Philips PCS-150, overhaul and possible shipping to Europe....

As the title states, I am contemplating fixing up a Phillips PCS-150 that I don't have use for. I have been contacted by a new member in Rome, Italy that might be interested in paying the shipping costs. Certainly many factors could prevent this from happening, but I'll start documenting things here for the interest and possible educational value of the endeavor.

Some info on the Phillips PCS-150:

This enlarger is a CONDENSER enlarger with a color head. That is not the norm. With SUBTRACTIVE enlargers, the filters swing in the light path from the side. This will color only part of the focused rays from a condenser head, giving uneven color. That is a major reason why most subtractive color enlargers use a mixing box and diffuse lighting.

What Phillips have done is to create an ADDITIVE head with 3 colored lights. The 3 lights shine on a plate that would be equivalent to the globe of an enlarger bulb in a condenser enlarger. Rather than adjusting filters, a special power supply controls the intensity of the 3 lamps.

The clever design of the PCS-150 is all nice and good, but without the dedicated power supply the enlarger is not much use. Since I don't need any more enlargers, my interest in the enlarger focused one understanding its clever design. To see how it would work I did go ahead and buy a power supply. For some odd reason, the other day there were FOUR Phillips PCS-150 power supplies on USA e-bay! Realize this enlarger was from the late 1970s and was not very popular.

At this point I'm waiting for the power supply to see if it actually shows up and actually works.

The best web page for documentation of this enlarger is "Ollinger's Enlarger Guide" http://www.jollinger.com/photo/enlargers/philips.html

I had the PCS 130, without the color module, for a while. It was an excellent enlarger and as I recall, quite expensive when it was new. It had features like a standard glass negative carrier with masking blades and a tilting negative stage. I sold it when I got a 4x5" enlarger.

My personal impressions of the enlarger's design and construction are as follows:
The overall build quality is top notch. Some of the USA enlargers are a little crude in comparison. The design is very elegant and sturdy.
The focus control has a concentric fine-focus ring that is smooth to use.
The lensboard is a quality casting that is machined with Leica threads.
The entire enlarger is cast aluminum.
The head comes off the column easily and a copy mount can be fitted.
The head rotates 90 degrees (but there is no formal perspective control).

David A. Goldfarb said:

I had the PCS 130, without the color module, for a while. It was an excellent enlarger and as I recall, quite expensive when it was new. It had features like a standard glass negative carrier with masking blades and a tilting negative stage. I sold it when I got a 4x5" enlarger.

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Yes, at one point I as searching for the single bulb housing to turn it into the PCS 130 which would run without a special power supply. It turns out that was harder to find than the PCS 150 power supply.

Another option would have been to take all 3 filters off the 3 existing lamps and power them from a commonly available 12V power supply and run it as a B&W enlarger.

Looking at the review, it mentions a tilting lens stage, so you could tilt the easel and/or the whole head and make the Scheimpflug compensation by tilting the lens. Maybe that was it. It's been a while since I had it.

ic-racer said:

Yes, at one point I as searching for the single bulb housing to turn it into the PCS 130 which would run without a special power supply. It turns out that was harder to find than the PCS 150 power supply.

Another option would have been to take all 3 filters off the 3 existing lamps and power them from a commonly available 12V power supply and run it as a B&W enlarger.

Click to expand...

Now I see what you referred to with "power supply". I appreciate the clever idea. What is unclear to me is: with the special supply and the color head, is it possible to use it as a B&W enlarger or another head is needed?
Please forgive if the question is too naive.

Francesco

Just to throw a spanner in the works - Is the power supply dual voltage and able to run from a 110V or 230V wall plug ?

paul_c5x4 said:

Just to throw a spanner in the works - Is the power supply dual voltage and able to run from a 110V or 230V wall plug ?

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That was exactly one of the questions that I was asking to ic-racer. Do you think that something like this would be out of question? http://www.amazon.com/Voltage-Converter-From-220-240/dp/B001ES8YY6

David A. Goldfarb said:

Looking at the review, it mentions a tilting lens stage, so you could tilt the easel and/or the whole head and make the Scheimpflug compensation by tilting the lens. Maybe that was it. It's been a while since I had it.

Click to expand...

Yes, you are correct, the lensboard does indeed tilt for to bring it into focus for good perspective control.

Francesco_from_Rome said:

Now I see what you referred to with "power supply". I appreciate the clever idea. What is unclear to me is: with the special supply and the color head, is it possible to use it as a B&W enlarger or another head is needed?
Please forgive if the question is too naive.

Francesco

Click to expand...

The 120 vs 220 volt difference may be a major issue. They also made the 130 head which has just a bulb that could run off either 220 or 120.

I don't have much experience with voltage converters because in USA we do get both 220 and 120 in the home. So hooking up european 220v equipment for us is not an issue. The Philips power supply is rated at a little over 100W so that converter (in the link from post #10) may not be enough. Perhaps a converter rated at 150W would be better.

Francesco_from_Rome said:

Now I see what you referred to with "power supply". I appreciate the clever idea. What is unclear to me is: with the special supply and the color head, is it possible to use it as a B&W enlarger or another head is needed?
Please forgive if the question is too naive.

Francesco

Click to expand...

That should not be a problem. In fact it will most likely prove a convenience in that you will be able to dial in filtration for variable contrast papers using the magenta and yellow settings on the color head. You lose the speed matching of the manufacturer's filters (which can really only be matched for one tone, typically a middle gray) but you can a lot of flexibility in using very fine stepped settings.

I have a pcs-150 enlarger. It was a gift. I haven't used it yet.

I have the documentation. I could scan it and email it if it is needed.

Isn't it a beter a idea tot buy one in Europe with 220v supply? Shipping will be less too. I see them often on marktplaats.nl, which is the Dutch eBay. Philips is a Dutch company so there are probably a lot of them here.

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