Digital neg from 35mm slide

Ron LaMarsh · Oct 16, 2009

Am totally new to all of this and need some advice: I have a number of very good slides that I'd like to make 6"X9" negatives of for contact printing. Is it viable quality wise to scan these(epson 2480) then use that scan to create the negative(wifes high end espon photo printer) or will I be disappointed and wish I had made an enlarged negative via the darkroom?:confused:

sanking · Oct 16, 2009

ronlamarsh said:
Am totally new to all of this and need some advice: I have a number of very good slides that I'd like to make 6"X9" negatives of for contact printing. Is it viable quality wise to scan these(epson 2480) then use that scan to create the negative(wifes high end espon photo printer) or will I be disappointed and wish I had made an enlarged negative via the darkroom?:confused:

A 6X enlargement from a scan made with an Epson 2480 might be pushing it, but try it and compare with your darkroom enlarged negative and see what you think.

But for sure you should get better results with 35mm slides with a dedicated film scanner.

Sandy

pschwart · Oct 16, 2009

ronlamarsh said:
Am totally new to all of this and need some advice: I have a number of very good slides that I'd like to make 6"X9" negatives of for contact printing. Is it viable quality wise to scan these(epson 2480) then use that scan to create the negative(wifes high end espon photo printer) or will I be disappointed and wish I had made an enlarged negative via the darkroom?:confused:

You didn't say what kind of process you will be using ... I had an Epson 2450 that made fine 5x7's and was acceptable up to 6x9 (palladium and carbon transfer) but I had to replace the stock film holder (see Betterscanning.com). I have an Epson V700 that does a pretty good job with medium format but big enlargements from 35mm really need a dedicated film scanner. Go ahead and use the 2480 -- your biggest challenge will be learning to make digital negs. This is not a trivial exercise.

Ron LaMarsh · Oct 17, 2009

pschwart said:
You didn't say what kind of process you will be using ... I had an Epson 2450 that made fine 5x7's and was acceptable up to 6x9 (palladium and carbon transfer) but I had to replace the stock film holder (see Betterscanning.com). I have an Epson V700 that does a pretty good job with medium format but big enlargements from 35mm really need a dedicated film scanner. Go ahead and use the 2480 -- your biggest challenge will be learning to make digital negs. This is not a trivial exercise.

I am actually going to use it for regular silver process contacts I just couldn't get any response from the normal forums but it does open up some great possibilites for cyanotype. I agree with the digital negative making being a daunting task from what I have read. I just didn't want to unmount my slides to put them in my enlarger to make an enlarged neg the regular way, lazy I guess but it sounds like digital negative making is not for the lazy anyway.

PVia · Oct 19, 2009

Diginegs are definitely not for the lazy ;-)

You can get decent results in silver contact printing with diginegs, however don't expect anything close to the real thing.

If you're printing a process that uses a hand-brushed watercolor paper you can get superb results.

Digital neg from 35mm slide

Ron LaMarsh

sanking

pschwart

Ron LaMarsh

PVia

Privacy & Transparency

Privacy & Transparency