Minette 8 viewer

[William Hancock]

Hi all,
The image on my viewer is so weak (dark) that it's really tough to use. I don't have a manual so I wonder if anyone knows of any adjustments I can make to improve this.
idid clean the glass both sides and the lamp seems fine.
thanks a lot!

[Steve Klare]

Hi Bill

I had this exact problem on my viewer once. It turned out that even though the bulb was still lighting, so much tungsten had boiled off the filament and deposited on the inside of the envelope it was dark gray. A new bulb made everything brighter again.

I was getting ready for a pretty serious tear-down. Good thing I happened to start disassembly by pulling the bulb and it's housing out first: It's not the kind of thing you want to discover after you have a table top full of parts scattered in front of you!

"OK...let's put the engine back in...we're just out of gas!"

[William Hancock]

Thanks for the tip, Steve. I may have been fooled by the bulb so I'll just replace it if I can find one.

[Steve Klare]

Quite commonly these are 6V bulbs also used for motorcycle license plate lights. With a little luck you may find one at a local auto-parts store.

These days, you just might find an LED equivalent: brighter and cooler.

[Tom Dennis]

Good day WILLIAM, As STEVE said these are a common enough bulb coming from 6v auto originaly.Usually they are 6v 10w centre contact [ie there is one central contact in the middle of the bulb base, however twin contacts are also around] check your old bulb to see.
You may be able to adjust the bulb filament to get optimum brightness.
Also if you decide to clean the interioir mirrors please be aware they are surface silvered [same as a s.l.r. camera] and must be cleaned with great care!

[Joe Taffis]

This is in the latest issue of The Reel Image. A bright halogen editor lamp...