Any way to enlarge a panoramic negative (30x10 cm) on a 5x7 enlarger?

blacksquare · Jun 21, 2024

Can anyone think of a way to make something like this happen?

Negatives from Kodak Panoram No. 4 are beautiful as contacts, but I'd like to try enlarge them. For example, 2x or 3x (60x20 cm or 90x30 cm)
I have a simple 5x7 Meopta enlarger that uses wooden masks, I can make my own.

Exposure 1/2 of the negative on 1/2 of the paper and then shift both? How to ensure as much accuracy as possible? Any marks on the paper?

Thanks for any ideas.

ic-racer · Jun 21, 2024

It might be easier to affix the individual processed and dried prints together since you can see the resulting image. Of course there will be a line. The bottom print shown here is on four pieces of 16x20 paper.

If you can figure out how to expose the individual parts on a single piece of un-processed paper that would be quite a feat!

xkaes · Jun 21, 2024

Yeah, you've got two options -- but I see a problem with both.

#1 print two or three sections on different pieces of paper and glue them together

#2 print two or three sections on the same piece of paper by moving the paper between exposures

I've done the latter. It's easy to merge the two images with slight overlap -- and dodging the two edges. You can try this with a 10-14" long strip of paper to get the technique down -- and then enlarge.

The main problem is getting the BIG negative in the enlarger. How are you going to do that -- piece by piece -- without cutting????

blacksquare · Jun 21, 2024

ic-racer said:
It might be easier to affix the individual processed and dried prints together since you can see the resulting image. Of course there will be a line. The bottom print shown here is on four pieces of 16x20 paper.

If you can figure out how to expose the individual parts on a single piece of un-processed paper that would be quite a feat!

Yes, that was the first thing that came to my mind and if another option fails, it's definitely something I'll try.

xkaes said:
Yeah, you've got two options -- but I see a problem with both.

#1 print two or three sections on different pieces of paper and glue them together

#2 print two or three sections on the same piece of paper by moving the paper between exposures

I've done the latter. It's easy to merge the two images with slight overlap -- and dodging the two edges. You can try this with a 10-14" long strip of paper to get the technique down -- and then enlarge.

The main problem is getting the BIG negative in the enlarger. How are you going to do that -- piece by piece -- without cutting????

I have a prehistoric enlarger where wooden masks are inserted between the lamp part and the bellows and nothing limits it from sides. The mask for 6x9cm (bottom left) I have cut for 6x17 pano. So I could, for example, modify the existing mask for 10x15cm film (Europe) and expose the negative 30x10 through it in two steps.
But I have no idea how to hit the transition more or less precisely.

Kino · Jun 21, 2024

Build a "slit scan" enlarger whereby the enlarger head moves horizontally on a pair of linear rails, but the negative carrier is fixed and slides through the head, under the lamp.

The enlarging lens would have to be masked to a narrow slit across the width of the paper and the head would have to move at a precise rate (stepper motor?) to ensure even exposures.

This way, you can have a true enlarger for roll paper.

Not saying it would be easy to make, but possible...

xkaes · Jun 21, 2024

blacksquare said:
But I have no idea how to hit the transition more or less precisely.

If you decide to try this route, you can start with a small strip of paper. The transition/overlap area can be as narrow or wide as necessary. I took four separate old negatives and merged them into a panorama by using a long strip of paper and exposing each in a row with three overlaps. You simply feather out the first image, and burn in the next one over the merge area.

It's easy to try out with two negatives (or the same one) and making one long print.

Any way to enlarge a panoramic negative (30x10 cm) on a 5x7 enlarger?

blacksquare

ic-racer

xkaes

blacksquare

Kino

xkaes

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