An old friend offered us his D-2 he no longer uses.

[Mark Sampson]

The big difference between the earlier D-II and the later D-2 is the crank for the column on the 2 vs. the 'push-pull' manual lift on the II. Most of the parts will be cross-compatible.
The flying-saucer cold-light suffers from brightness fluctuations with lamp temperature (like all cold-lights), so will need a Metrolux controller or something similar to keep your exposures consistent.

[Ron McElroy]

I would keep both. I have a D-2 that I rescued from friend's front porch. I have not used it, but could not let it hit the trash bin.

[Bill Burk]

I had the same thing happen... Welcome to the club. I still like my old crank-less D-II and I keep the new D-2 in the rafters where one day I hope to give it away.

[dsphotog]

My "flying saucer" uses a very inexpensive, houshold circular fluorescent tube, that's readily available. A real plus.

[Daniel Unkefer]

I have two "flying saucers" for my two 4x5 Omega DII's. I have a giant "flying saucer" that fits my 5x7 Omega E3. IMO these are great units. I can use glass carriers and will never get newton rings due to the heat building up. Couldn't be happier The are superior diffusion sources greatly underrated. I did replace the rubber pads on all three of mine, it gets hard and breaks apart. Easy to replace

[Heroique]

Like posters above, I love my “flying saucer” too!

The Omegalite head fits onto the same brackets that hold the condenser head. If you have both heads, they're easy to swap out. A 60 second operation.

Another light you can use in the Omegalite head is GE’s “Circline” tube:



A perfect fit. The tube emits a warm, natural light, making it easy to use w/ multicontrast papers. I think GE calls it “kitchen & bath 22” and the product number is 11084. Most hardware stores or Walmart should carry it in the $7-10 range.

BTW, the flying saucer should work for D-II, D-2, D-3, D-5, D-6 series enlargers (but not the D4).

[Daniel Unkefer]

My Flying Saucers.

Darkroom Reno II No 2 by Nokton48, on Flickr

[LabRat]

My Flying Saucers.

Darkroom Reno II No 2 by Nokton48, on Flickr

In NYC, round lights using this bulb were commonly used in apt bldg hallways, and called "landlord's halo"...

I guess they were cheaper to run, and easy to replace... But sure made hallways creepy looking... :-(

Steve K

[Jim C.]

In NYC, round lights using this bulb were commonly used in apt bldg hallways, and called "landlord's halo"...

I guess they were cheaper to run, and easy to replace... But sure made hallways creepy looking... :-(

Steve K

it was 'atmosphere'

[Paul Ron]

I had one of those flying saucers once. It used the circle line tubes but it had a nasty after glow. I had to put a cardboard in a swing out filter under the lens right after each exposure. Those circle line tubes don't come on as fast as the neon bulbs in the arista or zone cold lights with warmers built in.

Yweah and when the circle line tubes get old they have a nice creepy flicker you see in lots of horror movies or your appartment building halls. Now they use those nasty super bright blueish LED bulbs.