Do Colour Enlarger Heads Ever Need New Filters?

Snapshot · Jun 28, 2007

Hi All,

I am wondering whether or not the colour filters built in a colour enlarger head needs to be replaced periodically. I thought that they do not but I want to confirm that is the case. Can anyone confirm whether replacement is required?

Chan Tran · Jun 28, 2007

I think not but my does. My yellow filter got chipped and the cyan filter has a crack in it.

pentaxuser · Jun 28, 2007

Snapshot. That's my understanding as well. In a dichroic head the filters do not "wear away" so to speak from simple use or at least not in the normal lifetime of an enlarger unless damaged.

pentaxuser

Neanderman · Jun 28, 2007

pentaxuser said:
Snapshot. That's my understanding as well. In a dichroic head the filters do not "wear away" so to speak from simple use or at least not in the normal lifetime of an enlarger unless damaged.

pentaxuser

Dichroic is the key. The filters in early non-dichroic Omega heads do fade; that is the reason they started using dichroic.

Ed

Snapshot · Jun 29, 2007

Thanks for the answers everyone. Luckily, I have an dichroic head.

Mike Wilde · Jun 29, 2007

But beward the mixing box yellowing

I have an older Omega dicroic. It no longer goes all the way to grade 5 when doing MG B&W printing. For hiard contrast use another enlarger with Ilfords graded filters.

The white plastic mixing box in the head can yellow as it ages. The result is that you always get a yellow contribution, whether you have any yellow dialled in or not. For color it is no big deal, as RA-4 always needs yellow; I just dial in less than other enlargers would.

Snapshot · Jun 29, 2007

Mike Wilde said:
I have an older Omega dicroic. It no longer goes all the way to grade 5 when doing MG B&W printing. For hiard contrast use another enlarger with Ilfords graded filters.

The white plastic mixing box in the head can yellow as it ages. The result is that you always get a yellow contribution, whether you have any yellow dialled in or not. For color it is no big deal, as RA-4 always needs yellow; I just dial in less than other enlargers would.

Interesting, it never occurred to me to consider compensating for any yellowing of the light box. Mind you, my light box is still white looking but I'll remember that for future reference. Thanks for the tip.

Nick Zentena · Jun 29, 2007

Even with brand new foam insert in my enlargers they won't hit grade 5. Those inserts can be changed in most enlargers. I don't think it's any fancy photo grade styrofoam -)

If I really wanted to hit grade 5 I could slip a blue filter into the enlarger but how often do you really need a full grade 5?

Peter De Smidt · Jun 29, 2007

Yes, the filters fade, especially the magenta ones. I replaced the filters on my De Vere a few years ago. The differences between the faded 15 year old filters and the new filters was easy to see. Note that De Vere enlargers are probably worse in this regard than others, as the Dichroic filters come between the heat absorbing glass and the light source. That's a stupid way to do it, unless you want to sell people new filters, that is.

tbm · Jun 29, 2007

Two years ago I bought a used Saunders MXL dichroic enlarger from a portrait studio south of Chicago via eBay. After receiving it via UPS and after using it for awhile, I discovered I wasn't getting enough tonality and saturation in my prints. I then went to B&H's Web site, searched for this enlarger, and found a new replacement head for it. I bought it immediately, installed it easily, and determined that the new head created better tonality and saturation, resulting in an impression that the filters in the existing head were, indeed, aging and not producing results they used to. So, my conclusion is that dichroic enlargers' filters do slowly fade over a period of time. However, Ilford's slide-in filters for condensor enlargers also slowly fade according to Ilford. So, apparently, nobody who uses enlargers can expect their filters, no matter what kind, to not age and degrade.

Do Colour Enlarger Heads Ever Need New Filters?

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