Omega B8 Enlarger Help

Hello everyone. I wanted to ask about if anyone would be willing to help me?

I am not familiar with analog photo equipment, but we have a large Omega B8 Enlarger that was given to my mother which we have no use for. It's a family thing(belonged to her father), but our house is too small and, as a result, we plan to sell it.

My question isn't if any of you want to buy it(though if any are it would make this so much simpler), but rather if you would be willing to help me make sure I'm describing it correctly when I put it up on Ebay. It's a large and heavy enlarger, so postage will wind up being expensive, but we want to look into selling it just in case it can be worthwhile.

Here is a small Imgur album of some photos taken. Sorry for the quality, as the basement is poorly lit and we don't have much for good lighting.

http://imgur.com/a/hS7Gd

Thanks for your help. Hopefully this isn't stepping on any toes; I just need help with this.

There's a fine line between a "what's this worth" or "" question and a disguised ad (subscribers can place a FS ad, members can't). But I'll assume it's a genuine request.

By in large, there's little interest in enlargers unless they handle 4x5; with the Leitz Focomat being an exception. Frankly, I think it's unlikely that you'd get much for a B8 that needs to be shipped. But it's certainly worth a try. Depending on your location, CL might be a better bet.

Personally, I wouldn't buy an enlarger off of ebay unless it was someone with knowledge of it's working condition. But if I wasn't in a large metropolitan area, I might change my tune.

If you want to the most for it, then make sure you describe all the negative carriers, lenses, and lens boards that go with it. When you ship, pack the bulb separately. Make sure you have a suitable box for it and know how the dimensions effect shipping cost. I apologize if I'm telling you things you already know.

bought

A couple of years ago I bought a smaller Omega enlarger, the B22, for about $120 and the shipping cost me around $40. I probably could have found a cheaper enlarger but it was exactly the enlarger I was looking for (with extra long girders) and I wanted one right away. If anyone really wants yours they will pay pretty good money but it might be a bit of a hard sell. Good luck.

mgb74 said:

There's a fine line between a "what's this worth" or "" question and a disguised ad (subscribers can place a FS ad, members can't). But I'll assume it's a genuine request.

By in large, there's little interest in enlargers unless they handle 4x5; with the Leitz Focomat being an exception. Frankly, I think it's unlikely that you'd get much for a B8 that needs to be shipped. But it's certainly worth a try. Depending on your location, CL might be a better bet.

Personally, I wouldn't buy an enlarger off of ebay unless it was someone with knowledge of it's working condition. But if I wasn't in a large metropolitan area, I might change my tune.

If you want to the most for it, then make sure you describe all the negative carriers, lenses, and lens boards that go with it. When you ship, pack the bulb separately. Make sure you have a suitable box for it and know how the dimensions effect shipping cost. I apologize if I'm telling you things you already know.

Click to expand...

Mmm. Actually about what I expected. Looked up a bit of info based on a link I found in another thread about the B8 on here, and the description made it seem a little on the obsolete side. We live in Western Massachusetts, about an hour drive from Boston and 40 minutes from Worcester, so no major city area. Craigs List for pickup might be a better option than Ebay in this case.

snapguy said:

A couple of years ago I bought a smaller Omega enlarger, the B22, for about $120 and the shipping cost me around $40. I probably could have found a cheaper enlarger but it was exactly the enlarger I was looking for (with extra long girders) and I wanted one right away. If anyone really wants yours they will pay pretty good money but it might be a bit of a hard sell. Good luck.

Click to expand...

Alright. Noted. The biggest issue is just finding a way to remove the large thing from our basement/my brother's room, since it takes up space and none of us care to/know how to use it.

Thanks to both of you for the help. I expected about this for a response, but I'd rather get it confirmed than just post it up on Ebay only to have a refund demanded due to having not mentioned something important or whatnot. I'll probably just post up something on Craigs List for pickup only and see if anyone wants to come by and potentially buy it after assessing it themselves. Appreciate it!

To move an Omega enlarger:

1. remove the lens below the bellows. Wrap it up and put it somewhere safe.

2. remove the lamp housing, which is at the very top of the enlarger. There's a black screw in the front that holds it on. Take the light bulb out and wrap that up and put it somewhere safe.

3. remove the condensers. These are thick glass lenses in the aluminum column below the lamp housing. They should just lift out. Wrap them up and put them somewhere safe.

4. now you can unscrew the four knobs at the base and detach the enlarger from the base.

It's still a pretty big package, but at least it's in smaller pieces so you can move it more easily, and you've packed up the fragile bits.

If anyone needs information about your enlarger, this link will help: http://www.khbphotografix.com/omega/Discontinued/B8.htm

I own a B8 which I bought in 2006 for about $80 equipped for 35mm, which is to say a supplementary condenser (thinner lens below the large pair of condenser lenses) and an El Nikkor 80mm f/2.8 (the better 6 element lens). I got it from a guy in the lower edge of New York state and worked out a pickup (I live outside of Philadelphia).

The B8 can do negatives up to 6x9cm (2 1/4 x 3 1/4) and for someone like myself with no particular interest in color or 4x5 work, it is a quite serviceable choice.

As noted above, what is included might be persuasive or add value. Is there a lens -- make, focal length, max aperture, etc. -- more than one? Negative carriers - more than one - size of opening(s). These can be expensive and hard to come by. A "full package" includes two different extended lens mount cones to use 80mm and 105mm lenses for 6x6 and 6x9 cm negatives in addition to the flat plate for the 50mm lens used with 35mm negatives. There are two possible supplementary condenser lenses, a thick one for use with the 35mm setup and a thin one to use with the 6x6 setup. I suspect when new one could buy the beastie with just what they wanted to use, so yours may not have a big assortment of "extras." But a potential buyer might need/want some specific items which you may or may not have. Things like a manual for it can be found online - usually for money - so if you have that, there would be another plus.

Enlargers are strange beasts -- some are large enough to be tedious to fit in some cars without major disassembly, and many seem to get discarded. Yet if you can connect with a person out there who wants exactly what you've got, they may be willing to pay a fair amount. I'm sure I spent more on additional negative carriers, the thin supplementary condenser and two additional enlarging lenses than I paid for the enlarger.

Good luck!
(And no, alas, I don't need a second one. )