led Lights for enlarger

**cardiomac** · 31-Mar-2013, 14:54

One of my Omega LED diffusion enlarger heads (Model 2 or Model 3) may work if you simply set it on top of the upper bellows of your Beseler enlarger. You would need to cut a piece of cardboard to keep light from leaking around the rectangular lamp housing as it sits on the circular opening. I can supply a lamp without the Omega-specific vertical arms if desired. You can send it back if it doesn't work.

www.modernenlargerlamps.com

**Leigh** · 31-Mar-2013, 16:42

Originally Posted by cardiomac

One of my Omega LED diffusion enlarger heads (Model 2 or Model 3) may work
www.modernenlargerlamps.com

What's the real URL? The modernenlargerlamps domain name just contains a redirect.

- Leigh

**cardiomac** · 31-Mar-2013, 20:25

Originally Posted by Leigh

What's the real URL? The modernenlargerlamps domain name just contains a redirect.

- Leigh

The redirect is to www.modernenlargerlamps.com which is the real URL.

**Aldo** · 1-Apr-2013, 00:19

This thread is also very important for me !
Led light is very different in spectral distribution than tungsten lamp, and has different problem: power (that means more $$$ ) and rear heat ...
I live in Italy and there are many Leds producers , i can ask technical data sheets ...

**ic-racer** · 1-Apr-2013, 15:07

Originally Posted by ataim

As a matter of fact I pursued this over the weekend. I searched a while back and found out that Ilford VC paper is sensitive to blue and green light. Blue having a range of 450-460nm and green having a range of 525-530nm. After searching Google finding the required LED is pretty easy, but a PCB has a little harder to source. In my searching I stumbled across stage LED lights that have Red Green and Blue LED lights. So I figured what the heck and purchased a Chauvet Thin-Par 56 led light and an Obey 3 DMX controller (less than $100) and gave it a try (both returnable).
First, when using my timer I did not find a way that would allow an instant on (if you just plugged the light in it would first flash white light, then delay a few seconds before coming on and then program it for use with the DBX Contoller) or when the DBX controller is powered on it would not go into manual mode first, it would power up in program mode. Second, the wave length for the blue was not correct it printed like about a 4 filter would. Third, the green was not correct either, printed like a 1 filter would. The beam angle of the LED was 23 degrees which required the light to be placed about 8” above the enlarger to insure equal coverage without any “hot spots”. I used an old foldgers can lined with silver tape to raise it up. The Par 56 is the correct size, and the light was somewhat brighter than my Zone VI cold head. I'm returning the light and controller, but I am still looking at buying the raw LED, PCB and trying again with the correct LED wavelengths, but it will be a few weeks before I can.

Looks like a good solution, I'm surprised it did not work.. #4 and #1 grades are pretty close. How did you test that? Also, did you try putting the timer between the power supply and the LEDS.

**ataim** · 2-Apr-2013, 05:20

Originally Posted by ic-racer

Looks like a good solution, I'm surprised it did not work.. #4 and #1 grades are pretty close. How did you test that? Also, did you try putting the timer between the power supply and the LEDS.

I tried different ways to run the lights. The only solution was to use the sliders on the DMX along with the metronome. As far as judging the grades, I simply printed full green and blue (one at a time), and then compaired to my Ilford MC filters of the same print. I split print 60% of the time and really like to burn in highlights with a 00 filter.