Making your own black and white prints can be a rewarding hobby. The Omega B22 enlarger is one type of essential equipment that you can use to make prints, and the following instructions cover its basics of its operation. Many devotees of the time-honored art of darkroom printing keep the practice alive because they appreciate that photography before the digital age was essentially rooted in the manipulation of light, as opposed to processing a bunch of invisible ones and zeros.
Instructions
1. Insert the lens (mounted on a lens board) you plan to use in the space immediately below the condenser lamphouse. Be sure the condensers are appropriate to the focal length of the lens you are using. For lenses with a 3-inch or greater focal length (used for 6cm by 6cm negatives) the standard double condensers will do, but for lenses with 2-inch or smaller focal lengths (for 35mm negatives) you will need to install a supplementary condenser.
2. Place the negative in the negative carrier emulsion side down and insert the carrier into the enlarger by raising the lamphouse slightly with the lever provided for this purpose. The negative carrier should be pushed to the rear of the Omega B22's negative stage, where it will come to rest against retaining pins. When the lamphousing is lowered, the negative carrier will be held securely.
3. Place a white piece of paper on the easel and turn on the enlarger lamp. After loosening the knurled screw that holds the projector carriage at one position on the column, raise or lower the carriage until you are satisfied with the magnification, and then tighten the screw.
4. Now focus the image by turning the hand wheel located on the right side of the enlarger. Sharp focus is more easily obtained with a focus aid, which lets you focus on the grain of the film.
5. Before exposing the photographic paper, make sure there is no stray white light (sunlight, incandescent or fluorescent)---the only light in the darkroom at this stage should be from an approved safelight. Place the paper on the easel after turning off the enlarger lamp and set the darkroom timer to the desired exposure, after which the print will need to be developed.
Tags: negative carrier, enlarger lamp, focal length, lenses with, paper easel, will need