enlarging 120 film with 50mm lens?

[Poohblah]

at my school we use Omega enlargers that have 50mm f/3.5 enlarging lenses. there are some 6 x 6 negative carriers for these heads but i'm unsure of enlarging 6 x 6 film with this lens... what are the limitations to using this short of a lens with medium format film? will there be too much falloff or something?

 

[Konical]

Good Afternoon, Poohblah,

50mm enlarging lenses are not ordinarily designed to cover a 6 x 6 negative. You need a 75 or 80mm lens.

Konical

 

[dsullivan]

it'll look like a holga in reverse. you'll get white vignetting instead of black on the print. I have a good example of you want.

 

[Poohblah]

that's what i thought. thanks.

 

[srs5694]

FWIW, I once fit a 50mm lens on my enlarger and took a look at the image on the baseboard. I didn't see any obvious falloff of light, but of course such things aren't always as obvious on a projected negative image as they are on a print. It will, of course, also vary with the lens in question. (I don't recall which of my 50mm lenses I used.) Also, many enlargers have different diffusion boxes or condensers for 35mm vs. MF negatives, and if you use the wrong diffusion box or condenser, the chances of serious problems go up.

 

[Anscojohn]

at my school we use Omega enlargers that have 50mm f/3.5 enlarging lenses. there are some 6 x 6 negative carriers for these heads but i'm unsure of enlarging 6 x 6 film with this lens... what are the limitations to using this short of a lens with medium format film? will there be too much falloff or something?

*****
Poohblah,
Give it a try. I have enlarged 6x6 with a 50. It can work. What can you lose?

 

[Kevin Kehler]

I have done it and gotten the white ring on my prints. Where it does work is when you are enlarging to print a cropped section (i.e., printing an 8x10 from a 16x20 height) but a larger lens is easier overall.

 

[Poohblah]

*****
Poohblah,
Give it a try. I have enlarged 6x6 with a 50. It can work. What can you lose?

i thought about that and while i have to agree, i don't have any 120 film at my disposal at the moment and likely won't for a little while.

 

[nworth]

As noted above, the problem is coverage. Most 50mm lenses are just not designed to cover the area of a 6X6 negative. You are likely to see some vignetting, a falloff of light around the edges. Even it that is not too bad, sharpness is likely to be poor near the edges.

 

[milkplus-mesto]

Why not use an aperture of f/8 or so - in cameras this basically eliminates vignetting, and it should be the same in the enlarger lens.

 

[ic-racer]

Why not use an aperture of f/8 or so - in cameras this basically eliminates vignetting, and it should be the same in the enlarger lens.

??

 

[Poohblah]

Why not use an aperture of f/8 or so - in cameras this basically eliminates vignetting, and it should be the same in the enlarger lens.

because the vignetting is mechanical (correct?).

 

[Akki14]

Certain lenses will only cause a certain circle of light(image) to fall on a given surface. It will not matter what aperture it is set at. That's the whole point of having different focal lengths. Vignetting in poorly made camera lenses is down to other factors...