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impulse purchase? Leitz Focomat V35

destroya

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Jul 23, 2012
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Willamette Valley, OR
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I have a beseler 23ciiiXL that I use and am happy with the results. But because its kinda large for where I use it, it needs to be set up and taken down every session which is a drag (but not really an issue). I found a very, very nice condition leitz focomat v35 with the color head for sale and for a very reasonable price. the size is nice so i could possibly fight a winning battle to leave it set up. I know its only 35mm but.... it takes the 120V/75W cold halogen bulb and the bulb works fine but I don't know if its the older harder to get bulb or the newer somewhat easier to get bulb.

it comes with the Focotar 40mm f/2.8 lens so i assume the "autofocus" will work. will this be a nice luxury to have, will it give me better results than using the beseler with my el-nikkor 50mm 2.8, or is it just GAS? the cost can buy a lot of film and paper, but I dont mind paying for a high quality item that can make printing faster, easier and hopefully better. with the besesler, for 35mm, I usually only print to 8x10 but sometimes, if the neg deserves it and its tmax acros or panF, I will go to 11x14. larger size is reserved for 6x7 negs.

Im gonna go take another look at it tomorrow so just wanted a little insight. worth it or not? I'm sure I could get it use it and if its not for me pass it along to another willing person for what i paid and they would be happy with the price, but I really dont want to have to do that (lazy).




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I have one and I get dismayed when I print medium format now because I can't use the V35 for it.

In other words, if it's the newer lamphouse, then this shouldn't even be a question. It's probably the best 35mm enlarger ever made, and one of the best enlargers ever period the end.
 
chris,

if i pull the bulb out will it have or should it have writing so i can determine if its the old or new lamphouse? how else could I tell?
 
I use one for my 35mm and can highly recommend it. I would think it unlikely it will be the old lamp, unless It's been unused for years. The autofocus works well with some easels, and not with others. The column is adjustable so that you can set it up for different easel height above the baseboard. I tend to focus manually anyway, but autofocus is great for working quickly. The name on the enlarger changed from Leitz Focomat V35 to Leica V35 towards the end of the production run, so a Leica badged example will be more recent. Having said that, mine is a 1979 model and still working perfectly.
Alex
 
If it's complete with the negative carrier, It's one of the best around. AF with different easels is no big deal to change.
If you wanted to change to a different lens(why?) The SF can be adjusted for it. Instructions are online.

It's really nice to change size print without having to refocus. Yessiree Bob.
 
I bought a Leica V35 recently...got it for a steal...it has had some issues though, which I eventually did a re-wire
on to solve. Ok, so here's the deal...the old bulb (Phillips 6604) is no longer available, and was replaced by the Phillips 13139 12V bulb.

The housing which holds the bulb is accessed by removing the small panel on the rear of the head...this will expose
the threaded housing-it unscrews and this exposes the barrel which holds the bulb. Because the new replacement
bulb was a different size, Leica offered a modified housing...if you remove the bulb, and it has the code listed above,
you have an updated unit...if not, they are available, but not easy to find.

Here's the hard part, if something does take a dump, you are in for a tough road to fix it...my transformer went bad,
and even Leica USA had little to no answers for me...they no longer support it. I converted mine to a 120V system,
then rewired the head to accept GU10 style 75W 120V bulbs which I buy on Ebay...print times are a tad longer.

Be sure the unit has the neg carrier...two were avail. One is glass, the other is not. Mine has the color head and the
multi-contrast head. I also had the Focometer II, but it didn't work. These units sold with the color head for
$2995.00 US! They are incredible, easy to use and ridiculously sharp with wonderful contrast. Anyone who says
the Focotar 40mm is not good is full of sh%t.

What price is it being offered at?

Here is a Leitz parts breakdown of the lamp replacement and redesigned housing screw cap.
 

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Like CropDusterMan I also recently acquired a Focomat V35 with issues - dead transformer. APUG member in the UK, Xpres, has posted me a complete set of internals for the base so I will rebuild my base when it arrives.

The only outstanding issue for me is to locate some of the Philips 13139 bulbs. The enlarger currently has an Osram bulb fitted which tests OK for continuity but I believe is lower output. I also don't know the colour temperature of the Osram and how it may perform with the variable contrast head.

John Koehrer, my V35 has a 50mm Componon lens and you mention that the autofocus can be adjusted for different focal length. Can you give me a link to on-line source for this procedure.

