Bruke&James Solar Enlarger

I just picked up one of these in the 5x7 size but need to know what

kind of lamp it uses i.e. wattage

Ronald, there was a guy who probably has the bulbs you want, I think his names Terry Seaman who had an e-store on the old Photomall site along with Glennview and Finger Lakes Photo Books. Alas the site is no more, but Glennview or Finger Lakes probably know where he is. Good Luck!

I have one of these -- mine is designed to take 50-100-150 three-way bulbs, but it will take any single-wattage bulb too. The problem with these is the hot-spot they make in the middle of the negative. Solars originally came with a diffusion plate frosted in the center to compensate for this, but mine didn't do much good. Check the threads for various remedies for this. I've had my best luck with two routes: 1) Use several frosted glass diffusion plates. This greatly cuts down your light, but it does diffuse the light more evenly. 2) Use bulbs that are half-mirrored, so that the bulb doesn't shine directly on the diffuser and everything is reflected. I'm using both methods combined, and I've finally gotten rid of most of that hot spot. It makes nice prints -- not bad for a $25 enlarger!

Thanks to all i'm considering using a halogen flood with built in reflector and diffuser.....what do you think?

hi ron:

 

just "google'ed" "solar enlarger" ...

 

try this place :

 

http://donsbulbs.com/cgi-bin/r/t.pl/equipment.burke_and_james_incorporated.html

 

there is a list of all the bulbs for the B&J Solar Enlargers :)

 

if "Don" doesn't have the bulbs, or know where to find them, you might contact grey

supply ( i think they are still at topbulb.com) they *might* be able to get what you

need.

 

good luck!

 

-john

Ronald,

 

I have two 5x7 Solars one for parts and one to use. I also have the manual somewhere.

 

I think it's 75w. If I find out differently I'll let you know. It's a white opal bulb and the "long necked" version. I had an original bulb until I broke it. The bulb is a couple inches longer than a normal household bulb. The reflective sides of the Solar are set up to "create even reflections" with the bulb at the correct spot. Or so they say.

 

The Quartz lamp will create a hot spot. It's what you're trying to get away from in this unit.

I've reached the end of the trail and its complete. The bulbu is actually a 300w and supposed to be a ps-30 glass envelope since no such thing exsists I have a short extension piece. It mounted it to the wall on a fixed mount and created an elevating baseboard assembly for both my Omega D-2 and this one. Its a counterbalanced affair created from a used piece of x-ray equipment.