Home Printing: How large?

RattyMouse

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Just curious, but how large a print can your typical home printing dark room make? I'm currently shooting 6 x 7 negatives for home printing later when I can get a dark room set up. I'm wondering how large I'll be able to make these negatives without super special equipment.

Thanks!
 

miha

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I use to print up to 12x16 but prefer to print much smaller now, 4x6, 5x7, and 18x24 cm (a bit smaller than 8x10 inch).
 

markbarendt

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I have 4 enlargers and can get to 16x20 inches on the baseboard of 3 of them, 11x14 on the little one.

Three of the enlargers can reorient themselves so as to project across the room, at that point the limits start being the brightness of the enlarger and the size of the room so...

On a more practical note, how you develop the sheets is a significant limit too. For example if you use trays you gotta have someplace to put the trays. 8x10 trays are easy, but a single 16x20 tray takes up the same space as all 4 8x10 trays.
 

Ian Grant

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I've printed 30"x242 images in the past in my old darkroom, the enlargers wer bench mounted although the top of the bench was moveable to allow larger than 20"x16" prints. ( It slotted in a different heights down to 2" from the floor.

I now have a floor standing De Vere 5108 and that allows similar large enlargements as the base board can be dropped.

Ian
 

polyglot

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16x20 is reasonable IMHO if you do drum development - I print in my CPP2 and can do 16x20 with ease. I could buy a bigger drum and do 20x24, but there's $300+ right there and I can't be bothered just yet. Your enlarger should definitely go to 16x20; the limiting factor will be processing space, especially if you use trays.

dev+stop+fix+fix+wash is a LOT of space if every tray is 17x21" or bigger. Stacking trays saves room, but you need to get a big wet floppy bit of paper between trays without scratching the surface or crinkling it in the slightest.

95% of my prints are 8x10 though. I buy that by the 250-box and use them to paper my walls at work, then they go in archival boxes for storage. The occasional Really Good Frame (maybe 3 per year?) gets printed to 16x20 and probably framed.
 

Neal

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Dear RattyMouse,

An alternative to using drums (some have reported difficulty with processing fiber prints in drums) is to use a single tray, pouring the chemicals in and out rather than moving the print. I use four 4L pails and have printed up to 20"x24". A separate tray is needed for washing. Don't fill the tray, just use enough to cover the print with 5mm or so. Fixing is best done using two baths as the smaller volume of fluid will become exhausted quickly. Some enlargers can't go to 16"x20" but simply putting a spacer between the column and baseboard should make it possible for pretty much any enlarger.

Good luck,

Neal Wydra
 
OP
OP

RattyMouse

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16 x 20 is a nice size I think. I probably would not want to go over that. I'm a bit confused by the term drum. Does that in fact mean cylinder shaped tanks? Just a guess.
 

richard ide

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I have done 36 x 48 in an apartment with horizontal projection. Processed the prints in the shower. A print will stick on a wet wall and process with sponges.
 

RalphLambrecht

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16x20" is a reasonable limit. beyond that size, you needore expensive specialty itemse.g. print washers.
 

RalphLambrecht

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3 really good once per year is a pretty good turn out.I'm happy with one.
 

eddie

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The largest I can go, on the baseboard is 20x24. I can reverse my enlargers for floor projection, though. I do the roll- trough method for developer/stop/ fix. I have 32x 40 trays for Perma-Wash and washing.
 

Bob Marvin

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The largest size I can print at home is 16 X 20. I use a 60mm wide angle lens for 2-1/4 negatives, to allow some room for cropping and the trays barely fit in my small darkroom. My archival print washer is 11 X 14, so I use a large tray and a Kodak tray syphon for washing this size. I've printed 20 X 24 in a friend's much larger darkroom, but that's something of an athletic feat, what with handling the large wet paper and reaching up to focus the enlarger and bending down to the focusing scope (I didn't have a WA enlarging lens then, which might have enabled me to focus while viewing the projected negative).

