Darkroom set-up; choosing which enlargers to keep/set-up

Thank you for looking. I am looking for some opinions and hopefully this does not come off as a gloat. I fell into a little bit of darkroom luck via severance pay when I lost a job due to down sizing. I worked for a lab that had not used (or had set up) their enlarger equipment for years. I mostly developed film and did copy work. I always expressed the goal of some day setting up my own darkroom again, so when the business was hurting and my job was eliminated, I got a bunch of stuff. A bunch! I only mention this as a preparation of my, oh so awful dilemma.

So, I have the following set-ups;

1.) Omega D5 with a Super Chromega D Dichroic II, with the better controller (pictured, but can't remember the name w/o going to look). It has the 2 1/4 x 2 3/4 mixing box as well as the 4x5 mixing box. I won't be doing Color, but I understand you can use this head very nicely for B&W by dialing in colors rather than using filters.

2.) Omega D5 XL with a cold light head and Zone VI compensating timer

3.) Omega D5 XL with the Ilford Multigrade 500H system

For the record, I am unfamiliar with the use of any of these systems as the last time I printed anything was with a Besler 23CII.

Two of these have 3 lens turrets on them and I am planing on printing from multi formats (35mm, 6x6, 6x7, 6x9 & 4x5). I have all the appropriate lenses I need to do so.

When I originally set up the darkroom, I made it out to keep all three enlargers thinking it would be useful to keep each format set to a specific enlarger. However, it is just too damn crowded in there and I feel selfish having them all. It's just over kill and I already set myself up with too many options in shooting aspect.

Luckily, they are all the same base enlarger, some I can mix and match. I feel pretty certain I will keep the Ilford Multigrade system unless I hear from a bunch of you that it is not worth it. The color head seems more versatile than the Zone VI, but I just read a thread (well some of it) where a lot of people like their Zone VI as a stabilizing unit for their cold head.

So what say you? Thank You again.

Dear JMC1969,

Set them all up and use them all. After a while it will become clear which one(s) to put in storage.

Have fun,

Neal Wydra

I have an LPL 5400 XL enlarger with variable contrast head. That head makes changing contrasts incredibly easy for split grade printing. I'd keep the enlarger with the lens turret and Multigrade system. Store the others.

TY Neal and John, I am certainly storing one, but since I have so many formats to cover, I'm thinking keeping two set up. At the moment, the multigrade system has a 50mm, 80mm, and 105mm on the turret. The cold light has a turret, but only has my 150mm on it for 4x5 and the color head has a 135mm. I ended up reading the whole thread about "cold light head" and now feeling that will be the one that goes away. I'm thinking I will remove the cold head from the XL base and replace it with the color head and add the 135mm to the turret.

If setting up two, you can put the turret on the one for large format and use the individual lens plates on the one for 35mm. I have a pair of Omegas setup that way. This may make aligning the lens easier. Large format, the alignment is not a critical. The SuperChromega II will outlast the others. It is all mechanical inside. The Chromegatrol might die but you can run the head from a generic 24V supply if all the Chromegatrols in the world die. I'd keep the Multigrade head and the Super Chromega II head. I'd convert the last one back to condenser and use as a spare. No 'electronics' to fry with the condenser system. Just a bulb and socket.

As usual, IC brings up some good points. The Ilford head is probably the easiest to use, but those heads can be hard to repair and I don't know that spare parts are available, so it makes sense to keep the Super Chromega. If you get rid of one, it would be the one with the Zone VI head, or sell the cold light head and compensating timer and keep the chassis for spares. L

ic-racer said:

If setting up two, you can put the turret on the one for large format and use the individual lens plates on the one for 35mm. I have a pair of Omegas setup that way. This may make aligning the lens easier. Large format, the alignment is not a critical. The SuperChromega II will outlast the others. It is all mechanical inside. The Chromegatrol might die but you can run the head from a generic 24V supply if all the Chromegatrols in the world die. I'd keep the Multigrade head and the Super Chromega II head. I'd convert the last one back to condenser and use as a spare. No 'electronics' to fry with the condenser system. Just a bulb and socket.

View attachment 118930

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Thank you ic-racer.

I have 2 - 3 lens turrets and 2 - single plates and 5 lenses I intended to use to cover all my formats. You bring up the point of alignment for the 35mm (50mm lens) and being on it's own single plate, so does it hurt alignment to pull the single plates out and exchange with another? Being that I will need to use 5 lenses I'm thinking the 105mm, 135mm, and 150mm on 1 turret and the 50mm and 80mm on another turret. Unless you think I would be better off putting the 50mm and 80mm on individual single plates.


