot sports. Then the local paper's photographer showed up with an M3 Leica. I remember thinking the guy had lost his mind. That pretty much dates me!

Thanks to all for your input.

[Gene Crumpler]

BTW-I just signed up for Danny Burk's workshop on LF. Looks like I will get a good look at the Ebony's.

[Nick_3536]

http://www.khbphotografix.com/omega/Specialty/OmniCon.htm

You've got that one?

[Gene Crumpler]

Nick;

That's the one!

Thanks for the URL.