Enlarger bulbs, is there any hope?

[haris]

Hello,

We had several discussions here about availability of enlarger bulbs. As Philips stopped manufacturing incandescent enlarger bulbs, situation is bad, as we all know. Question is: Anyone have any informations about any other manufacturers (China perhaps?) or about Philips bulbs somewhere.

Yes, there is alternative, to use colour/MG head with halogen bulbs, but I would like to work with condensers maybe even more than with diffuser.

 

[ADOX Fotoimpex]

Yes there is hope.
All of the Phillips photography lamp business has been taken over by a small German company specialised in niche market production which prevers to stay in the background.

We alreday received the first shippment of Tungsten lighting bulbs from them and opal- lamps (we call them like this over here) for enlargers are expected in about one to two months.

They will make the lamps available over the usual channels where you could purchase Phillips before.

If for some reason you cannot obtain the lamps locally we could theoretically ship from over here but the question is if this makes sense costwise.

Regards,

Mirko

FOTOIMPEX

 

[haris]

Mirko, thank you for answer and for telling grat news. If lamps will be available at Fotoimpex, I would more then happy to buy them with you. Reason for try to buying locally was that shop is in lighting business so I thought they have better source and is easier to get them through theire business channels than to me as individual.

But, if you (Fotoimpex) will have those lamps in offer when are produced, I will get them from you. As some other stuff I plan to buy for some time...

Best regards,

Haris

 

[ADOX Fotoimpex]

as a matter of fact I just rang the sales rep and he told me that we can expect a first shippment within the next week.
They also confirmed the prices. Unfortunately they are way more pricey than Phillips was but this is probably the reason why Phillips stopped the production.

We had to raise our net selling to 9,99 EUR.

I hope this finds your acceptance.

Best regards,

Mirko

 

[haris]

Yes, and I remember price here was 15 EUROS when one seller had Philips bulbs under Hama brand. That was few years ago, and after that, here was no incandescent enlarger bulbs anymore to buy, only halogen... So, 10 EUROS is acceptable, in fact it has to be acceptable, if not, what is alternative (except alternative written at the end of my first post)

Enjoy life,

Haris

 

[PhotoJim]

Given the life of the bulbs, 10 euros is very reasonable. I'm glad to hear that someone will still be making these bulbs.

 

[Daniel_OB]

I quit all special bulbs and batteries. My Beseler is now happy with $0.5 house bulb, instead of $20 "special" bulb. Just a little work around and all is fine. So better investigate some solution than let manufacturer to investigate how to take your money.

www.Leica-R.com

 

[Snapshot]

I've stocked up on a few bulbs in case there isn't an option for my Omega B-66 and Chromega B enlargers.

 

[Freneticist]

I quit all special bulbs and batteries. My Beseler is now happy with $0.5 house bulb, instead of $20 "special" bulb. Just a little work around and all is fine.

Same here. With Omega DII VC, it took a few bulbs to find which one worked, but she now works happily with a standard household bulb. Just one word of advice... Don't get a bulb that has the name and info written on the top of it. It all tends to show up on your pictures. And It did take a few more test strips to re-determine approximate times. I found out too, that it really does not take that high a wattage bulb in the condensor-type enlargers. I actually went a little lower wattage, and increased exposure times, and gave myself a little more wiggle-room for dodge/burn.

 

[Edimilson]

It sounds funny to me that you've been able to get good results with common household lamps. I tried one of those in my condenser enlarger and it didn't work. Results were weird, contrast low. After I started using PH212 bulbs that I bought from replacementlightbulbs.com, I saw a clear improvement in image quality.

 

[Edimilson]

I wonder if it has to do with the different color temperatures involved. Household lamps aren't as white as the special lamps used in enlagers, isn't that so?

 

[Freneticist]

I wonder if it has to do with the different color temperatures involved. Household lamps aren't as white as the special lamps used in enlagers, isn't that so?

I think you are correct in the temp diff. Household bulbs are more yellow, less blue, cooler. Something like 2400K-3200K vs 4800K ??? Don't quote me on that, but it seems like I had read that somewhere before. But I filter a "lot", so it was a matter of finding correct compensation.

