16x20 from 8x10 without enlarger ?

ilya1963 · Jan 15, 2009

I don't own an 8x10 enlarger ,

I have a buyer who wants my contacts to be 16x20 , I have taken my prints to two different high tech printing labs(digital) one of them came close about six months ago , but informed me an hour ago that he can not duplicate or even come close to my originals ,

I am In Maine , he recomended Tri- Color- Labs in New Bedford Mass , they are 4+ hours from me and may be the only one that can do this , but I thought to see if someone may have other ideas...

thanks for your help in advance.

ILYA

domaz · Jan 15, 2009

I'm assuming it's a black and white negative? Probably very tough for an inkjet to duplicate your contact print unless they have a Piezo ink system or something. There are some threads on people who built 8x10 enlargers out of old 8x10 cameras. Also some of the 4x5 enlargers have 8x10 conversion kits available- the Beseler 45 is one of them.

ilya1963 · Jan 15, 2009

Yes , pyro negatives and pretty dens at that . The people I have checked so far actualy did not scan the negs. but my prints.

Anybody in New Eangland that has any experience with local Labs doing this?

keithwms · Jan 15, 2009

Scan and send off for an LVT. Chicago Albumen can do LVTs to 16x20".

nickandre · Jan 15, 2009

I would look for a printer. Someone who is actually going to put your negative in an enlarger and print to silver based paper.

ilya1963 · Jan 15, 2009

tiberiustibz said:
I would look for a printer. Someone who is actually going to put your negative in an enlarger and print to silver based paper.

anybody here in the great white north?

richard ide · Jan 15, 2009

Ilya,
Where are you?

ilya1963 · Jan 15, 2009

Richard ,I am in Maine US of A

I spoke with the place in New Bedford Mass. for about 30 minutes today on the phone and are going to send my negatives and prints down to then to give it a go.

Thank you all, I will update this when I get the results back

ILYA

bdial · Jan 15, 2009

Have you tried Photographic Traditions in Portland?
Dead Link Removed

Their website states that they do 8x10 film processing, but no mention of neg sizes for enlarging.

erikg · Jan 15, 2009

Color Services in Needham Ma. (Boston area) http://www.colorservicesinc.com/ Great lab, the owner shoots 8x10, they offer pyro processing and they can enlarge 8x10's. Talk to Mark.

Alex Hawley · Jan 15, 2009

Ilya, check with APUG member and sponsor Bob Carnie at Elevator Professional Lab.

MartinP · Jan 17, 2009

The only way I have done that was to put the negs all in the double-glass 10x8 neg carrier and then do a normal projection print on to the paper. This was a surprisingly common request when I worked in a darkroom professionally. Alternatively, scan a 10x8 contact sheet and send it off to a digital printer ? But the quality would probably suck doing that of course. Best to do it the 'right' way.

tac · Jan 17, 2009

First, tell the client how much it'll cost them , and see if they still need it.

If they do, make high-quality 4x5 or 5x7 prints of all the negatives, tape them down squarely, in order, to a big enough piece of poster board (black), and light them evenly, photograph them with Delta 100 in the largest format you can print, and make a 16x20 print of the resulting negative.
This lets you dodge and burn individual frames.

When I had clients that wanted both prints and slides, I shot color neg, made 8x10's and photographed them with 100 ISO chrome film. Ta-Da! slides and film.

16x20 from 8x10 without enlarger ?

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