Household bulbs

Gary Holliday · Jun 1, 2007

I read in another thread that someone was using ordinary household bulbs for their enlarger instead of expensive photography branded bulbs.

Has anyone had any success with these? Will they produce an even light source?

Jim Jones · Jun 1, 2007

Most household bulbs don't provide a really uniform source. I've seen a few house brands that do, though. Also, household bulbs put out less useful light per watt, and their color characteristics may be a problem in some printing.

Gary Holliday · Jun 1, 2007

My split grade printing technique requires very short Grade 1 exposures. Using a condenser enlarger makes life a little tricky, so I'm hoping a household 50/ 25W bulb can help.

bdial · Jun 1, 2007

Another problem with household bulbs is the printing on the end which, so I understand, can end up in your image. I've never tried using one, so I'm not sure if it's folklore or not.
You could try some neutral density filtration to throttle it down some.

Curt · Jun 1, 2007

I saw a Modern Marvels on the History channel that focused on flashlights and specifically bulbs. The bare bulb is blotchy and irregular where the LED provides even light, with a flawless field of illumination. With the right reflector it would be a very good choice. In fact they hinted that the LED will be the next generation of home lighting.

Kobin · Jun 1, 2007

I've used a household 75w bulb in my MF condenser enlarger for years. I removed the writing on the end with whiting (Bon Ami). Works fine. I just bought a couple of 150w bulbs for my 4x5 diffusion enlarger. They were $2.50 each at the Home Depot. I won't have to worry about the writing on those.

Maybe the results would be measurably better with the proper bulb, measured with the proper instruments. For my purposes the store-bought bulbs work just fine.

K.

fschifano · Jun 1, 2007

I've heard of a couple of accounts where people claim to have gotten good results using a standard household light bulb in condenser enlargers. To say that I'm sceptical of this claim is an understatement. For a time, I used a condenser enlarger and have attempted to use household incandescent lamps. The experiment was a success. I learned that you can't cheap out on enlarger bulbs. There was a hot spot from the filament and the printing on the bulb's end was projected onto the baseboard. Not good. I don't want to see a negative image of "Sylvania 75W/120V" in the middle of my prints. Issues about color temperature are moot if you can't get an even exposure.

The suggestion to introduce some neutral density filtration into the light path is the easiest and most predictable way to cut down the light reaching the baseboard without changing the lens aperture. Rosco makes neutral density cine gels that are perfect for this application in densities of .15 (1/2 stop), .3 (1 stop), .6 (two stops), and .9 (three stops) that are perfect for this sort of application. See an example here: Dead Link Removed . They are inexpensive, can be easily cut to fit your filter drawer, and are heat resistant. I use the .3 density material and stack two sheets if I really need to cut down a lot of light. One sheet of .15, and one of .3 will cover just about any situation you might come across.

Vaughn · Jun 2, 2007

Gary Holliday said:
My split grade printing technique requires very short Grade 1 exposures. Using a condenser enlarger makes life a little tricky, so I'm hoping a household 50/ 25W bulb can help.

How about putting a dimmer switch inbetween the wall plug and the lamp somewhere? Wire in a volt meter between the dimmer and the lamp and you have repeatability.

Vaughn

Steve Smith · Jun 2, 2007

Curt said:
In fact they hinted that the LED will be the next generation of home lighting.

The company I work for has made some LED rear light clusters for some high end cars. The brake light cluster which has about 50 super bright LEDs can easily light up a room - in red though.

Once white LED technology has advanced to a similar level, I'm sure it will displace tungsten and CFL for household lighting.

I can imagine a distant future where household electricity wiring is voltage (about 24v) rather than the current 110/230v which we use as all lighting and household items such as TVs, Hi Fi, etc. could easily run off of a low voltage system.

The incoming high voltage would only be used for high power items such as cookers, washing machines etc.

Steve.

Roger Hicks · Jun 2, 2007

Steve Smith said:
The company I work for has made some LED rear light clusters for some high end cars. The brake light cluster which has about 50 super bright LEDs can easily light up a room - in red though.

Once white LED technology has advanced to a similar level, I'm sure it will displace tungsten and CFL for household lighting.

I can imagine a distant future where household electricity wiring is voltage (about 24v) rather than the current 110/230v which we use as all lighting and household items such as TVs, Hi Fi, etc. could easily run off of a low voltage system.

The incoming high voltage would only be used for high power items such as cookers, washing machines etc.

Steve.

Dear Steve,

I suppose that currents might by then be low enough that I-squared-R losses (sorry, can't do equations on screen here) might be acceptable, but 12v instead of 240v does imply 20x the amperage. Just a thought.

Cheers,

R.

Steve Smith · Jun 2, 2007

Roger Hicks said:
Dear Steve,

I suppose that currents might by then be low enough that I-squared-R losses (sorry, can't do equations on screen here) might be acceptable, but 12v instead of 240v does imply 20x the amperage. Just a thought.

Yes, LEDs are significantly more efficient than tungsten which produces more heat than light, especially the currently available super bright red LEDs.

The normal wiring used in house lighting, 1.5mm square will probably still be sufficient. The lower voltage would make it a lot safer, even if it was only dropped to 48v or 36v. In fact, 42v is proposed as a new automotive standard (mainly for hybrid designs) so it would make sense to adopt that for household too.

