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Digital enlarger ideas.

jsmoove

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409
Location
Ottawa
Format
35mm
High resolution digital enlargers are pricey, yet we have the option to easily place our phones and tablets in the negative carrier of an enlarger.

Im wondering if there exists some sort of optical component that can redirect light to different areas on a surface.
https://imgur.com/a/OcT8dSi
So if you used a phone or tablet with a low resolution, paired with an enlarger lens that instead decreased the image size, you could essentially stitch together a high resolution image.
The other method I had thought of would be to place the photo paper on a plotter-plate (not sure what it would be called) so that the paper is actually moved side to side physically, exposing different areas.

Would this work in theory?
 
It has been done numerous times

Depending on size of print you are trying to make you probably end up with not having enough resolution on current displays. Also the display matrix becomes quite visible even on very small prints.
 
btw: this is probably in wrong forum (this is 100% analog).
 
Oh shoot. How can I move it to the right place? @MattKing

Has it been done though? I mean in terms of optical reduction. So if you had your phone or ipad, and multiplied the scaled down image over an area, you would technically have more resolution/more pixels.
 
jsmoove said:
Oh shoot. How can I move it to the right place? @MattKing

Has it been done though? I mean in terms of optical reduction. So if you had your phone or ipad, and multiplied it over an area, you would technically have more resolution/more pixels.
Click to expand...

I've done it. Fun experiment for sure!

It's all about your source DPI. Also, if you plan to use larger screen (iPad) you need a lens with large image circle. Big display doesn't really help in this at all.
 
jsmoove said:
I haven't used an enlarger in a while, you were able to reduce the image, and then stitch the mini-images together?
https://imgur.com/a/OcT8dSi
Click to expand...

Stitch the prints? Well technically yes but would that look good?

I checked highest DPIs for mobile phones and found that Sony has phone with following specs:

3840 x 2160 px
807 PPI

Howevet the display is 5.4" so you would need image circle of 137mm to benefit from that screen fully.
 
Yeah I was wondering if it would make a difference in the overall resolution of the exposed image?
Maybe it would make no difference...err

For instance if I had an ipad that was 2000 x 2000 pixels, and I had a super large digital image....I could fraction that image into 6 separate exposures on the same ipad, therefore including 6x more pixels, more detail. So 12000 pixels instead in the same physical area.
 
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Tagging a moderator will likely work, but the "official" method is to use the "Report this post" link, and in the reason dialog, note that you posted in the wrong area. The reports go to all the moderators, so whomever is online will see it and can make the adjustment.

As for the topic, I don't think that even the retina screens have enough resolution to be enlarged very much. The digital element for an analog enlarger I'd like to see would be an LED array that can provide different levels of illumination or colors for various areas of the negative, to get digitally controlled burning, dodging or contrast. The way I imaging it working would be that you'd upload your image to the enlarger light source, select the areas you want to adjust, then put the negative in and expose with no manual burning or dodging.
 
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@bdial Thanks, I have officially reported myself.
Yes, but I mean in terms of optical reduction and not enlarging at all.
There is a digital exposure over time program: https://github.com/pierre-muth/Digital-Picture-to-Analog-Darkroom-print

But the issue is that most peoples phones are not high resolution, hence me thinking of the methods of stitching using any regular phone or ipad that one might have without having to buy a separate screen.

Would something like a lens array work : https://imgur.com/a/7u7IOUq
Where you cover all but one of the lenses, till you've exposed all of the array? (just guessing)
As @vedostuu mentions, I have no idea if it would look good, because it would have to be lined up perfectly.
 
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I thought we already have digital enlargers: scanner+computer!
 
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