mary_paturka Posted March 24, 2007 Share Posted March 24, 2007 Do I need a special bulb for my enlarger or can it be, say, a 60-70 watt household bulb? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fotohuis RoVo Posted March 24, 2007 Share Posted March 24, 2007 A 75 Watt opal bulb for the B&W condensor Opemus versions is rather standard and will keep the heat problem within normal proportions. http://shop.fotohuisrovo.nl/index.php?cPath=36&osCsid=f0910dd66c2000fd9d9055e816ed97a2 I hope it's clear for you when living in the USA you need a 110V/115V version of it! For Europe: 230V/240V. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
maesphoto Posted March 24, 2007 Share Posted March 24, 2007 Yes, that's what I use on mine. Good luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
erik_hattrem Posted March 24, 2007 Share Posted March 24, 2007 Go for a 150w Philips, as i do. Give you som larger and better prints Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
frank.schifano Posted March 24, 2007 Share Posted March 24, 2007 Your enlarger takes the PH/211. Do not use a household bulb since it may not work very well. It will light up ok, but there is the distinct possibility that the light output may not be even. You may even get an image of the filament on the baseboard. Use the recommended PH/211, 75 watt bulb and avoid the higher wattage PH/212. The larger bulb will give you unreasonably short exposure times and cause the machine to run hotter than normal. Trust me, you don't want that. The PH/211 bulb is available by mail order from several suppliers. Google "PH/211 bulb" and you'll get a list of suppliers. I can recommend http://www.topbulb.com from personal experience. They offer reasonable prices and quick delivery. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
j_powers Posted March 29, 2007 Share Posted March 29, 2007 How much do these Meopta Opemus 6x6 go for? I just saw one at my local thrift store. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jamescullen Posted July 12, 2020 Share Posted July 12, 2020 Just wondering on peoples thoughts on using energy saving bulbs in a Meopta enlarger? Such as this bulb:LEDBulb 19W E27 6500K 230VA80 1CT/6APR | null Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJG Posted July 12, 2020 Share Posted July 12, 2020 Just wondering on peoples thoughts on using energy saving bulbs in a Meopta enlarger? Such as this bulb:LEDBulb 19W E27 6500K 230VA80 1CT/6APR | null Since it is supposed to be daylight equivalent you might have a problem with variable contrast filtering. My first cold light was 5400 K and needed a 40 CC yellow gel for variable contrast filters to work properly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rodeo_joe1 Posted July 12, 2020 Share Posted July 12, 2020 Too bright. You only need about a 10 watt LED bulb to give the same light output as a 75 watt filament bulb. Most LED bulbs have a plain 'opal' diffuser these days, which is exactly what's needed for an enlarger lamp. They also come in a variety of colour temperatures, with 3200 to 4000K being about right for an enlarger lamp. 2700K will be too yellow, and as AJG says, 6500K 'daylight' will be too blue. However, you need to check that the dimensions (height and diameter) are the same as the original enlarger bulb, otherwise you might not be able to get even illumination across the negative. I'm pretty sure that had LED lamps been available when enlargers were commonplace, then that would have been the light-source of choice for their designers. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jose_angel Posted July 13, 2020 Share Posted July 13, 2020 (edited) The Opemus 6 is a great design to be used with current LED bulbs. And you can perfectly use warm light (2700-3000ºK) versions, from almost any wattage. Just think on the printing times you like, and buy the power needed to achieve such times. You may want to have several bulbs, to be used with thin or dense negatives. As Rodeo says, a 19watt bulb seem to me too much brightness, unless you plan to print huge sizes on the wall. This enlarger is a small one (although the lamp housing is normal). I think you don't need more than a (normal sized) 5 watt bulb to print 8x10" at 10 seconds (well, some people like short times... I need at least ten seconds for "fast" burning/dodging procedures). Edited July 13, 2020 by jose_angel Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bgelfand Posted July 13, 2020 Share Posted July 13, 2020 Just wondering on peoples thoughts on using energy saving bulbs in a Meopta enlarger? Such as this bulb:LEDBulb 19W E27 6500K 230VA80 1CT/6APR | null Why worry about energy savings with an enlarger (unless you are a commercial printer)? How long is the light in the enlarger actually on? To focus and compose - maybe five minutes at the most. Exposure another minute at the most? Dodge and burn maybe another few minutes. In a five or six hour printing session, I doubt the light is actually on one hour and probably less. Assume a 100 watt incandescent bulb; that is 0.1 kilowatt hours. At $0.20 per kilowatt hour, that is $0.02. (And that is my 2-cents worth for this topic. <HUGE GRIN>) Compared to the cost of paper and chemicals, energy costs for the enlarger is lost in the noise. Now the exhaust fan on the darkroom is another matter as are the safe lights which are on constantly. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rodeo_joe1 Posted July 14, 2020 Share Posted July 14, 2020 Why worry about energy savings with an enlarger (unless you are a commercial printer)? How long is the light in the enlarger actually on? To focus and compose - maybe five minutes at the most. Exposure another minute at the most? Dodge and burn maybe another few minutes. In a five or six hour printing session, I doubt the light is actually on one hour and probably less. Assume a 100 watt incandescent bulb; that is 0.1 kilowatt hours. At $0.20 per kilowatt hour, that is $0.02. (And that is my 2-cents worth for this topic. <HUGE GRIN>) Compared to the cost of paper and chemicals, energy costs for the enlarger is lost in the noise. Now the exhaust fan on the darkroom is another matter as are the safe lights which are on constantly. It's not really about energy saving. It's about being able to get a bulb for the enlarger at all! It can't have escaped your notice that darkroom kit is getting as rare as hen's teeth these days, and you can't just nip to the local photo store to buy a spare Photocrescenta bulb when the one in your enlarger blows. Besides, why pay a premium for a specialist bulb, when almost any old domestic LED bulb will do the same job? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJG Posted July 14, 2020 Share Posted July 14, 2020 One added bonus of an LED over the original incandescent would be lower heat output. My first enlarger was an Opemus 6x6 and it had a glass negative carrier, which it needed to keep negatives flat due to heat buildup. Keeping all 4 glass surfaces clean along with the negative was quite a challenge, so my next enlarger had a better system for disbursing heat and glassless negative carriers. 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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