This has just made be wonder why I don't have an LED safelight. I may have one by the end of the week though!

Steve.

Andy K · Jun 2, 2007

Steve Smith said:
I can imagine a distant future where household electricity wiring is voltage (about 24v) rather than the current 110/230v which we use as all lighting and household items such as TVs, Hi Fi, etc. could easily run off of a low voltage system.

It may be sooner than you think. There is already research into making all household appliances wire free, including the power cable. The idea is that everything will be low voltage and powered through magnetic resonance.

See report here: http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/6705313.stm

Roger Hicks · Jun 2, 2007

Steve Smith said:
Yes, LEDs are significantly more efficient than tungsten which produces more heat than light, especially the currently available super bright red LEDs. ... This has just made be wonder why I don't have an LED safelight. I may have one by the end of the week though!

Steve.

I have one from Nova, and very good it is.

I was thinking of non-lighting applications, though. Obviously any form of electric heating (including electric kettles, power showers and water heaters) would imply infeasibly high currents; so, I think, might rapid battery chargers; and then there are all the 'legacy' products, including (for example) studio electronic flash, where peak draws of 1.2 Kw (100 amps at 12 v) are apparently not uncommon. You'd therefore need two wiring looms in the house...

Cheers,

Roger

pentaxuser · Jun 2, 2007

I was given a very ancient Gnome Beta (I or II) condenser enlarger by my brother-in-law. His brother was about to throw it out, although he had used it to good effect many years before when he dabbled in printing.

There was an ulterior motive on the part of my brother-in-law. He wanted some of his old 6x9 negs printing and my Durst M605 couldn't handle them. It had a simple household "pearl" 75W bulb i.e. not clear.

It worked fine with not even a hint of any projection of the bulb's details.

It strikes me that such old, very basic, cheap and cheerful, enlargers were designed to operate with normal household bulbs and if projection of the bulb's details had been a problem and had shown on the print, then surely they would never have been bought.

I'd get a "pearl" bulb and try it. If it wasn't a problem for me then I see no reason why it should be a problem for you.

Best of luck

pentaxuser

David A. Goldfarb · Jun 2, 2007

Household bulbs are not as heavily frosted as enlarging lamps and have printing on the top of the bulb often, which can cause problems. On some enlarger reflectors the position of the filament is important, and household bulbs can't be counted on to have the filament in the right place.

If your enlarger is too bright, just put an ND gel between the bulb and the condensors. Since this isn't in the image path, you can use lighting gels.

Gary Holliday · Jun 2, 2007

I managed to get some bulbs today which didn't have any writing on top. They are not as frosted as the original Omega bulbs, but I'll see what happens.

First I have to sort out the existing hotspot. I think it's badly positioned condensers. Noticeable when I stop down to f16 on a Componon-S.

copake_ham · Jun 2, 2007

We have some good friends up in the Laurentians who are now in the "second generation" of "off grid" power.

Their first cottage was 120/240vAC via generator back up and 12vDC via solar main. Robin became much more aware of the need to move to 24vDC afterwards as 12vDC could handle simple lighting but lacked the potential necessary to provide the wattage necessary for much more than a simple kitchen blender. In other words, the backup became the main too often.

They've done a second cottage with a 120/240vAC generator but moved the solar component to 24vDC which has opened the opportunity to effectively power many more appliances etc.

I haven't heard of the move to 46vDC (as per the hybrid cars) but it would make sense.

The issue remains power storage. In addition to a large number of solar collectors, you need a substantial battery array even at 12vDC - and it obviously compounds as you desire to covert them up to 24vDC or higher levels.

The real solution for many of us may be the "feed back to the grid systems" where what ever vDC your solar array provides is converted to 120/240vAC via an interconnect and you either feed into or off of the grid depending on personal supply/demand - essentially sometimes running your meter backwards and sometimes foward with a netting arrangement to your power provider/buyer.

Gary Holliday · Jun 9, 2007

The household bulbs aren't quite as even as the original bulb, but at least the experiment allow me to identify the nasty hotspot. Turns out the original Omega bulb was causing the hotspot!

dancqu · Jun 9, 2007

Gary Holliday said:
My split grade printing technique requires
very short Grade 1 exposures.

Here's a trick which may help. Arrange your condensers
for maximum coverage. Dan

Gary Holliday · Jun 9, 2007

How is that done?

dslater · Jun 9, 2007

Gary Holliday said:
How is that done?

I don't know about your enlarger, but on my bessler, I can adjust the distance between the condenser and the negative - the closer the condenser is to the negative, the more coverage

Gary Holliday · Jun 10, 2007

Great thanks.

radiantdarkroom · Jun 21, 2007

DeVere Makes an LED light source, how rockin is that, no heat, no light bulb burning out, no mercury(compact Flourescent). Does cost $$$ There's even a digital enlarger that is $$$$$$$$$.

johnnywalker · Jun 22, 2007

Does the LED light source screw into a normal socket?

radiantdarkroom · Jun 22, 2007

The LED completely replaces condenser, diffuser, and bulb stages. I believe it's plugged into a 24V transformer but I could be wrong. I have no personal experience with the DeVere LED light source so I can't be spacific, there is a web site.

Household bulbs

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