Restocking 300W / 120V ELH lamps - good UK sources?

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Tom Kershaw

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As of today I'm down to my last spare ELH lamp. I see they're listed at Silverprint and Morco for around £12 but wonder if UK members have had success sourcing elsewhere? - not that I have issue with ordering from either of those photographic dealers in principle. One of my enlargers takes four of these lamps and the other two so would be interested in a potential volume discount.
 

Phil Hudson

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I had the same issue but didn't find anything much cheaper....think I went to Specialist Lamps in the end. They trade as uk-stuf on eBay and cost under a tenner if you buy 4 or more. Quality seems OK but don't expect anything fancy like Osram!
 
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Tom Kershaw

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I had the same issue but didn't find anything much cheaper....think I went to Specialist Lamps in the end. They trade as uk-stuf on eBay and cost under a tenner if you buy 4 or more. Quality seems OK but don't expect anything fancy like Osram!

Thanks Phil. I seem to remember paying around £6 to £8 in the past which is more inline with advertised USA prices. Perhaps the ELH lamps have become a more specialised item these days. My stock has been mostly General Electric, although I also seem to have used Philips and Osram brand units.
 
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Tom Kershaw

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The ENH lamps look tempting but I wonder if there is any unforeseen disadvantage, taking into account longer exposure times which shouldn't be too much of an issue. The ELH option on eBay seems to be available for £8.50 if ordered in multiples. £6.25 for branded ENH units.
 

Ian Grant

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I bought a few boxes of these bulbs a some years ago my enlarger takes 4 of them. Buying in bulk lowers the cost significantly, I kept the receipt so I'll have to dig it out.

My 5108 is fine even with just 2 bulbs so I don;t see that using 250w bulbs would be an issue. I had thought of having 4 resistors added to drop the lamps output slightly which greatly increases bulb lfe - it's done with some slide projectors. I'd have no issues using my enlarger lenses a stop wider.

Ian
 

AgX

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How big do you print anyway to need 1200W of incandescant lighting?
 

AgX

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Where does all that power vanishes, in the mixing chamber?
At the smaller useful F-stop?
 
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Tom Kershaw

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Where does all that power vanishes, in the mixing chamber?
At the smaller useful F-stop?

I tend to have the 5108 set up for larger prints and use my 504 for smaller work; but having said that 1000W would probably work fine. I'm not expert on the original design logic of using the ELH lamp, although I think these were common in slide projectors so perhaps had good availability at the time.
 
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Tom Kershaw

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Ian Grant

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Yes , I saw that link, the company I bought from was litelec.com, they don't list these any longer. I'm not needing bulbs at the moment as I have a box with 19 left and an unopened box of a dozen.

Might be worth contacting Harry at LitetLec, he can probably order them in still but you'd need to buy by the box, also if a group purchase is made you'd get a far better deal. That's what I did last time.

Ian
 
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Tom Kershaw

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Yes , I saw that link, the company I bought from was litelec.com, they don't list these any longer. I'm not needing bulbs at the moment as I have a box with 19 left and an unopened box of a dozen.

Might be worth contacting Harry at LitetLec, he can probably order them in still but you'd need to buy by the box, also if a group purchase is made you'd get a far better deal. That's what I did last time.

Ian

I seem to remember ordering a box from your group buy, which must be the source of the GE units. The other makes I would have purchased independently.
 

Ian Grant

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I seem to remember ordering a box from your group buy, which must be the source of the GE units. The other makes I would have purchased independently.

Yes that's right, I still have a box of the GE US made units left, and two from another box, as well as an almost complete larger box of Philips units made in Japan.

Ian
 

Ian Grant

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I think I bought 60 ELH bulbs last purchase, that made it economic in terms of shipping/carriage to the dealer and then on to me allowing him to keep the price down. Long term I'd like to switch all my enlargers to LED, I have a condenser Johnsons V54 - it's my second, I used a De Vere cold cathode head with the first for about 25 years until I gave it away. Ironically the second came from the person I gave it to :D (a member here.

Tom may remember but I think the bulbs were around £3 at a time when photo dealers were selling them for around £10-£12 each. The thread should still exist here :smile:

Ian
 
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Tom Kershaw

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Long term I'd like to switch all my enlargers to LED, I have a condenser Johnsons V54 - it's my second, I used a De Vere cold cathode head with the first for about 25 years until I gave it away. Ironically the second came from the person I gave it to :D (a member here.

Ian

Having only a small darkroom and at one point more equipment installed than space to move, I've now rationalised down to two enlargers which makes operations more straightforward. However, I would have thought my MULTIGRADE 500 system on the 504 was more prone to complex failure than the 5108 which is older. Actually my De Vere 504 chassis is in almost 'as new' condition, I don't think it got much if any real use before I purchased it a few years ago, whereas the bigger machine looks very well used.
 

mpirie

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I recently bought 6 X OSRAM 93518 ELH 300W 120V, halogen lamp with reflector MR16 from Amazon for £31.32.

Works out at a fiver each.

WRT to running lower wattage lamps, i'd be worried that my MG500 head would not work properly since i believe the grades are achieved by varying either the voltage or current to each lamp?

Mike
 
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