Focomat Ic bulb height.

The bulb height is adjustable in my Focomat Ic. Is this something that needs to be adjusted to a certain spot? Does this height affect even illumination? And how do I determine the correct height if it does? Thanks!

been a long time

I have not owned a 1C for over 30 years. The need for adjusting the bulb height is going to be determined by wether or not the bulb is clear or frosted. If it is a clear bulb, especially with a small filament, intended to be a point light source adjusting the bulb for eveness of illumination and maximum clarity of the image would be much fussier than if a fairly large bulb that is frosted is being used. Assuming that your are using a frosted bulb focus your enlarger carefully for makign an 8x10 for example. Make certain that your condenser is clean. Remove your negative. Set your lens to your normal aperture, 5.6 for example. Set your timer so that a light to medium gray print is produced on b&w paper. process the paper. Is the paper the same shade, or nearly so, over the entire priint ? If yes everything is good. If not, try adjusting the height of the bulb to eliminate the uneveness.

All the way up for PH 111 or 112 long neck bulbs. All or most of the way down for the short neck Osram which you probably don`t have. This assumes you have the grey egg shapped head late model

The black krinkle paint heads ,which are more round, only use the short neck ones.
The long neck ones will not work in it. Last source I saw for short ones was at Bulbman.com a month ago. Look under Leica misspelled in some fashon.

Ronald Moravec said:

All the way up for PH 111 or 112 long neck bulbs. All or most of the way down for the short neck Osram which you probably don`t have. This assumes you have the grey egg shapped head late model

The black krinkle paint heads ,which are more round, only use the short neck ones.
The long neck ones will not work in it. Last source I saw for short ones was at Bulbman.com a month ago. Look under Leica misspelled in some fashon.

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Mine has the round krinkle finish head and I use the frosted 112 bulbs that are the same size as houshold bulbs.

Ronald Moravec said:

The black krinkle paint heads ,which are more round, only use the short neck ones.
The long neck ones will not work in it. Last source I saw for short ones was at Bulbman.com a month ago. Look under Leica misspelled in some fashon.

Click to expand...

What kind of !@# is that advise?
Its really wrong..
And you keep repeating it:

Photo Net discussion :

"211 and 213 bulbs fit only the latest models with the grey paint egg shapped heads."

Come'on where did you get that from? Surely NOT from the original documentation nor from praxis nor from...

"If you have a round one with black crinkle paint, you need the the short neck bulb coded VASEX or something close."

The VASEX is an early enlarger model from the 1930s and hardly the code-name for a bulb.

I actually have in my "collection" an original Leitz bulb marked even "Leitz" for the Focomat and its hardly much different (beyond the markings) than an Osram bulb of the same production period--- which differs hardly (for the most part in the materials used for the opalization) from those currently available.

What has evolved over the years in the Ic is the ability to take more powerfull bulbs. While the first series were limited to 75 watt bulbs the last took 150w (and in some press-room applications even 250w) bulbs.

Unless one needs to crank-out fast prints ("time is money") or really large ones I'd keep to the 75 watt bulb. They last the longest. The current crop of papers tend to be so fast and sensitive that for smallish prints anything more than the 75 watt bulb is too bright..

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And an additional note. In addition to my few black crinkle Ic models I have a 1940 Focomat I / VUTOO with a tall (120cm), very thick (5 cm) column and 62×65 cm baseboard and it works fine with the bulbs one gets EVERYWHERE. It was, afterall, the source of that original Leitz pre-war bulb

I really think you are confusing the Focomat with the older Durst Laborators.. they need a special oversized bulb to get enough coverage..

When I put the Ph 111 in my older Ic, it did fit, but did not give me even illumination. It worked fine with the Osram bulbs available in the 70`s and 80`s.

I really don`t remember what Ic model model it was, but it had a small wood base and groves/ clamping for an 8x10 easle.

The Ph 111 would fit in my older Ic from the 1960 era, but would not give even illumination. It worked fine with the Osram bulbs which were shorter.

If you are satisfied with the results, continue using it that way.