I can finally enlarge 4x5.

[ChrisC]

After only being able to contact print 4x5's for the last 8 or so months, I can finally enlarge, and I'm well chuffed.

I'd been hunting through the local auction site for months looking for one that was within driving distance to pick up, and one that wasn't without power cords/lenses/negative carriers, too.

I'd never heard of 'Ferd. Homrich & Sohn' enlargers before, and was nervous about buying it, but it's unbelievable rock steady, and huge! The last owner told me that the guy he bought it off was an engineer, so he made a whole swag of negative carriers for it (from 35mm up to 6x12, plus two 4x5 carriers), along with spare sets of glass for all of them, and two spare condensors, and a spare bellows. Not to mention the spare Agfa colour head!

I'm very pleased with it, and can't wait to get some 16x20 trays and paper, and seeing what enlargements that size look like from negs this big.

Oh yeah, where's it going to go in my darkroom?! :confused:

 

[luvmydogs]

Congratulations!!! I'm sure you'll have tons of fun.

 

[George Papantoniou]

Never heard of it either, but it looks cool... Have fun, but try to keep it away from the white wall I see on its left. It might reflect the light coming from the paper (the paper reflects the light falling on it from the enlarger head) and fog the left side of your prints...

 

[John McCallum]

Congrats Chris! Contact printing 4x5 I found was like a tasty starter - excruciating when you can not enlarge them.

But when enlarging LF neg's is possible, a whole world of creativity opens up that's hugely rewarding! Have fun, ask questions if needed.

 

[ChrisC]

Never heard of it either, but it looks cool... Have fun, but try to keep it away from the white wall I see on its left. It might reflect the light coming from the paper (the paper reflects the light falling on it from the enlarger head) and fog the left side of your prints...

It's just sitting in a spare bedroom until I buld a low shelf for it to sit on in my (tiny) darkroom. My darkroom it a black hole, so should be safe wherever I end up getting it to squeeze into!

Congrats Chris! Contact printing 4x5 I found was like a tasty starter - excruciating when you can not enlarge them.

But when enlarging LF neg's is possible, a whole world of creativity opens up that's hugely rewarding! Have fun, ask questions if needed.

Thanks, John. I'm looking forward to getting some massive prints to hang on the wall, and maybe even sell a few if I'm lucky. Although I'll have to take some negs worthy of being 16x20 prints first I've been painfully looking at my 4x5 contacts next to my 6x6 enlargements for months now. It'll be good to do the bigger negs justice.

 

[claytume]

Way to go Chris!.........looks like the one a friend of mine in Wanganui had......he made some outstanding prints on it and no reason why you can't do the same.

Clayton

 

[ChrisC]

Way to go Chris!.........looks like the one a friend of mine in Wanganui had......he made some outstanding prints on it and no reason why you can't do the same.

Clayton

Nicholas? Haha, small world. He didn't show me any prints when I was up there picking it up, unfortunatly. Would have been good to see some, though. He said he had two, which explains the double-ups of basically everything.