AUTOMEGA E5 Cutting some Cams ??

flutalors

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Hello everybody,

I am setting up an Automega E5 (Damn,... I thought I bought an Omaga E6, should have better checked the pics...) with Omegalite (very basic , no control of anything -shutter/heat/etc... actually I saw a neighbour has the exact same round tube to light up his bathroom!)
I'll try this lamp as is before thinking of adapting Leds instead (super thread about the conversion in the forum!).

I understand there is quite poor manual focus control on the E5...
And to use some of my lenses, I would need some mating cams for the autofocus system, correct?

Anybody around who has the knowledge of cutting Automega cams as per lenses specifics ?

Thanks !

Ralph.
 

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Ian C

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You’d need an original to copy the curve of the cam. Each focal length requires a specific cam (Omega called them “Focusing Tracks”).

You might be able to buy the cam you need here as KHB still sells cams for some Omega enlargers:

http://www.khbphotografix.com/
 

rmann

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It is possible to make your own from a piece of aluminum. You need to manually focus the lens at a number of locations and mark the blank where the wheel should be located on the blank. Then "make a curve" that passes through the points. If you are off a little use the fine focus adjustment. I used this method and made one that works well on my first try.
 
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flutalors

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Many thanks to all of you,

Ian C & ic-racer : I am contacting both of your mentioned sources , & digging deeper, Thanks!
rmann: You are definitively Mr DIY, cool ! I will surely and rapidly use this method if I can't buy any 90 & 150mm cam.

BTW, all 150mm lens would not work with any 150mm cam, the mating being specific to a very lens only??

My E5 is still in its box that I can't check right now, but if I remember well there is 3 cams installed.
They were Kodak Ektar dedicated and/or others, I don't remember. What I remember is that I may have only 1 of these 3 lenses.

What I would be happy to do is to send a cardboard of the exact profile of each cam I have to anybody interested.
After learning/advising which lenses it regards... even if I fear these lenses would be in the "old" age bracket (which doesn't automatically mean "bad", I guess)...
On my side, I would be looking for a cardboard/paper cam profile for a 150 Componon S...


All the best to all,
Ralph.
 

ic-racer

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Just match the focal length of lens to the cam, hopefully your cams will be marked. You will need the appropriate lens cone for each combination. My guess has always been that Omega's serial number matching was just to ensure the lens and cam did not get separated during packing, shipping and dealer manipulation. But any 210mm lens should work with any 210mm cam. Back 'in the day' the "replacement" and "optional" cams available were, of course, not serial number matched to your existing lenses when you purchased these cams from your dealer.

If you want to enlarge 5x7 you will be at an advantage to have a 210mm cam because there are many, many 210 lenses out there. If you have a 7.5 inch cam (190.5mm) you may be at less of an advantage because it will be somewhat difficult to find a clean modern design coated 7.5 inch lens.


As suggested, you could make a cam, but you still need the appropriate lens cone, otherwise your focus cam will be too fat or too flimsy and thin.
 

Nicholas Lindan

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The cams were sold either matched to a lens or as generic focal-length cams. My guess is the 'matched' cams were, say, made to 49, 50 and 51mm -- lenses were also sorted into the same 49/50/51 focal length bins. I used a generic 50mm cam with a 50mm El-Nikkor and it worked just fine with a bit of touch-up at the final magnification. If well done this sort of AF mechanism can be more accurate than a grain focuser.

You will need a 1" high easel for the AF to work. Most good easels are 1" high. You can make up a 'riser' for Speed-Easels and the like.
 
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