Filament bulbs to disappear from the UK

[digiconvert]

Oh B*ggar , looks like I'll ned to get a nice dichoric colour enlarger dear

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7016020.stm

[Dave Miller]

As one who recently laid in a life times supply of enlarger lamps it's news I can ignore. Now I only have the transformer to worry about.

[BarryWilkinson]

Is this just another attempt by the British Government to keep us in the dark!



Barry

[digiconvert]

Originally Posted by BarryWilkinson

Is this just another attempt by the British Government to keep us in the dark!



Barry

Mushroom jokes are henceforth banned from this thread

[pentaxuser]

He's left a loophole which is the 60 watt bulbs. The other loophole is building extra runways at all airports. So does this cover the quartz halogen type that my Durst uses? If so then bye bye most enlargers. I noticed that recently such bulbs have sprung up on supermarket shelves for household use. The 50 watt ones( I've never seen bigger for household use) even look as if they'd fit my enlarger. I have anyway dropped to 75W as my colour exposures were very short with 100W and my B&W is fine with 75W as well. In fact to get up to close on 20 secs exposure which a lot seem to use as standard, a 50W might do, especially for comfortable dodging and burning.

pentaxuser

[ben-s]

It's maybe not as black as it appears.
The full DEFRA press relaese is here:
http://www.defra.gov.uk/news/2007/070927a.htm

Originally Posted by DEFRA

At the moment, we expect candles and golfballs, tungsten halogen lamps and lamps supplied with non-lighting electrical appliances to remain on sale, because suitable energy-efficient alternatives do not currently exist.

It would seem likely that enlargers would fall under the category "non-lighting electrical appliances"

[copake_ham]

Not again!

Well we must be bored here on APUG that we're starting up another CF v. Incandescent thread!

FWIW, after the UK ban takes full effect - I will be offering incandescents on eBay.

I've sworn off the things myself - but over on this side of The Pond we would never allow a government to decree this. Advance orders are being accepted now!

[ben-s]

Originally Posted by copake_ham

FWIW, after the UK ban takes full effect - I will be offering incandescents on eBay.

Tut Tut.... Offering illegal imports.
Naughty George, naughty

I can see the headlines now;
US man extradited to UK, charged with posession and intet to supply...

Lightbulbs

[Steve Smith]

There will always be exemptions to these rules, one of which will be bulbs for theatre and concert lighting. Bulbs suitable for enlargers will probably fall under the same exemption.

Anyway, buy half a dozen spares and you are probably covered for the rest of your life. Which reminds me, I have not got any spares!


Steve.

[tim_walls]

Originally Posted by Steve Smith

There will always be exemptions to these rules, one of which will be bulbs for theatre and concert lighting. Bulbs suitable for enlargers will probably fall under the same exemption.

Anyway, buy half a dozen spares and you are probably covered for the rest of your life. Which reminds me, I have not got any spares!

I think my concern is that enlarger bulbs will suffer from 'the Kodak problem.'

Which is to say, it's all very well saying that enlarger bulbs will still be legal, but I doubt it's enlarger bulbs on their own which keep the factories running. Without the mass sales of ordinary bulbs to keep the production lines going, will anyone bother making them for the few remaining niches?

I'm going to stock up...