Luis-F-S, TY, I think the Zone VI system is going to end up in the classified here since I have all these options. And, BTW I do still have a Beseler 23CII and Omega D2 in the attic at the moment in case I need to go back to a condenser enlarger.

Well that was a good lesson in "how your enlarger works". I replaced a bent part on the multigrade enlarger and made one more really good color head enlarger and put the extra parts aside for later needs. I will officially have a Zone VI cold head up for sale.

thanks for the help

I use a Super Chromega Dichrioc II 5D-XL for color and for black & white. This is the same set up I used at the Kodak Employees' Darkroom. I am a happy camper.

if you've got the room, always good to have 2 enlargers setup so you can flash with one while using the other

Some 50mm lenses (like the El Nikkor 50/2.8) will NOT work on an Omega turret, as they stick out too far in the back of the lens plate, and will prevent the turret from turning. If you have one of these, then you have to use it on a single lens board.

If you use and print multiple formats; 35mm half-frame, 35mm, 6x4.5, 6x6, 6x7, 6x9, 4x5, and maybe more. And only 3 lenses can fit on the turret, so which 3 lenses do you use?
Someone (somewhere) told me if I hardly print a particular format, why have the lens for that format on a turret. Keep it on a single lens board and pull it out when you need it. That makes sense, so that only the most frequently used 3 lenses would be on the turret.

WARNING. 3 LARGE lenses on a turret becomes a somewhat heavy object, much heavier and bulkier than a single lens. You really do NOT want to drop it. I would keep the turret on the enlarger as much as possible, and maybe use 1 enlarger for one range of formats with the matching turret and lenses, and the 2nd enlarger for the other formats with the matching turret and lenses.

The purpose for a turret is to easily and quickly change lenses in a production environment. If you do not change formats often, that might be a reason to just use single lens boards, so you can safely store the unused lenses between uses. I have a turret for my D5, and I have thought about switching to single lens boards, as it really isn't difficult to change lens boards. And now I'm regretting not grabbing a handful of single lens boards when I had the chance.

I have two turrets that comfortably hold all 5 of my lenses, plus a small Rubbermade container with an attached lid that is the appropriate size for holding the turret that isn't on the enlarger.

And by the way, some versions of the El Nikkor 50mm f/2.8 lens do work on the turret - see the KHB Omega D5/D6 Lensmount guide: http://www.khbphotografix.com/omega/LensMountD5.htm

That being said, I'm mostly using a 60mm lens for 35mm, because my focusing bellows is fairly stiff.

ac12 said:

Some 50mm lenses (like the El Nikkor 50/2.8) will NOT work on an Omega turret, as they stick out too far in the back of the lens plate, and will prevent the turret from turning. If you have one of these, then you have to use it on a single lens board.

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I have this problem too.

Thank you so much for that link MattKing. I have a bunch of extras that have some of those mounts and had no idea what they were for.

ac12, I think, I do have a El-Nikkor 2.8/50, but it is not what I plan on using.

My plan;

50mm Schneider componon-s 2.8
80mm rodagon 4
105mm rodagon 5.6
135mm El_nikkor 5.6
150mm rodagon 5.6

ac12 said:

If you use and print multiple formats; 35mm half-frame, 35mm, 6x4.5, 6x6, 6x7, 6x9, 4x5, and maybe more. And only 3 lenses can fit on the turret, so which 3 lenses do you use?

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Why I don't use a turret but use individual lens boards. A turret is much harder to align and even on a Durst which has a real heavy duty turret, I use individual lenses on single Lapla lens boards. Since I have every Rodagon made from 50 Apo to the 240 plus a few Componon-s' that's a lot of lens board, but once I align the lens holder, all lenses will be aligned. Probably one of the reasons they don't make a turret for the De Vere enlargers. But to answer the above question, it would be 50, 80 & 135 will cover all those formats. I would personally use 80 Apo, 105 & 180 Apo, but that's just me. I have an LPL 4500 II with an 80 Rodagon set up for 35 & medium format, and a De Vere 5108 for 4x5 & up. Usually use the 180 Apo, 180, 210 & 240 Rodagons on the De Vere depending on negative size and enlargement ratios. I can also bring out a Valloy II for 35 if I need to......L