Enlarger bulb

[Mike O'Pray]

Thanks for that Ian. Unfortunately I have no idea if the prongs in the Amazon LED are the same distance apart as my tungsten halogen 75W bulb. The details mentions equivalent halogen but again I have no idea what the notation i.e. what GU it is. Finally nor do I know what K rating my current bulb compared to the 2700 or the 4000K. I'd have thought that as my current one is tungsten it was likely to closer to 2700K. I am a complete ignoramus when it come to things electrical

Mike

[EveMurph]

Originally Posted by Richard Gould

A 75 watt lamp will reduce the heat, but the head will still get hot quickly, I have a meopta Opemus 6, and I was using a 150 bulb, but lately they \re getting very hard to find and expensive, I have been trying out an LED bulb with great sucess, I bought 2 Dial bulbs from B@Q, a cold white and a warm white, the cols white is a 10.5 watt, equal to around 80 watt and the light is 4000k, which is not quitw so good, it messes up the MG filter values, the grades alter, but the warm bulb, which is a 14.5 watt, equal to around 100 watt incadesent bulb, is 2700K, which I think is around equal to the standard enlarger bulb, it works fine, the light is brighter, it is instant switch on and it looks as well frosted as the Photoccresnta bulb, paper grades are the same, contrast is the same, exposure times are about a stop faster, and no heat, I can touch the enlarger head no problems, no more negatives popping while focusing Ect, so I suggest you try one out,they are no more expensive than standard bulbs and last for ever,
Richard

Thankyou so much! I'll have a look for one today

[Svend]

Originally Posted by Richard Gould

....it works fine, the light is brighter, it is instant switch on and it looks as well frosted as the Photoccresnta bulb, paper grades are the same, contrast is the same, exposure times are about a stop faster, and no heat, I can touch the enlarger head no problems, no more negatives popping while focusing Ect, so I suggest you try one out,they are no more expensive than standard bulbs and last for ever,
Richard

I have an Opemus 6 and use a daylight blue long life low wattage bulb which keeps the lamphouse comfortably just warm as well as being more actinic in colour temperature. I leave it on for the entire printing session using the red filter as a "switch" only turning it off at the end of the day or if going for a tea break as they can't be switched on and off all the time like incandescent bulbs, they need to "warm up" to full output. I got it from the haberdashers on the market who sells them to those doing embroidery or watercolours to get accurate colour matching.

This is a great idea! Thank you guys! I have not been looking forward to printing 6x9 negs because of the popping issue, and was not at all keen to get a glass neg carrier. This should take care of that beautifully. I will try to find a suitable bulb for my Beseler 23C straight away.

Cheers,
Svend

[Richard Gould]

With the scarcity of standard 150 enlarging bulbs, and the cost of them, it made sense to me, just make sure you get the correct colour temperture of 2700, which is what the warm bulb is over here, you should be fine, less than a second start up time,and my prints are as good as with the standard bulb, and no more negative popping Ect,
Richard

[John King]

You will need a bulb with a colour temp of around 4000 Deg Kelvin, but 500 or so either way won't make much difference to filtration.

Your main problem may be getting a bulb to fit because most LED bulbs especially speialist ones as they are usually fitted with a screw base. I use a 6500 degree LED to assess coour balance on RA4 prints and it is only available with a screw base.

You could do worse than contact the following and ask for their advice:-

https://www.ledhut.co.uk/led-bulbs/e...-bulbs.html?fq[bulb_shape

[Svend]

Richard, John -- not sure if you were replying to me or Eve, but if to me, then the bulb for my 23C III is a threaded base. It is slightly smaller than a standard household bulb, but does have a standard E26 medium thread base. It should be easy to find a suitable LED replacement that will fit. But finding one with even illumination (it's a condenser head) might be a bit trickier and may take a few misses until I get a good one.

[Richard Gould]

Originally Posted by SvendN

Richard, John -- not sure if you were replying to me or Eve, but if to me, then the bulb for my 23C III is a threaded base. It is slightly smaller than a standard household bulb, but does have a standard E26 medium thread base. It should be easy to find a suitable LED replacement that will fit. But finding one with even illumination (it's a condenser head) might be a bit trickier and may take a few misses until I get a good one.

Hi Svend,
I was talking to you, and the bulb I am using, which is, in looks, pretty much like the frosted enlarger bulb, gives me as even lighting as a standard enlarger bulb, no problem, for black and white printing the 2700k is the one you want, get the 10.5 watt warm bulb and it works perfectly with black and white MG paper, I have , over the last few weeks, printed a lot with my enlarger fitted with it and grades,contrast Etc are spot on, these are slightly smaller than a standard bulb, but are much brighter, My meopta enlarger is a condenser head, and no problems with even illumination is fine
Richard

[Svend]

Thanks Richard - great advice. I will snoop around our local hardware store and see what they have. Seems to me that a small A15 ceiling fan bulb in an LED should fit perfectly into the Beseler. Hope they have ones in 2700K in that size, preferably dimmable so I can stretch out the exposure time if a lot of dodging and burning is needed.

[Richard Gould]

The ones that I find work best are the undimmable ones, they look like the standard enlarger bulb, look frosted, and should be small enough to fit your besseler, best thing to do is look around and maybe google them for a look, I got mine from B@Q, it is their own brand dial bulbs, they are a large chain of DIY superstores over here, don't think they operate over the pond, but I would check out what must be your equivelent, and see what is around, worth it as they do the job well, last almost forever, and no more heat in the enlarger head, so no more negative popping,
Richard

[Svend]

Sounds great - thanks again Richard. If non-dimming ones are best, then I may get two with differing outputs and use the one that gives me comfortably long exposure times (I like leisurely dodging and burning ) for the size of print I'm working on at the time. BTW, the 23C III lamphouse is well designed for heat evacuation, with baffled vents top and bottom to create an up-flow chimney effect. Negs still pop though. I'm really looking forward to using a cooler LED.

Great thread!

Cheers,
Svend