Replacement bulb for Omega D Dichroic II enlarger

There I was, with 11x14 trays primed with pricey chemistry when the bulb went out. No spare and I didn't get a single print! I live in an area where there is no camera store for hours. I searched Staples (multimedia projector seller), radioshack, Lowes and Walmart to no avail. Wondering if anyone knows where a bulb like this might be hiding in a town this small. I ordered some online of course but I have this sense there's one nearby right now...even if I have to extract it from something expensive. I even considered throwing any bulb of an MR16 size in to see what would happen (I own a fire extinguisher). Any thoughts?

ELC 250W 25V MR16

JamesWilliamJones

You can put the condenser head back on.

Because the ELC is 24v, it will be hard to find locally.

I have two power supplies for the kids enlarger. The original is 18V. I converted/fixed the busted one to 12V with a diode and it can use the common MR16 bulbs sold at Lowes, Home Depot etc.
Even so, the brightest 12v bulb I have found at Home Depot was 75W, so that might be a little dim on your 4x5 enlarger.

The bulbs for my Omegas are 82V, otherwise I'd offer one if you drove up here.

Somewhere between "cheapest enlarger I can find" and "Mint Hasselblad Outfit" I should have suggested you get a "fresh bulb for the enlarger." The bulb in that head you got likely had seen frequent use, I'm not sure why I didn't get you a spare ELC when I ordered the 6W 6S6DC indicator lamp.

FreeStyle carries them and FreeStyle is an APUG sponsor.

Steve

Thanks ic-racer and s.g. for the help. I have a handful coming in the mail but my dektol will go bad by then so down the drain it goes. I was worried that it wasn't the bulb at first because the filament looked okay however I checked it with my multimeter and there is no resistance through it so it has to be the bulb. You're right ic-racer I could put the condenser back on but I'd have to change the rods back and would probably never get the color head leveled again when it goes back on. So I'll wait. You should see the Shen hao with the fresnel lens and reflex finder installed. Wow! Fantastic. Took it out most of the day Sunday.

No need to toss the Dektol, simply pour it in bottles to the top and stopper them tight. It will last quite a while that way.

ralnphot said:

No need to toss the Dektol, simply pour it in bottles to the top and stopper them tight. It will last quite a while that way.

Click to expand...

Yes, I have also been doing this recently. This summer, with my shorter darkroom time, I have been pouring the dektol and fixer in to bottles for re-use. I used to only use fresh chemicals, but really for a single 16x20, it is a real waste. The dektol seems to last about a week that way.

An ELB works as well, they are 80 watt 30 volt bulbs. Harder to find than an ELC, but if you don't need 250 watts of light, they are good, and at a lower current draw, the unregulated power supplies deliver a higher voltage.

I know the head that the OP has on his machine, and it is pretty much useless without the correct lamp. Fortunately, they are not hard to come from specialty lamp dealers. I use the long life version (rated at 500 hours instead of the usual 50 hours) of the lamp in my Chromega II, and that works as well as the standard version of the lamp. It might be just a wee bit less bright, but the color temperature is the same so you won't have to recalibrate all your filter settings. Not a bad deal, all things considered. Found a very inexpensive source for them too. I haven't used them yet, so I can't vouch for the company; but for anyone interested, here's the link: http://www.divinelighting.com/z-e-l...p-p-456.html?gclid=CLyEkf-1sqMCFRdo5Qod_zvmBw .

Dektol can be put in stoppered bottles and will look good after after 24 hours, but the prints will be almost imperceptibally bad, something you can`t put your finger on, just not right. I was doing some tests with very careful printing and could not match previous prints. Freshly diluted Dektol solved the problem. It looked all right, just did not work right. If I recall, the highlights would look dull and if I printed longer, the blacks would go. No amount of manipulation would fix it.

I had the same thing happen to me. I hauled an enlarger to college, had all the trays set up, took the head off to see if the light would work. Bulb blew. Tried both spares. Both went. You can not buy enlarger bulbs in Lafayette, Indiana on a Sunday night in 1965 either. I since leared they bulbs are supposed to burn in a certain position. I changed the position by pulling the head up and looking inside so I caused my own problem. Was an Omega B3 machine.