OMEGA D-5XL

[tossik]

I have a offer from a person on graigslist on a almost new looking omega d-5xl with a lens for 35mm and a adjustible easel and a 35mm film carrier. he said the enlarger makes 20x24 prints no problem, there was a picture he sent me and it looks very clean and well taken care of. He wants 150$ for it with lens easel and neg holder.

Is it a good price for that or should i keep looking?

 

[Nick Zentena]

Depending on the lens it could be worth most of that price. Depending on the easel it could be worth a fair bit.

OTOH just the enlarger in good condition is a good deal at that price. My only worry is do you need more carriers? But I guess you'll be able to find other sizes used fairly easy.

 

[David Brown]

I paid $100 for mine about two years ago. It came with no lenses, but with several carriers. I've probably spent another $100 (or more) refurbishing it - it had a lot of "miles" on it, but it's working fine. I had to do a lot of adjustments and cleaning, replace the gasket over the neg stage, replace the wheel indicators for the filters, etc. And, I had to buy a mount - it came with no baseboard or mounting plate. I still think I got a good deal.

As to lenses, carrriers, etc., those are always above and beyond to some extent. I've spent more money on additional carriers that I wanted, replacing ones that came with the enlarger with "better' ones, and of course various incarnations of lens mounts until I got just the configuration I wanted.

If your machine is indeed clean, complete (baseboard, power supply, mixing box, etc.) and fully working, it's likely a good price.

 

[gphoto120]

You can find negative carriers for the D5 on ebay - many times sold as a set. Prices on extra lenses are going really low as well. I bought both 80mm Rodenstock Rodagon and Schneider Componon lenses very reasonably @ $40-50ea on ebay several months ago. If you don't have to pay for shipping, 150.00 sounds like a decent price if the lens is good quality ie: el nikkor, componon, or rodagon). Good Luck!
gphoto120

 

[jordanstarr]

that's an awesome price. i bought mine for $450CDN, but it came with a 4-blade easel, 3 lenses, and a wack of carriers and a timer/filter system. i have used about 8 different enlargers in my time and it's by far the best one i've ever used. and yes, it'll make 20x24 prints NO PROBLEM. in fact it could make bigger if you have a bigger base or easel. my biggest easel does 20x24, so that's as big as i've gone.
just keep in mind that if you have the basic black and white head, you'll need the large format, medium format and 35mm light sources. they're hard to find so if you're shooting lots of different formats make sure you have those or it'll end up costing you way more than that.
keep in mind if you haven't made 20x24 photos from a 35mm negative, you're going to lose a lot of quality in your photo. i only made up to 16x20 and that's only if i'm using 50 or 100iso film. there's still a lot of fallout in terms of quality. i only make photos that big from 6x4.5 negatives. good luck finding a carrier that size for the enlarger. they're hard to come by.

 

[Rolleijoe]

Sounds like a good deal. I purchased mine about 2 years ago, but it came complete with an omegatrol, lens carriers for everything from minox to 4x5, several saunders ($$$$$) easels, peak #1 focusing scope, 3 lenses mounted on the turret, absolutely everything I'd need to start printing from day 1.

Paid $250 plus shipping from L.A.

As for making large prints, yes 20x24 is not a problem considering you have the proper lens for the format you're printing, etc. With regards to losing quality, I've never lost any. In fact larger is easier to print on this enlarger, if anthing! There is a lever on the far right, that will allow for brighter light coverage once you start making particular sized prints. Flip that, and you're all set.

Good luck with your Omega.