Can't wait to start using this machine. I haven't done any printing for about 15 years, (shame on me), and my current setup is a very basic 35mm condenser enlarger branded DIA which I bought in high school in the mid seventies. Upgraded with a El-Nikkor 50mm f4 around 1981.
Thanks,
Martin
 

Yes, this is the problem. Mine came with the Osram, and I had long exposure and low light intensity. After buying original Philips (from Replacementlightbulbs.com --> extreme expensive, but only source I know of) - it was much much better.
What is exposure of 60-75s with Osram - it is 10-20s with Philips. And they are both 75W, but Philips is what you want .
 
Hi Darko, I had a bit of quiet time at work this afternoon to research bulbs and I came across a Philips 6853.

Its specs are very similar to the 13139. Major differences from the spec sheet is that bulb is 2mm shorter - don't see why this is a problem. The operating position for the 6853 is shown as s105, compared to, I think, s115 for the 13139. Is this related to the angle of light spread from the bulb? Could there be issues with light coverage at the edges of the frame leading to a vignetting effect?

From what I can see this bulb is still in production so I will try and get my hands on one for testing.
 
Just found a definition of the Burning Position :

Specified as angle degrees perpendicular to the long axis of the filament. Operation outside of the quoted burning position will be subjected to highly variable mechanical and thermal loads, with possible deformation of the filament or short-circuit between filament coils.

The bulb appears to be mounted at about 90 degrees to the horizontal so hopefully the bulb will still be in spec in this application.
 
The bulb reflector is an important part of the lighting as it reflects quite a narrow beam of visible light while passing infra-red through, backwards, to the heatsinks.

There are various workarounds with the 'new' Philips bulb and also an adapter to retro-fit it to older V35s. There is also a way of replacing just the bulb and re-using the reflector. I haven't tried that, as I bought an adapter and a box full of the 'new' bulbs, but here is the link for further exploration...
 
The specs for the bulb at Philips mentions dichroic filters to direct heat away to the back of the bulb.

How to I embed a link so that you can view the PDF spec sheet???

The problem with the 'new' Philips bulb is that it is out of production and a lot of the internet sellers are offering Osram or Sylvania bulbs as substitutes which may be no better that the Philips 6853. Caught between a rock and a hard place.

I cannot afford to go down the Heilland route with replacement led light source.

I read the article at the onlinedarkroom. One problem for me is that I don't have an original 13139 reflector to play around with.

You guys that got in early with bulk buys of the 13139 lamps are laughing now
 
Does anyone know how many lumens the 13139 bulb produced in its mirrored reflector?
...it would be helpful to know...my V 35 has been rewired to accept the GU10 75W 120V
bulbs which are easy to find, but they lack the narrower beam mirrored finish of the original
13139...I know that helps deliver some punch. I installed a 100W 120V halogen into an original
13139 reflector, and it was the same output as the GU10 75W.
 
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well i picked up the enlarger. looks like its brand new. even had a 3 shot v35 slide film strip for, I would guess, calibration for slide printing. bad news, it has the old lamp, but did come with a replacement bulb as well. how long should the fresh one last? I emailed leica regarding the replacement bulb holder so as to have access to new bulbs after the two burn out. I was gonna pass as i told the seller that i could not get bulbs anymore for it, and he lowered the price to less than most junk condition beseler 23c' are. so at that price I could not say no!. even adding the $120 cost for the new holder it was a bargain. It has also sparked my interest in shooting 35mm again. broke out the F3 and ran off a few rolls for fun. too bad I gotta wait a week before I can put it through its paces.

thanks for the help guys. but what do I do if Leica does not have the replacemtn bulb housing? there seems to be knock-off available through fleabay from a canadian photo store. any thoughts on it?

john
 

If you have the old lamps you could try replacing the bulb inside the reflector, as in the link provided earlier. I did this successfully for one of my V35s (now gone). It does work although you might loose a stop which I didn't find a problem. The good thing was the replacement bulb had a much, much longer life.
 
leica USA says I can get the light housing adapter from Germany still, so it looks like thats the route I'm heading. now to start stockpiling the 13139 bulbs
 
The focus cam inside was either for 40 or 50 mm and you can not switch focal without changing the cam. There was a special 50 mm made as it has to be exactly 50 mm to work the full range of magnification. It was not a Leitz branded lens.

I know of no online instruction, but you set the column height to easel height, go to 16 x , and focus with the course collar under the lens. Then center the f stop reading with the other and it will go out of focus slightly Repeat as required. 2-3 tries will get it.
 
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