Found an Automega E-5 Autofocus enlarger body

I've come across an incomplete Simmon Bros (Omega) Automega E-5 5x7 autofocus enlarger. There are also a very few loose parts (lens and lensboard, lens mounting cylinder,cable, 2 magnetic clamps) , and a raggedy manual. There is no motor (which I assume is required on account of the 'autofocus' designation), and no controller. I'm not sure that this enlarger is worth pursuing: I've perused the www and found close to no information on the enlarger itself. I saw that KHB Photografix listed the enlarger, but with very few parts available, and I see no other parts sources online.

Can anyone advise on the quality of this enlarger, about problems I'm likely to encounter if I undertake restoring it, and about sources for parts and/or expertise? Any information appreciated.

cheers
Tom

Tom,

The enlarger uses a machined rail to actuate the auto focus; no motor required.

Here's the technical service manual for it on James Ollinger's website:
http://www.jollinger.com/photo/cam-coll/manuals/enlargers/omega/Tech Service Manual - Various.pdf

Here's more information from KHB in Canada (you might have mentioned this):
http://www.khbphotografix.com/omega/Enlargers/E5.htm

It is a quite capable enlarger with a bit of repair and will take up to 5x7 negatives, which is rare, as most tabletops will only go to 4x5.

There are others who specialize in darkroom gear, but I can't remember them at the moment; others can chip in here.

Well worth attempting to repair!

Looks to be nearly functional. I am not a Omega guy. I would walk away unless there's enough to make it work, ie negative carriers etc.

Kino said:

Tom,
Here's the technical service manual for it on James Ollinger's website:
http://www.jollinger.com/photo/cam-coll/manuals/enlargers/omega/Tech Service Manual - Various.pdf

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Excellent! That will eliminate a lot of guess work.

Kino said:

Here's more information from KHB in Canada (you might have mentioned this):
http://www.khbphotografix.com/omega/Enlargers/E5.htm

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I did check them out.

Kino said:

It is a quite capable enlarger with a bit of repair and will take up to 5x7 negatives, which is rare, as most tabletops will only go to 4x5.

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Thanks for that, it casts the project into a "potentially worthwhile" light.

mshchem said:

Looks to be nearly functional. I am not a Omega guy. I would walk away unless there's enough to make it work, ie negative carriers etc.

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No negative carriers - drat! There is a 135mm lens + lens plate, and an extension cylinder to mount it on.

tom williams said:

No negative carriers - drat! There is a 135mm lens + lens plate, and an extension cylinder to mount it on.

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I think that takes the same carriers as the D ? Not sure. That's a genuine professional unit from the 50s-60s. I bet a wedding photographer made a living with that. This older stuff is so beautiful.
I got rid of a bunch of Omega stuff that I rescued, as I have other brands.
Good find!

Wow what a find! The "E" Omegas are the rarest.
I don't know what you mean by "incomplete " it looks complete to me. Do you know which two focus cams it comes with?

ic-racer said:

Wow what a find! The "E" Omegas are the rarest.
I don't know what you mean by "incomplete" it looks complete to me. Do you know which two focus cams it comes with?

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So far I know next to nothing about it, but the manual Kino pointed me to will help. I've indicated my interest to the owners, but the enlarger isn't yet in my possession.

hi tom

khbphotorgraphix are the people to contact about parts and information about your enlarger..

I have an E3 and they made me a negative carrier for it, super nice people.. . your light source that's on it is the omegalite
which looks like a weird flying saucer ( its on the top of your enlarger head with a cord coming down from it) it is a circular fluorescent light bulb.
its light is not made for many modern papers and is suited ( from what I can remember ) for graded paper, unless use I think it's the coral pink light, and
a magenta filter. you'll probably want to read a bit and learn how to make an LED light source for it (there's lots of resources these days to figure that out)
and it will work so much better than dealing with a "vintage" light source
your enlarger, like most omega auto focusing enlargers, took a variety of lens cones and rails
( which kino alluded to ) so you focused once and if you raised and lowered and things will pretty much stay in focus
finding the cones and rails made is a big pain ( it looks like you have rails ) so instead of the cones you will want to find the "auxiliary bellows".
it was originally made for making wallet and jewel prints but it will allow you do your initial focus with the bellows and it acts like
a cone for every lens you want to use... they can be hard to find so keep an eye out.. you're gonna want a baseboard for it too. ...
good luck getting it back up to speed!

you're lucky its not an E2 they had fluorescent bulbs that were continuously on and a shutter mechanism the lens was attached to that made your exposures

have fun!
John

With a little bit of luck and searching, you should be able to bring this unit back to life. Personally, with ability to do 5x7, I would definitely go for it. Might take some patience, but if you set up automatic alerts on Omega parts numbers on Ebay, it will make it somewhat easier.