11 X 14 is somewhat easier to print than 16 X 20, but the latter makes more of an impression on the wall. FWIW, the largest pre-cut mats I've been able to find are 20 X 24, with an opening for 16 X 20 prints. That's a major consideration; I'm too klutzy to cut my own mats and custom-cut ones are quite costly.
 

grahamp

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My general limit is 11x14 inches. I can do 20x16 inches, but I have to use a tray stacker or a Jobo print tank (on hand rollers - works well for the odd print) because of space limits. My Versalab 11x14 washer will do two 20x16 prints at a time. I remove the normal dividers and put in a couple of sheets of flexible plastic curved into 'U' shapes - sort of UU - and go from there. There are all sorts of tricks for exposing and developing the paper in limited space. The one thing that you do need to find is space to dry the paper afterwards. I use screens now, but I have hung big prints up over the bath to dry in my bachelor days.
 

DREW WILEY

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I drew a line at 30x40 prints for a number of logistical reasons, including the fact that once they're mounted, matted, and framed, that's about
the biggest size that can be realistically shipped by common parcel carriers.
 

Roger Cole

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I agree that 16x20 is a good limit. My usual stuff is 11x14 for printing 8x10 and 11x14 - I have plenty of trays, they fit easily on my table, and my Saunders V-Track easel is an 11x14. Printing 16x20 requires I set up the big trays and the water holding tub then has to go under the table. The V-Track is replaced with a flimsy two blade Bogen I found as NOS. Handling 16x20 FB paper without damage is MUCH harder than handling 11x14, so much so it tempts me to go to RC especially as the larger prints are more likely to be framed under glass anyway. The trays take twice as much solution and handling them with solution in them, to pour back in a bottle or even to empty without disastrous splashing and spillage, can be a challenge.

Admitedly, I shoot 4x5 and it just starts to sing at 16x20 and I occasionally want to go larger. I may get a 20x24 drum and some 20x24 RC paper some day, especially if I run across a good deal on an easel, but it's far from a priority.

And yes you can pour solutions in and out of one tray ("get something other than a plastic tray" would be my thought on that - as I alluded to above they get very wobbly to pour out of at 16x20 and larger would be worse) or tape them to the shower and sponge develop - you CAN do things like that but for me the PITA factor puts those approaches firmly in the realm of "more trouble than it's worth." YMMV of course.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 

Darkroom317

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Recently I started doing 16x20. My normal size is 11x14 and I have 12x16 and 16x20 trays. I use the 12x16 trays for developer, stop and the 1st fix and then 16x20 for 2nd fix, hypo clear, toning, and washing with a tray siphon. For the the first three steps I roll the paper in a tube and keep rolling and unrolling it in the chemicals.
 

PKM-25

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My small but rather high tech 5 x 7 foot storage closet darkroom has to share space with a large freezer for film and a crazy shelf system for my outdoor gear. That being said, I can easily do up to 20x24 on the baseboard via my LPL 4550XLG and soup those in a Jobo 3063 drum.

Sizes up to 16x20 are a lot easier since I use a stacked tray system, it's tight but I manage just fine. 11x14 and 16x20 are my favorite sizes to print. It's amazing what space you can be efficient in when you have no choice...
 

MattKing

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RattyMouse said:
16 x 20 is a nice size I think. I probably would not want to go over that. I'm a bit confused by the term drum. Does that in fact mean cylinder shaped tanks? Just a guess.
Click to expand...

The print drums are, indeed, cylinder shaped tanks. The fancy ones work just like film processing tanks - they have lids that you can pour chemicals in to and out from the tank. This allows you to work in room light.

Here is a link with the original Beseler (in this case) instructions: http://mikecnichols.com/beseler/Beseler Color Print Processing Drums [Instructions].pdf

The instructions refer to colour, because they are even more handy for colour (which essentually requires complete darkness) than black and white (which permits working in a meaningful safelight).

There are a lot of tricks you can use to permit using troughs rather than full size trays, thus saving space.

In my temporary bathroom/darkroom, I can use the 16x20 trays that I have, but it is crowded. My favourite size is 12x16, and the trays I have for them fit well. My 18'' cutter is, however, awkwardly large, and I have to resort to a less favourable easel for that size.

11x14s are easy.
 

Sirius Glass

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20"x24" is the largest my enlarger will handle.
 

PKM-25

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I made a drum that will handle 36" x 48", have Rodagon G mural lenses, the major portions of a mural specific enlarger and most of the parts for a vacuum easel all stored and ready for use once I get the space. One day....one day....
 
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