Any updates on using LED bulbs in enlargers?

Trey · Oct 22, 2025

I'm refurbing some Meopta Axomat enlargers for a school, and the 150w bulbs they use are expensive and hard to find, so I was wondering if anyone had recommendations for LED bulbs I might use in them? This old thread:

The most ideal enlarger light bulb for some?

There are many out there still using enlargers taking the traditional opal PH140 or #211 bulbs. I wonder if those people are aware of a 50 cent replacement? Today, I went to the chain "DollarTree" and bought a package of two (Sunbeam brand) LED 60W equivalent bulbs for only $1, total. Just...

www.photrio.com

Led me to this bulb:

https://www.bunnings.com.au/osram-13w-1521lm-frosted-e27-warm-white-led-a-shape-light-globe_p0179462

Which I'll try out this weekend, but I was wondering if anyone had updated information? The world of LED lights etc. seems to change every week!

Paul Howell · Oct 22, 2025

I have a Axomate that I use with a standard GE LED bulb, it does have a bit of afterglow, the afterglow does not last long and faint not enough to create issues when making test strips. Freestyle has 150 watt bulbs at $5.99 each, which is less than a GE LED bulb from a big box store like Lowe's. Not sure if you can get bulbs as cheap as in the post you found, but still inexpensive on Amazon, LED 60 watt replacement is $7.98 while a 100 watt is $15.98 cheaper if you buy a 4 pack. I still use 75wat and 150 watt enlarger bulbs in my D3.

titrisol · Oct 22, 2025

Dimmable soft white or warm white should work fine
I bought the GE relax 100W (1300 lumen)

mshchem · Oct 23, 2025

I think a real tungsten filament incandescent lamp is still the best choice. If you can get a genuine 150W (PH 212 ?) great, I think you could try any "soft white" type frosted bulb..
MHOFWIW

Buzz-01 · Oct 23, 2025

Same-ish as Paul Howell here. Using a cheap 11W warm white LED bulb in my Opemus 5 with Ilford under-the-lens filters and I'm pretty happy with the contrast range it allows for.
Exposure times are a bit on the short side, but that's by choice as I could have taken a lower wattage bulb instead but need the light output for when I do lith printing which needs much more light.
No issues with afterglow though. 4x 1sec give the same result on paper (at least to my eye) as 1x 4sec.
My bulb looks like the OSRAM in your link in terms of construction/shape, although mine is a different (local chainstore) brand.

thinkbrown · Oct 23, 2025

I had mixed results using frosted LED bulbs in my little durst f30. On the one hand, the contrast range it gave me was reasonable and the fact that the enlarger didn't even get warm to the touch was super nice.

On the other, I did end up going back to an incandescent bulb because no matter which LED bulb I tried, I ended up getting weird hot spots in the image. It was especially bad with the style of bulb that uses the "filament" style LEDs.

Ron789 · Oct 23, 2025

I did some tests with LED bulbs a few years ago and the found that a color temperature of at least 4000K was needed to get all contrast grades. But this was a few years ago, it may well be that nowadays LED bulbs are different.

Paul Howell · Oct 23, 2025

Others have found the same, my negatives are scaled to print grade 2, not very often I print beyond 2 1/2 sometimes grade 3. I only use grade 5 when split grade printing.

mshchem · Oct 23, 2025

The short answer to the original question (MHOFWIW) is nope, nothing new to report on alternatives to standard bulbs for enlargers.
For most of us no reason to substitute. Leds can be made to work, I've never fiddled with it.

These people have figured it out

Heiland electronic GmbH, Wetzlar / Germany - LED Kaltlicht

Don_ih · Oct 23, 2025

Other than in my Chromega enlarger (which takes a silly bulb), I've only been using cheap (think dollar-store cheap) LED bulbs for several years. I haven't had any concerns about it.

tezzasmall · Oct 24, 2025

We had a thread about this from mostly UK members and the general consensus was that a warm light worked best, of which I tried and agree with.

Terry S

MattKing · Oct 24, 2025

When I tried this with my LPL 7700, I was constrained by the available power options for the bulbs that would fit and were available at moderate cost.
So prints from 35mm often required inconveniently longer exposure times.
The results though are good, and the lower heat is an advantage.
The contrast behavior is a bit different though - I use an LPL variable contrast head mostly on the enlarger, and the "grade" spacing is quite a bit different.
I've gone back to the 100W 82V halogen bulbs, but the 50W 82V bulbs I tried remain as a vary usable backup.

bfilm · Oct 29, 2025

Tungsten filament incandescent is by far the best electrical light.

If you are looking for 150W...

The Ushio PH212 is showing as discontinued, but it is still available at some places.

PH212, 150W, 115V, A21, E26, 3050K
https://www.ushio.com/product/incandescent-photographic-enlarger/

It is not specifically a darkroom enlarger lamp bulb, but the Lumiram Chromalux Full Spectrum A21FR-150 might work.

A21FR-150, 150W, 120V, A21, E26, 2475K
https://lumiram.com/products/chromalux-full-spectrum-incandescent-light-bulbs/a21-frosted/

Any updates on using LED bulbs in enlargers?

Trey

The most ideal enlarger light bulb for some?

Paul Howell

titrisol

mshchem

Buzz-01

thinkbrown

Ron789

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Paul Howell

mshchem

Don_ih

tezzasmall

MattKing

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bfilm

Any updates on using LED bulbs in enlargers?

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