Largest paper available/practical?

BetterSense · Mar 6, 2009

I'm wondering what's the largest size B&W paper that has ever been offered or used. It seems like you could print a photo arbitrarily large assuming you could focus at the appropriate distance with you enlarger/projector. At my local film store I only see sizes up to 16x20 but has anyone ever made poster-sized or sheet-of-plywood-sized prints from B&W negatives? Is this actually how posters were produced long ago?

Ian Grant · Mar 6, 2009

Paper is available in rolls, usually 40" wide and a few metres long. At one time there was special mural paper that may have been wider, I can't check as most ofmy books, catalogues etc are back in the UK.

I've got 40" rolls of Kentmere & Ilford paper in my darkroom, I've made life size portraits for commercial clients

If you look at the Ilford stock list June O8 you'll see paper available in 127cm (40") x30meter (100ft) rolls

Ian

BetterSense · Mar 6, 2009

did you use large format film, then, and a normal enlarger projecting onto a wall or something?

Ian Grant · Mar 6, 2009

I had a drive in darkroom, with an 5x4 LF horizontal enlarger as we coated emulsion directly onto painted surfaces for advertising purposes, usually vans/cars but also aluminium panels. Working with large rolls was very easy we just rigged up a board and taped the paper to it, we processed by sraying, or sometimes with paper sponges, we added extras to the dev to prevent aerial fogging & worked more dilute than normal to help prevent uneven processing.

Ian

Bob Carnie · Mar 6, 2009

I am buying currently 50inch x 98ft rolls of Ilford Warmtone.

Next week I am making 40 x50 solarizations with this paper and later this month a few 48 inch by 60 inch print from large negs.

ROL · Mar 6, 2009

I routinely print medium and large format B/W negatives up to 30" X 40" with a normal wall mounted enlarger (on column) onto a 36" X 48" drop table holding homemade easels of 24"X30" and 30"X40". Anything larger than 20X24 (sheet) pretty much gets cut from 40" or 42" rolls of both graded or VC paper. Processing is in 34" X 44" trays. Of course, one could print 40X50 or 40X60 from the same size rolls of paper, providing enough room to process. Dry mounted and framed normally - like this:

rootberry · Mar 6, 2009

ROL said:
I routinely print medium and large format B/W negatives up to 30" X 40" with a normal wall mounted enlarger (on column) onto a 36" X 48" drop table holding homemade easels of 24"X30" and 30"X40". Anything larger than 20X24 (sheet) pretty much gets cut from 40" or 42" rolls of both graded or VC paper. Processing is in 34" X 44" trays. Of course, one could print 40X50 or 40X60 from the same size rolls of paper, providing enough room to process. Dry mounted and framed normally - like this:

DANGS! You must need quite a bit of room to print that large! Now, if only I had money for that much paper =( Also, how does one source trays as large as 50" long?

Cheers

Larry.Manuel · Mar 6, 2009

A friend here [Canada] told me that in April, Ilford is to offer 50" wide by 10 [?] meter rolls of multigrade FB paper. The length may be incorrect, but I did recall he said it would cost about $200, which is affordable for his work.

Ian Grant · Mar 6, 2009

rootberry said:
DANGS! You must need quite a bit of room to print that large! Now, if only I had money for that much paper =( Also, how does one source trays as large as 50" long?

Cheers

You can make a rough wooden frames and line them with thick polythene sheeting, works very well I've done taht a few times.

Ian

Rich Ullsmith · Mar 6, 2009

Biggest I have used? 42"X100ft, but chopped it up. Biggest that is practical? I have no ambitions for anything beyond 16X20, and god bless you folks who print big. I imagine that is a whole different ballgame!

George Collier · Mar 6, 2009

If you have an assistant, you can also use long troughs, like some made for hanging wallpaper, but longer, and see-saw dip the prints back and forth from left and then right (like some people do with roll film and photo flo). Some people tried rolling the print up in these things when I was in school, but it was always difficult to keep the development even.
The advantage of the trough is that it takes much less space, and the frames that Ian describes often have to sit on the floor - it can be a dance...

Simon R Galley · Mar 9, 2009

Dear All,

You can see all the mural ( or wide ) rolls on our PAL ( product availability list, on the ILFORDPhoto website ) most are available in country at the distributors or may be a factory order...52" x 100 is the biggest...we have made some 'specials' before for 'one off applications' 40" x 500' to mimic a roll of film hanging down... I used to do mural printing and processing, in troughs, surprisingly easy once you get the hang of it...

Simon ILFORD photo / HARMAN technology Limited :

Mark Antony · Mar 9, 2009

I have done quite a bit of very large printing 40" wide projected on the wall with a horizontal enlarger, we processed in troughs see saw fashion with two people, the trick is to place a metal rod in the loop to keep the paper under the developer.
We used to clip the finished prints to a wall and hose the chemicals off.
Mark

AgX · Mar 9, 2009

127cm (50") is a typical width.

But Agfa also offered a 142cm (56") wide colour paper and even 168 cm !! (67") wide colour display films.

Currently Bergger offers an unsensitized half-tone film up to 106cm wide.

yellowcat · Mar 9, 2009

Largest B/W print I have done while working at a lab was 72" x 50" projected onto steel wall with a horizontal enlarger, the paper was held in place by magnets. we processed in a 50" Kreonite machine.

Largest paper available/practical?

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