Whatever you do, don't scrap it. Someone would certainly like to try resurrecting it if you decide not to...

Kino said:

With a little bit of luck and searching, you should be able to bring this unit back to life. Personally, with ability to do 5x7, I would definitely go for it. Might take some patience, but if you set up automatic alerts on Omega parts numbers on Ebay, it will make it somewhat easier.

Whatever you do, don't scrap it. Someone would certainly like to try resurrecting it if you decide not to...

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I will certainly not scrap it, if I do gain possession. I'm leaning toward taking it, but will comb through the manual you mentioned before assigning it 'project' status. If not , I believe the owners would favor letting it go through a large format group.

jnantz said:

hi tom

khbphotorgraphix are the people to contact about parts and information about your enlarger..

I have an E3 and they made me a negative carrier for it, super nice people.. . your light source that's on it is the omegalite
which looks like a weird flying saucer ( its on the top of your enlarger head with a cord coming down from it) it is a circular fluorescent light bulb.
its light is not made for many modern papers and is suited ( from what I can remember ) for graded paper, unless use I think it's the coral pink light, and
a magenta filter. you'll probably want to read a bit and learn how to make an LED light source for it (there's lots of resources these days to figure that out)
and it will work so much better than dealing with a "vintage" light source
your enlarger, like most omega auto focusing enlargers, took a variety of lens cones and rails
( which kino alluded to ) so you focused once and if you raised and lowered and things will pretty much stay in focus
finding the cones and rails made is a big pain ( it looks like you have rails ) so instead of the cones you will want to find the "auxiliary bellows".
it was originally made for making wallet and jewel prints but it will allow you do your initial focus with the bellows and it acts like
a cone for every lens you want to use... they can be hard to find so keep an eye out.. you're gonna want a baseboard for it too. ...
good luck getting it back up to speed!

you're lucky its not an E2 they had fluorescent bulbs that were continuously on and a shutter mechanism the lens was attached to that made your exposures

have fun!
John

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Thanks John, I have peeked into the lighthouse ... I saw what I took to be a fluorescent, nearly circular bulb, and some cracked and peeling liner material coming away from the casing. I thought that the lining would not be too problematic to replace, and recreating an appropriate light source seems doable also. It may be the availability of negative carriers and cones that will make or break my interest.

KBphotographix has them aux focusing attachments so you are in luck. .. and removing the circular fluorescent bulb and replacing it with bright LED's is not hard either
https://www.largeformatphotography....An-inexpensive-LED-enlarger-head-alternative&
http://store.khbphotografix.com/Aux...a-D3-D-4-B-E-and-F-series-Enlargers-Used.html

seems its just the negative carrier and baseboard and KB can make / sell you a carrier so its just a sheet of wood you need

have fun !
John

I believe that Omega E lifts the head up to squeeze the negative carrier. In that case, for my other enlargers that do the same, I made glass carriers (put foam on the top and bottom parts of the enlarger that squeeze it together.). I do have all the regular carriers for this enlarger for which the glass carrier is pictured too, but I prefer glass carriers.
This is a glass sandwich, held together with tape and masked for the format (35mm in this case) with more tape.
Also, some lens cones are available if you search around.

ic-racer said:

This is a glass sandwich, held together with tape and masked for the format (35mm in this case) with more tape.
Also, some lens cones are available if you search around.

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Thank you ic-racer. I found the Adorama page, and also found the KHB pages with different cones that jnantz linked to. Much of the mystery attached to this found enlarger is dissipating.

It seems that one of the parts still with the found enlarger is a flat lens plate, mounted with a Wollensack Raptar 101mm f4.5 lens, rather than the 135mm I remembered. I think I'll be able to take another look at the enlarger on Wednesday or Thursday - I'll be able to look with a more educated eye then, thanks to you and all those who have chimed in on this thread.

At this moment the negative carriers seem like the only complete unknown. I haven't laid my eyes on one yet, but I have some confidence that I could create a workable fixture. Your glass sandwich - why not?

when I got mine it came with pair of dense pieces of foam core that the previous owners had turned into a glassless negative carrier
should be pretty easy to make something like that. good luck !

Looks like this source might have some of the E parts / accessories you'll need

http://www.glennview.com/omega.htm

For what it's worth, the most frustrating aspect of this undertaking is locating/acquiring the correct lens, cone and focusing cam! The auxiliary bellows can mitigate the problem but generally they are old and may require bellows replacement. They are robust units and the 'autofocus' feature was helpful despite the fact that it did usually require tweaking!
Joel

Pitotshock said:

Looks like this source might have some of the E parts / accessories you'll need

http://www.glennview.com/omega.htm

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there is a aux focus attachment on this site for a smaller enlarger, you might be able to remove the attachment from the cone and put it on your own cone and presto you won't need any other rails or cones ... or if the bellows are too restrictive you can canabalize something else and make it work..
Glennview might actually have the E series attachment, sometimes he has all sorts of wacky stuff and it might not be listed on his site. there is also Mr Cooper outside of Albuquerque ( maybe someone else can conjure up his name and website's address) he had all sorts of oddball stuff too.

