Wolfi
Hello everyone!
Does anyone happen to know which bulb the Agfa Colormat enlarger head requires? It seems the socket is missing on mine... Can the unit be used as normal for black-and-white enlargements without the exposure frame and the control unit?
Many thanks in advance for your replies.
Best regards,
Wolfgang
Wolf_XL
...the Colormat comes fitted as standard with a 220V/250W lamp with a P28s bayonet mount. As photographic papers used to be much less sensitive, this causes problems nowadays – the exposure times are simply too short to ensure consistent results. I have therefore fitted a 150W lamp with the same bayonet mount in my Colormat, which gives me reasonable exposure times. I’m even thinking of dropping down to 100W – because with smaller formats under 18x24, the exposure times become very short again, or I have to stop down more than I’d actually like.
You can also operate the Colormat without the control unit and exposure frame. However, this isn’t possible without modifying the unit. But that’s no big deal – you simply need to connect a 220V cable with a plug to the enlarger lamp. However, you should only do this yourself if you know what you’re doing. I’m an electrical engineer – electricity knows me, so it doesn’t bother me... ;-)
What’s particularly interesting about the Colormat are the three filters that can be swung into place using electromagnets. I built a suitable power supply for this and routed the switches to the outside. I initially replaced the glass filters with Ilford filter sheets with gradients of 2, 3 and 4. Since I’ve owned a Heiland Split-Grade Controller, I’ve only been using filters 0 and 5 instead. According to Mr Heiland, it would actually be quite straightforward to have the controller swing the filters in – all that would be needed is a small, additional interface consisting of just a few components. I’ll be getting round to this soon...
Wolfi
Thank you very much for your reply! I suppose I’ll have to tinker with it a bit more, especially as my Colormat doesn’t have a lamp socket...
Best regards,
Wolfgang
