Ilford 500H

Im still trying to find an affordble replacement for my 4 x 5 enlarger.
My latest consideration has a Ilford 500 multigarde VC head.
This little box has two 300 watt bulbs!
Does this lead to negative popping?

Any other issues with this well reguarded light source?

TB

You can use 150 watt bulbs as well.
Each type of enlarger needs the correct mounting hardware for the head. If you have a complete enlarger with head, the hardware should be there, but if you are trying to add the head to an existing chassis, you need to address the mounting issue.
The touch pad controls can wear - be sure to check their condition.
Some have experienced issues with the cooling fans in the head starting to impart vibration.
The very earliest version of the heads had magenta and yellow filters. Those worked well, but are really old. Most use green and blue filters instead, which can take some getting used to, probably allow for slightly more contrast at the high end, and create a bit of challenge if you want to print black and white from a color negative - the green or blue light isn’t easy to focus with through the red film mask. That same green and blue means that if you have a darkroom with moderately bright orange or red safelights, you probably will prefer focusing with the light turned off.

I used one once. It had a very fancy electronic setting for contrast. I’d love to use one again.

Beautiful if fresh and maintained. This usually means expensive.

Melvin J Bramley said:

Does this lead to negative popping?

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Never experienced it with the 500H. There's quite some distance between the bulbs and the negative stage. The bulbs shine through the blue and green filters into the mixing chamber, and that sits on top of the actual enlarger (or slots into it). There's also a fairly powerful (and noisy) fan that draws off the heat from the bulbs.

Melvin J Bramley said:

Any other issues with this well reguarded light source?

Click to expand...

Some units develop problems; the electronics on these are now 30-40 years old or so. Just ensure that the setup you purchase actually works. This means that it's best to verify that the actual combination of head, power supply and user input controller actually work together and are fully functional. If a measurement probe is part of the kit, ensure that it also functions properly with your controller.

But in principle, no, no major issues for the most part. There are some mentions of fans going haywire, for instance, which probably traces down to 'misc' electronics problems in the power supply, hence the comments above. I've had a 500 setup for a few years and while it was an old beater, I never had any problems with it whatsoever. I did find the fan noise quite irritating - and of course I was limited to B&W with it.

I'd agree with the reports above. The 500H is a fantastic setup that can be used on a number of enlarger chassis.

I use mine on a Durst L1200.

I've also squirrelled away a number of spares in case of failure. The PSU seems to be the part to fail if any.

Mike

You can find Equipment manuals and fitting instructions through this Ilford/Harman link:
https://www.ilfordphoto.com/technical-downloads
I actually have more experience with the older, 400 series version, which is also interesting and quite functional - but really old.

Check out one of our sponsors FreeStyle to see if they stock the bulb you need. Shipping for one or two bulbs may be pricey to Canada so add some film or other supplies to make the shipping the final order worth it.