Pitotshock said:

Looks like this source might have some of the E parts / accessories you'll need

http://www.glennview.com/omega.htm

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Pitotshock, that's a good lead. I see a negative carrier on that site, listed for 5x7 Omega enlargers prior to the E-6. I assume that would work, but have popped off an email to Glennview to confirm. Thanks!

PonySoldier1887 said:

For what it's worth, the most frustrating aspect of this undertaking is locating/acquiring the correct lens, cone and focusing cam!
Joel

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Roger that, Joel. I was a bit surprised to see the 101mm lens in the flat lens plate that accompanies the enlarger, remembering that 'normal' lenses for a 5x7 enlarger would be in the 180-240mm range. And so far, I haven't seen any present or expired offer for a rail for any focal length. My list has already gone off to Santa.... tsk!

John: Glennview might actually have the E series attachment, sometimes he has all sorts of wacky stuff and it might not be listed on his site. there is also Mr Cooper outside of Albuquerque ( maybe someone else can conjure up his name and website's address) he had all sorts of oddball stuff too.
The previous resources blank is filling in .. Thank you.

tom williams said:

And so far, I haven't seen any present or expired offer for a rail for any focal length

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you have several rails on the back of your enlarger.

you might also contact Harry Taylors olde website www.classic-enlargers.com. harry serviced, manufacturers and sold all sorts of omega parts. he passed away several. years ago and his daughter ( who was living in Amsterdam back in 2017 ) might have found someone to run the site.
maybe she still has returned stateside and has a garage full of rails and cones that might work for your enlarger?

jnantz said:

you have several rails on the back of your enlarger.

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I remember two, but didn't know to check them for focal length labels. I hope to get my hands on the enlarger tomorrow.

you might also contact Harry Taylors olde website www.classic-enlargers.com. harry serviced, manufacturers and sold all sorts of omega parts....

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Thanks John, I will certainly follow up. I appreciate your tips.

Greetings. I did take possession of the E-5 enlarger today. After looking into available parts and estimating the plausibility of fabricating some unavailable parts, I thought that this might be a manageable project. And it turns out that there may be some additional parts buried in a very confused mangle of estate goods, but they probably won't be revealed on any relevant timescale.

Happily, the 101mm Wollensack Raptar f4.5 in the enlarger is matched to one of the two focusing rails: the labels on the lens plate and on one of the rails match (rail label pictured below). Of course the lens could have been replaced on the lens plate, but I'll ignore that possibility for now. The second rail has a different label, but does specify "lens F 964", which is not present.

The instruction manual (recovered today) specifies either Wollensack Raptar or Kodak Ektanon lenses of specific focal lengths, to be matched with specific lens cones. I have read elsewhere that each rail is matched to a specific lens (not just to a certain focal length, make and model). The labeling on the Wollensack 101mm and matching rail here seem to confirm that. So I wonder if I could ever use the second rail in the enlarger, lacking the lens that it was matched to ...? My impression now is that the lens - cone - rail are a matched set, required to make autofocus work properly.

The lamphouse is in good shape (photos below), except for peeling paint. According to manual, the lamphouse is intended to function as an integrating sphere, which places some (not insuperable) constraints on candidate replacement paint if I decide to try to duplicate the OEM lamphouse. I'll have to come up with a replacement ballast as well. Given that Circline-style bulbs are still manufactured, I would think getting a suitable ballast would not be too difficult. I'm still up in the air about fitting the lamphouse with LEDS rather than duplicating the original parts.

I attached a photo of the focus cam, which ic-racer asked about earlier. Looks like the 'standard' cam, rather than the 'A-2' cam... I deduce this by referring to the Technical Service Manual that Kino referred me to. Presumably the A-2 cam goes on the A-2 enlarger?

So, at this moment the biggest holes are negative carriers and lens cones. I see some cones are available, but the carriers are a question. I have emails out to Glennview and KHB, no replies yet. Optimistically, those holes could fill in any day now. Otherwise, I'll have a shot at fabricating the parts.

I'm not done asking for help yet, but I thank all you who have helped me to get this project going.
cheers
Tom

Since you will almost always want to re-focus after moving the head, Just about any 100 to 105mm lens should work fine. 100-105mm will be good for 35mm film up to maybe 8x10 enlargement and 6x6, 6x7, 6x9 format film to cover the whole baseboard.