Pinhole enlarger?

Dr Croubie · Nov 12, 2015

I just had a thought.
As much as I love taking pinhole shots using many of my self-built or modified pinhole cameras, I do also take a lot of shots with 'real' lenses (you know, the ones with glass in them).

Has anyone ever tried enlarging using a pinhole? Not enlarging a neg taken with a pinhole, I mean taking a regular negative and using a pinhole instead of an enlarging lens. I know it'll take ages to expose in the darkroom (but I'm sure we're all used to that around here). Would the results differ much from a pinhole-exposed lens-enlarged shot?

If noone's tried it, I sense a summer-holidays test-project coming on...

Fr. Mark · Nov 12, 2015

Summer holidays?? Ah, but you on the other side of the equator from me. Puzzles me for a second.

Enlarging paper per is slower than most films and I would expect reciprocity effect to come into at too.

Enjoy the the summer project.

NedL · Nov 12, 2015

I've thought about it but not very seriously, but I'm sure it's possible and I think I remember reading about one, maybe at the Stanford pinhole site. One thing I have done is used my macro pinhole camera to make an "enlargement" of a small part of another negative. The "source" was an area of paper negative not much bigger than a 35mm negative, and the result was a 5x7 positive. I remember the first time I tried it I thought it would need a long exposure and I tried something like 20 minutes, but in fact all it needed was about 1 minute. The "target" negative was just lit with 2 CFL desk lamps.

Sounds like a fun project!

Gerald C Koch · Nov 12, 2015

Considering the effective f-stop of a pinhole, the slowness of print papers, and a practical light output of any enlarging bulb you would encounter VERY long exposure times. Not really practical.

DannL. · Nov 12, 2015

It should work. I don't know how good the resultant image would be, but I've shot paper negatives plenty of times in an 8x10 camera using a pin hole of about .65mm. Good exposures were attainable within 2 - 3 minutes. It should work if the light source is adequate.

RalphLambrecht · Nov 12, 2015

Dr Croubie said:
I just had a thought.
As much as I love taking pinhole shots using many of my self-built or modified pinhole cameras, I do also take a lot of shots with 'real' lenses (you know, the ones with glass in them).

Has anyone ever tried enlarging using a pinhole? Not enlarging a neg taken with a pinhole, I mean taking a regular negative and using a pinhole instead of an enlarging lens. I know it'll take ages to expose in the darkroom (but I'm sure we're all used to that around here). Would the results differ much from a pinhole-exposed lens-enlarged shot?

If noone's tried it, I sense a summer-holidays test-project coming on...

I'd consider a large studio flash as a light source;dodging and burning would be tough but fun to watch

Truzi · Nov 12, 2015

I had considered the same thing to introduce my best friend to enlarging. She really enjoyed developing film, pinhole photos, and sun-print (cyanotype), so I figured it would be a cheap and fun way show her enlarging. Then, a camera store went out of business and I ended up getting a couple Vivitar 356 enlargers, so I never pursued the idea. (Still haven't gotten around to enlarging yet.)

NedL · Nov 12, 2015

Here's the link I was thinking of.

If I were doing this, I'd do it "backwards", with the negative holder and lights in the room, not necessarily a darkroom ( curtains closed might be good enough ), and a pinhole "copy camera" mounted above it. It's easy enough to build a pinhole camera to hold any size of photopaper. I think the pinhole would need to be rather small, and you might want to look at the Dead Link Removed, and design the focal length based on enlargement factor.

blindpig · Nov 13, 2015

+1 Ned,a pinhole copy camera would just be the ticket.

bsdunek · Nov 13, 2015

Not sure of the advantage, except for the softness of pinhole photos. The negative is not three-dimensional like the world when you're taking an original photo. Would be interesting to try though, and not very difficult.

Pinhole enlarger?

Privacy & Transparency

Privacy & Transparency