Omega D3 Questions

[HT Finley]

I have on my hands a flea market Omega D3 which happens to be in exellent condition. But my experience is with D2's. This particular D3 has only a 75mm Wollensak lens with the corrrect track for it. It also has a "universal" track. But I am not interested in any of that. I have noticed that the bellows travel isn't very much. My question is, can I put a 135mm lens on this thing and use it like a D2? If so, would D2 cones work on a D3? If not, then Im going to have to come up with a way to fabricate a cone for a 135mm lens. I understand that the auto-focus feature for 4x5 called for a 150mm lens. If anybody can enlighten me as to the usefulness of a D3 in a manual D2-style mode, particularly for 4x5 work, I'd be grateful.

[Mark Sampson]

A long time ago (late 1980s) we had a D3 at work, along with several other types of Omegas. We were able to use the D3 with a medium length cone and a 135mm lens to enlarge 4x5 negatives. I do recall that it was a bit limited in enlargement capabilities, but it did the job- manually focussed of course.
Then the budget requests were approved and our old enlargers were replaced by new Super-Chromega D5-XLs. So my memory of the D3 is a bit dim now. However, KHB Photographics in Toronto is a great source for enlarger parts and knowledge; I would ask them.

[Tracy Storer]

I would think with the right cone* and the "universal" track, you would be ok. The track gives some bellows movement with raising and lowering the chassis, then you fine focus with the knob.
There are lots and lots of Omega lens cones out there in the world, you should be able to find one without having to look too long and hard.

Alternatively, if you wanted to get a track made, that is also possible, but may not be within what one is willing to pay to get a flea market enlarger going. (you'll still need the right lens cone)

FWIW, I think D-3s are great enlargers. I currently have two of them sitting side by side in my darkroom.

[ic-racer]

That is an auto focus enlarger. Find something different if you are not interested in auto focus.
If it were me I’d get it and use it with its intended purpose as autofocus. Admittedly, the last time I had a D3, I had all the tracks, cones and carriers I need for my lenses.

[jnantz]

look for what is called the auxiliary focus attachment .. it is a lens cone with a bellows attached originally made for doing jewel prints / reductions but it is a great "all cone" cone.
http://store.khbphotografix.com/Auxi...gers-Used.html.
you will never need another cone.

[HT Finley]

I have new Ender 3 3D printer on the way. I'll have a bit of a learning curve, but I would think making a cone would not be such a tough job. Although unless somebody can tell me a good cone length for a Wollensak 135mm, I suppose it would be trial-and-error. When making 8x10 prints, it seems to me the enarger would spend most of its life between mid-post to the top.

[willwilson]

I printed on a D3 for years and had no trouble using any lens I needed. There are two focus adjustments one for the autofocus bellows and another for the fine lower adjustment. If you don't have the autofocus setup you just have to redo focus if you raise or lower the head.

I would think it would be very difficult to get the autofocus to ever actually work. You'd still have to fine tune it if you moved the head.

Setup the D3 and start printing photos. I moved to a D5 with a custom cabinet and like it a lot.

P.S. 3d printers are super fun. I suggest starting with fusion360 if you want to learn CAD as opposed to some of the other progs like tinkercad. If you get into it at all you will end up at fusion anyway. A million good YouTube resources await you. Good luck!

[HT Finley]

I printed on a D3 for years and had no trouble using any lens I needed. There are two focus adjustments one for the autofocus bellows and another for the fine lower adjustment. If you don't have the autofocus setup you just have to redo focus if you raise or lower the head.

I would think it would be very difficult to get the autofocus to ever actually work. You'd still have to fine tune it if you moved the head.

Setup the D3 and start printing photos. I moved to a D5 with a custom cabinet and like it a lot.

P.S. 3d printers are super fun. I suggest starting with fusion360 if you want to learn CAD as opposed to some of the other progs like tinkercad. If you get into it at all you will end up at fusion anyway. A million good YouTube resources await you. Good luck!

I'm not spending any money buying Fusion. I'm studying Freecad, for the better or worse of it. My years of Adobe use should be helpful. As for the auto focus, I have no desire to use it. I will be using it for 4x5 negatives to make 5x7 to 8x10 prints only. My darkroom experience tells me the enlarger will spend its life between 1/2 column height to top of column, at most. With that as an assumption I should certainly be able to mathematically compute a cone length based on the 75mm with accompanying cone to make a cone for 135 Wollensak to be used at the aforementioned head height range. Then print a trial cone in sections till one is arrived at as a correct legnth through trial and error. Then measure it and print a whole cone. I've come up with hairbrained ideas before on problems like this more often than not, they worked. I certainly beats spnding $100 on gas at these absurd gas prices to drive back to the flea market and demand my $50 back. The thing is in excellent condition. Problems like this can be made fun when you're retired and don't want to be retired and bored.

Edit. I hope you folks know how grateful I am for your posts. It has been useful.

[rdenney]

I made a track for an 80mm lens to enlarge roll film on my D3–just close enough to keep the lens in range of the bellows. I used a jigsaw and an aluminum flat bar which I then riveted to an incorrect focus track. I needed an 80mm cone, and made one out of a PVC pipe adapter I found at Home Despot.

My 139mm B&L Tessar that I used for 4x5 needed a longer cone in the vicinity of 4-5 inches. The 50mm Componon I used for 35mm worked on a flat board as I recall.

I just wanted the tracks to keep the lens in range, not to keep it in focus.

But it’s a cool feature, because it’s a lot easier to adjust the enlarger height to get the magnification right if the lens is sort-of in focus as you raise and lower the head.

Rick “not that hard to make these work well” Denney

[HT Finley]

I made a track for an 80mm lens to enlarge roll film on my D3–just close enough to keep the lens in range of the bellows. I used a jigsaw and an aluminum flat bar which I then riveted to an incorrect focus track. I needed an 80mm cone, and made one out of a PVC pipe adapter I found at Home Despot.

My 139mm B&L Tessar that I used for 4x5 needed a longer cone in the vicinity of 4-5 inches. The 50mm Componon I used for 35mm worked on a flat board as I recall.

I just wanted the tracks to keep the lens in range, not to keep it in focus.

But it’s a cool feature, because it’s a lot easier to adjust the enlarger height to get the magnification right if the lens is sort-of in focus as you raise and lower the head.

Rick “not that hard to make these work well” Denney

Man, the number of times is countless that I had to fabricate things with arduous manual labor out of sundry supplies... the story of my life. Saws, files, and countless implements to make things out of other things. Been there, done that, and have the t-shirt and the hat. If all I have to do is put my Adobe experience to use learning CAD, and letting the printer do the work, then thank god for small inventions.