 

[foto-r3]

If it could be of interest to anyone, we have a stock of about 80 or so original Philips 75W 220V enlarger bulbs (PF603E/51) for condensor-type enlargers. A few are on Ebay (item no. 170080610501).

 

[AgX]

Household bulbs are more yellow, less blue, cooler. Something like 2400K-3200K vs 4800K ??? Don't quote me on that, but it seems like I had read that somewhere before.

The maximum what is normally gained from an incandescent lamp is 3400°K for long time use, with halogen lamps. Those old photoflood lamps were plain incandescent lamps intended to be run overrated which gained 3200-3400°K depending on type, but they only run a few hours. Actually I don't know whether those enlarger lamps were overrated too.
Anyway, a light colour of 4800°K could with incandescent lamps reasonably only be achieved via employing a colour filter on the glass bulb.

(As here in Europe the net voltage has been lifted up over the last years, there is another overrating issue with old lamps.)

 

[Brac]

Using household bulbs may not be a long term solution in the European Union countries because manufacture has to be phased out to allow for replacement by low-energy bulbs. These all seem to have flourescent tubes and are often larger than standard bulbs, so whether they could be used in enlargers I don't know.

 

[aldevo]

I quit all special bulbs and batteries. My Beseler is now happy with $0.5 house bulb, instead of $20 "special" bulb. Just a little work around and all is fine. So better investigate some solution than let manufacturer to investigate how to take your money.

www.Leica-R.com

Daniel_OB - what was the workaround needed to utilize the $0.50 house bubl?

 

[radiantdarkroom]

What about an LED light source, anyone figured out how to place one in a Durst 138S condenser enlarger. I can't see how a compact flourescent bulb would work considering it takes a minute for it to warm up to full brightness.

LED's have no mercury, would most likely last a lifetime and barely give off any heat. I imagine the price would be at least as much as a lifetimes worth of incadescent enlarger bulbs.

 

[srs5694]

What about an LED light source, anyone figured out how to place one in a Durst 138S condenser enlarger.

One potential problem with LEDs is their spectral response. "White" LEDs aren't really white. I don't know how they'd respond to filtration. You might do better with a combination of blue and green LEDs (and red, if you want to do color enlargements).

Another problem with LEDs is their brightness. Just for the heck of it, I tried replacing the halogen bulbs in my Philips PCS150 with LEDs. The results, even when I used colored bulbs, was a light source that was so dim I didn't even bother testing it to see how much of a drop in light there had been.

That said, it's possible that future developments in LED technology will make them a more suitable drop-in replacement for tungsten or halogen bulbs. If there's lots of space in your enlarger where your bulb goes, perhaps you could find some truly enormous LED replacement bulb that would be worth trying; and if it doesn't work, use it for normal room lighting. It's also conceivable that custom-designed LED arrays could be created for enlargers. In fact, there's at least one person who's doing this.

 

[Cor]

i do remember somebody else working this concept, from the time when Usenet was still very active...so you might check with the author if his project is still alive..see : http://www.trailing-edge.com/~shoppa/led.html

(his web side does not seem updated)

Best,

Cor

One potential problem with LEDs is their spectral response. "White" LEDs aren't really white. I don't know how they'd respond to filtration. You might do better with a combination of blue and green LEDs (and red, if you want to do color enlargements).

Another problem with LEDs is their brightness. Just for the heck of it, I tried replacing the halogen bulbs in my Philips PCS150 with LEDs. The results, even when I used colored bulbs, was a light source that was so dim I didn't even bother testing it to see how much of a drop in light there had been.

That said, it's possible that future developments in LED technology will make them a more suitable drop-in replacement for tungsten or halogen bulbs. If there's lots of space in your enlarger where your bulb goes, perhaps you could find some truly enormous LED replacement bulb that would be worth trying; and if it doesn't work, use it for normal room lighting. It's also conceivable that custom-designed LED arrays could be created for enlargers. In fact, there's at least one person who's doing this.

 

[radiantdarkroom]

DeVere is selling an LED light source for their Digital enlarger line. It's looks like it's only half as bright as a Halogen light source. I'm sure it could be used for film.

 

[b1bmsgt]

Freestyle seems to have a pretty large stock of enlarger bulbs...


Russ