Omega B-22 supplementary condenser question

[nexus757]

A friend of mine just gave me an Omega B-22 that had been out in his garage for some time. I was surprised to see it came with two supplementary condensers. From the manual it looks like one supplementary condenser should be placed flat against the top of the regular condensers for a 50mm lens and 35mm film (removed for 120 6x6 format negatives). Anyway, does anybody know why there would be TWO supplementary condensers supplied with the enlarger? FWIW I tried putting in the second one on top of the first one so that the supplementary condensers were arranged more or less just like the main condensers, and maybe it is my imagination, but it seemed like it improved the overall light evenness along the edges of the 35mm negative carrier frame. Did some later B-22 models come this way with two supplementary condensers? Or any idea why this one had two?

 

[John Galt]

I am interested in the answer as well . . . I recently acquired a free B-22

 

[Eagle Blue]

I got my B-22 for christmas brand new back in the 70's and I can absolutely state that there's only one supplementary condenser glass set in the round aluminum frame that simply lays on top of the top piece of condenser glass. The supplementary one is for 35mm. So all totaled, there are 3 pieces of glass. The 2 convex ones with their aluminum separator, and the 35mm supplement. There are no other pieces of glass belonging to that enlarger.

 

[John Koehrer]

^^^What he said.

 

[nexus757]

The enlarger also came with a 110 (Pocket Instamatic) neg. carrier which would not have been part of the original package so my only guess is maybe they sent him a spare sup. condenser with the specially ordered negative carrier? Sounds like something a salesperson could easily talk someone into buying if they weren't sure whether they already had one and were convinced it was needed for the carrier to work properly.

 

[MattKing]

KHB lists only one supplementary condenser for the B22: http://www.khbphotografix.com/omega/Enlargers/B22.htm
It is certainly conceivable that someone who is selling a 110 carrier might ask a purchaser if they have the necessary supplementary condenser (the one that works with 50mm and shorter lenses), just as it is conceivable that the purchaser might not even know that they already had what they needed.

 

[paul ron]

there are 2 large condensers in the main body of the enlarger. there is an optional smaller condenser mounted in an aluminum frame... that is just laid on top of the main condenser for working on 35mm negs and a 50 mm lens.

get the manual here

http://www.jollinger.com/photo/cam-coll/manuals/manuals.html