How do I enlarge half-frame negatives?

IloveTLRs · Feb 22, 2010

I've shot quite a few 1/2 frame negs and I'd like to make some prints from them - individual frames, not side-by-side. I'd like to use paper smaller than 5x7. I'm not sure how to go about it, though ...

1.] Do I need a 28mm lens? Can I enlarge with a standard 50mm?

2.] Do I mask off half the negative in the carrier or adjust the enlarger head so that the frame fills the easel?

Is anyone else printing half-frame?

ic-racer · Feb 22, 2010

You should be fine with a 50mm lens.

28mm is probably too short anyway. I use 30mm for 16mm negatives and 25mm for Minox.

There are some 40mm enlarging lenses out there (they also work for 4x4cm), but unless you are maxed out on you column height, you probably won't need it.

I did some recent tests on how much masking is needed (like printing a 35mm negative with an 8x10 mixing box etc.) and it really can have an effect. If you have an adjacent entire blank frames, certainly it can cause flare (your highlights will go gray). If your adjacent images are dark then you may be OK with no masking and just centering your frame in a 35mm negative carrier.

There are a lot of ways to mask, event to the extent of making a new negative carrier of the correct size. Kind of depends on the enlarger you are using.

2F/2F · Feb 22, 2010

I would just use a 50mm lens, a 35mm carrier, and make a mask out of black construction paper, or a piece of black plastic from the bag your printing paper comes in, laid on top of the film strip. Both of these methods have worked fine for me when using oversized negative carriers.

IloveTLRs · Feb 22, 2010

I'm using an LPL 3301D, and the lamp produces quite a lot of heat. I was worried that masking off the neg in the carrier might cause the material to melt or cause a fire. I suppose I could try some black construction paper ...

largeformat pat · Feb 22, 2010

3M make a tape 235 photographic tape. use this to mask on the carrier. Or use half an enlarger?????????

2F/2F · Feb 22, 2010

largeformat pat said:
3M make a tape 235 photographic tape. use this to mask on the carrier. Or use half an enlarger?????????

Silly me. Forgot to mention photo tape and gaffer tape. I put them on the top half of the neg carrier, sticky side up (toward the light).

removed account4 · Feb 22, 2010

i use a tiny lens i have to enlarge 8mm film stills
and it works well with 1/2 frame and a durst m301 ...

can you mask off your easel and enlarge both frames but focus 1 on your easel ?

good luck!

john

IloveTLRs · Feb 22, 2010

Maybe I'll give it a shot tonight and see what develops (ugh, bad pun)

IloveTLRs · Mar 5, 2010

Last night I played around in the darkroom for a while. I adjusted the easel to accommodate one half of the frame, and it worked well. The print below isn't the best, but it worked and I got about 5 or 6 ones that I'm happy with.

I printed on 12x16.5cm / 4 3/4x6 1/2 sheets (known as "Kabine" size in Japan.) What's the largest that most people enlarge/enlarged half-frame to?

frobozz · Mar 5, 2010

I've seen half-frame carriers for a lot of enlargers. The Durst DA-900 I picked up (for sale - blatant plug) comes with half frame masks for one of its carriers, for instance. Seems like with some determined ebay stalking you could find one eventually.

Duncan

MartinP · Mar 6, 2010

You can make a handy half-frame mask from 120 backing paper. Tape it on top of the full-frame carrier with the black side towards the negative and the cut-out centred in the frame. Occasionally you might need to slide the mask over a bit when you want to print the last shot on a strip, but why not use the middle of the lens coverage when it's possible ? There are also people shooting and printing two related half-frame shots together and inevitably I can't find a suitable example when I need to . . .

How do I enlarge half-frame negatives?

Attachments

Privacy & Transparency

Privacy & Transparency