Omega D5 geometry

I'm in the process of gathering bits to setup a darkroom after having been away for a while. I have started shooting 4x5 and my existing enlargers top out at 6x6,6x7 ( Paterson PCS 2000 and Vititar VI ).
So I picked up a couple of 4x5 enlargers. One is an Omega D5, they always seemed to be well regarded. I set mine up so I could switch between the condenser lamphouse and Chromega D color head. I made some extensions to mount the right side arms to when using the color head.

As I was getting familiar with the D5, I find that is it well made but the geometry of the column is very much less than optimal. It tilts so far forward that baseboard use is not as usable as it could be. enlarging an image quickly runs off the end of it.
With the head all the way down, you are still far away from the column base. If the column were less steep ( and the carriage designed for it ), you could hit the full width of the baseboard before running off the end. Seems the XL sized baseboard would have been better with the standard height column.

For me, it won't matter much as both enlargers will be mounted directly to a larger table without their baseboards. Still, I find the geometry curious.

i had a D2 mounted on directly on my enlarger table... it also had the tilted column. I used it for many years.

When i built the table (really, a solid birch panel anchored to the wall), and mounted the enlarger i took into account that tilt so thinking back it did come out a ways from the wall. I didn't see it as a problem as i sat my timer on one side of the base, and dodging/burning items and filters on the other. yes, i guess it did take up space!

the D2 also swiveled so i could use it off the side of the table to the floor.

i always thought i should upgrade to the d5 but loved that old d2 and it served me well!

My D6 - which was a D5XL with all the accessories - had a really long (36"?) and wide and massive original equipment baseboard.
I think the column was designed to work optimally with the over-sized baseboard or a wall mount. If a smaller baseboard is installed, work-arounds are necessary.

The standard baseboard is only 26x18, seems like the XL baseboard would have been better.

It just seemed odd to me. Once I mount it on my table it won't matter.

The D5 also has a base that can swivel, not sure that I will try to take advantage.

You don't want the image to run off the back of the baseboard and onto the column itself when you're making large prints. If the column were any less tilted, it wouldn't be possible to make larger prints for that reason.

Best,

Doremus

As you see they did enlarge the baseboard on the D5500, but still somewhat small as my 16x20 easel overhangs on three sides as seen here:

This is what a 20x24 easel looks like on the D5500.

BTW I see you have a Philips. I have a Philips also; PCS 150 at far end of the bench.

That's part of the problem, the enlarged image is so far away from the back, the baseboard is not being well used.

Doremus Scudder said:

You don't want the image to run off the back of the baseboard and onto the column itself when you're making large prints. If the column were any less tilted, it wouldn't be possible to make larger prints for that reason.

Best,

Doremus

Click to expand...

ic-racer said:

This is what a 20x24 easel looks like on the D5500.

BTW I see you have a Philips. I have a Philips also; PCS 150 at far end of the bench.

Click to expand...

I like the little Philips, I really just got it to play with an RGB enlarger( about 25 years ago I think ), ended up I like using it too. When I get to building the darkroom, I will likely only set up the D5 and D5500. The spare CLS head and controller I bought should be showing up this week. The controller is the last version like your D5500 on the end. My D5500 is now done and ready to use. I did some test using my color analyzer to see how well the filtration tracked. I zero'd the analyzer using no filtration and the lens stopped down ( no negative in place ). I then incremented CMY in equal steps ( neutral density ) and opened the lens to maintain the same exposure. CMY stayed neutral density pretty well. CM were near perfect, Y started to diverge getting to about 15cc off by the end. The Chromega I have tracked the best, the Philips, sadly is the worst of the 4 color heads I have. I need to dig into the Philips With RGB all set to max brightness, it's too green. I found the where green was being controlled and rescaled the op-amp that controls it, it better but still needs more work. I wish I could find a circuit diagram. Not really interested in reverse engineering the circuit board.

Another tip, if you find the Translator Controller, if you put it into Calibrate mode, it functoins just like the smaller controllers. That is not really obvious reading the manual.