ideas to shoot 6x12.5 cm in Fotoman 617

Jose A Martinez · Apr 11, 2008

I bought a Fotoman 617 Mk-IIL Kit with Rodenstock 90/6.8 Grandagon-N. I love the idea of work with this camera in my "In Extremis" project (slaughterhouses and morges).

My problem is that I can't enlarge wider than 5 inches, 125 mm. I'll appreciete ideas to use this camera in that wide, 5 inches, and print full frame. :confused:

eric · Apr 11, 2008

I love this format (6x17). I rented a Fuji a couple of times and did some street shooting with it. I had to use an 8x10 enlarger with a glass carrier. I think a 6x12 will fit a 4x5 enlarger...no?

Nick Zentena · Apr 11, 2008

I think he wants to mask in the camera so he can print with the film edges. If not he could just centre the negative in a 4x5 glass carrier.

eric · Apr 11, 2008

Nick Zentena said:
I think he wants to mask in the camera so he can print with the film edges. If not he could just centre the negative in a 4x5 glass carrier.

Yes, it should technically fit a 4x5. But my Beseler 4x5 carrier is slightly smaller than the 5" across. I guess depending on how much of the neg he wants to see.

I tried putting a piece of right inside the neg carrier and that should work better than a real 4x5 carrier if he needs to get more of the neg. A 4x5 corners will clip the corners if I want to print full frame 4x5 on my Beseler 4x5mcrx.

Nick Zentena · Apr 11, 2008

I've made black matt board neg carriers. I don't remember what the outside size of the Beseler holders are but they are bigger then the format. Should be possible to make up a holder out of something like matt board.

Jose A Martinez · Apr 14, 2008

I use a glass carrier to print the xpan negs. The problem is that in my Durst enlarger I can't go more than 5 inches and the neg in a 60 x 170 mm is almost 7 inches wide. My first idea is to mask the camera and use it in 60 x 125 mm (2 1/4 x 5 inches). As a someone suggested me, I always can buy a 5x7 enlarger. Another solution is contact print, that is quite a good size.

The real question is if someone have an idea how to mask the camera 2 1/4 x 5 inches.

j_landecker · Apr 15, 2008

I would try taping or gluing (something removable) some pieces of black paper or card inside the film gate. This might be a little tricky because is looks like there is no ledge to seat the mask on, and you have to make sure it's light tight around the edges and doesn't touch the film. Then you might have to experiment with the film backing numbers to get the right frame spacing for 6x12...

freygr · Apr 21, 2008

6 x 17 neg will fit in a 5 x7 enlarger, 6.69291 inches. 12mm is 4 3/4 inch long minus a few thousandths.

Jose A Martinez · Apr 22, 2008

I think that the right thing to do is to buy a 5x7 enlarger. Meanwhile I can contact print, or mask the film plane as j_landecker suggests. At the end it would be a matter of invest more money on equipment.

orto · May 1, 2008

Jose A Martinez said:
I think that the right thing to do is to buy a 5x7 enlarger. Meanwhile I can contact print, or mask the film plane as j_landecker suggests. At the end it would be a matter of invest more money on equipment.

Why not buying a 612 Fotoman? If you always shoot 612 it's easier to roll the film with correct numbers rather than doing the arithmetics on your 617 masked format. But the 612 is rather a different format, not so panoramic at all.

Peter Schrager · May 1, 2008

BandJ

Jose-find yourself an old Burke and James 5x7 enlarger for the 5x7 size and get aristo to make the lamp...that's exactly what I did except I use a cold light made by Calumet/Zone VI...these are excellent enlargers and show up on the bay...mine even came with glass carriers....
Best, Peter

Peter Schrager · May 1, 2008

adapter

forgot to mention that I had someone make me an adapter to fit the head...any skilled metal guy can do it..
Peter

ideas to shoot 6x12.5 cm in Fotoman 617

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